VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 02, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Midnight Sun Mining Corp. (TSXV: MMA / OTCQX: MDNGF) ("Midnight Sun" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of its Phase Two exploration program at the Company's wholly-owned Dumbwa copper deposit in Zambia.
Phase Two represents the transition from the successful systematic evaluation of the Dumbwa mineralized corridor undertaken during Phase One, to a highly targeted exploration strategy designed to identify and expand higher-grade zones of copper mineralization, extend known mineralization laterally and along strike, and test newly identified prospective structures outside the currently defined corridor.
The Phase Two program will integrate high-resolution ground magnetics, dipole-dipole induced polarization geophysics ("IP"), soil geochemistry, and diamond drilling.
Kevin Bonel, Midnight Sun's COO, states: "Phase One has given us the tools and geological understanding to test Dumbwa at a level of precision that simply wasn't possible when the program began. The program was designed to rapidly and systematically establish the scale and geological architecture of Dumbwa. After nearly 75,000 metres of drilling, we have built a dataset that is fundamentally underpinning exploration going forward. We are seeing distinct zones of enhanced copper mineralization along the main corridor, including areas of higher grade, and our new magnetic survey is identifying positive geological signatures beyond the areas we have previously tested. This gives us the ability to transition from our Phase One systematic drilling program to a much more highly targeted exploration approach.
Phase Two applies the geological understanding gained in Phase One to sharpen our targeting and focus on the most prospective parts of the Dumbwa system. That means expanding known mineralization, testing the northern extent of the main mineralized corridor, exploring the potential for higher-grade zones and, importantly, determining whether the structures we are identifying east and west of Dumbwa represent additional mineralized corridors."
Phase One drilling remains underway and is expected to be completed by the end of Q3 2026. Applying this new targeted approach, drilling has shifted to the northern block, where wider step-outs are designed to rapidly identify additional zones of higher-grade copper mineralization throughout the initial 11.5 km Dumbwa corridor.
The systematic nature of Phase One has generated an extensive geological, geochemical and geophysical dataset across the tested portion of the Dumbwa system. Drilling has defined distinct blocks of enhanced copper mineralization along the north-south corridor, including several higher-grade domains within the broader mineralized system.
Phase Two intends to leverage this growing dataset to focus drilling on the highest-priority targets, both within the Dumbwa mineralized corridor and along prospective structures to the east and west. The Company will also extend selected existing drill fences beyond the presently tested east-west limits of known mineralization.
Phase One - Testing Dumbwa and Building the Dataset
Midnight Sun commenced Phase One exploration at Dumbwa on August 6th, 2025, with the objective of methodically and systematically testing the Dumbwa mineralized corridor to establish the geological and structural framework necessary to guide subsequent exploration.
The Phase One program included IP and ground magnetic geophysics, along with geochemical soil sampling, and extensive diamond drilling along the initial 11.5 km of the approximately 20 km Dumbwa copper-in-soil anomaly.
Drilling to date has employed a systematic fence-drilling approach, with drill holes generally spaced at approximately 50 m intervals across the main copper-in-soil anomaly and drill fences spaced from 100 m to 200 m apart along the north-south strike.
Drilling began at the southern property boundary and has progressively advanced northward.
- To date, the Company has developed and integrated an extensive exploration dataset that includes IP geophysical coverage along the initial 11.5 km of the Dumbwa system;
- Geochemical soil sampling designed, in part, to supplement and correlate with historical geochemical datasets
- Initial high resolution ground magnetics to identify new drill targets both east and west of the main Dumbwa mineralized corridor
This systematic approach has provided the Company with much greater geological resolution across Dumbwa and has demonstrated that copper mineralization is not distributed uniformly throughout the main mineralized corridor. Rather, a pattern of grade zonation has emerged along strike, so far defining four areas of more intense copper mineralization within the broader system. These higher-grade areas, combined with the geological, structural, geophysical and geochemical information generated during Phase One, provides the foundation for the Company's Phase Two targeting strategy.
Phase Two - From Systematic Evaluation to Targeted Exploration
Phase Two is designed to build upon the geological framework established during Phase One and pursue two principal exploration objectives:
1 - Expand the Dumbwa mineralized system northward through the identification of best targets and testing the continuity of the main mineralized corridor; and
2 - Identify opportunities to expand higher-grade copper mineralization, both within the previously drilled portions of the main Dumbwa mineralized corridor and in potential satellite mineralized targets to the east and west.
The program will combine four complementary exploration tools: high-resolution ground magnetics and IP geophysics, soil geochemistry, and targeted diamond drilling. The integration of these exploration datasets is designed to sharpen the Company's understanding of Dumbwa and effectively identify and test the most compelling targets for drilling.
High-Resolution Ground Magnetic Survey
An extensive high-resolution ground magnetic survey is underway at Dumbwa and has become an important component of the Company's Phase Two targeting strategy.
Historical airborne magnetic data collected in 1997 identified a north-south trending magnetic unit associated with the central portion of the Dumbwa mineralized corridor. Subsequent drilling has demonstrated a relationship between this geophysical feature, the geological and structural architecture at Dumbwa, and known copper mineralization.
To improve the understanding of this relationship and establish correlation with known results, Midnight Sun completed an initial high-resolution ground magnetic survey over an area of Dumbwa, approximately 2.5 km by 2.7 km, which had already been drilled.
Data was collected along north-south survey lines spaced 100 m apart, with east-west tie lines spaced at 250 m intervals. This initial survey successfully identified the 'fingerprint' of high-grade copper mineralization; distinct magnetic signatures associated with areas of drill-confirmed copper mineralization. Importantly, similar magnetic signatures have also been identified outside the currently known Dumbwa mineralized corridor in areas that have not yet been drill tested.
Based on these results, Midnight Sun is expanding the high-resolution magnetic survey north and south to cover the full ~20 km extent of the Dumbwa copper-in-soil anomaly.
The expanded survey has three main objectives:
- Refine the geological and structural interpretation of the known Dumbwa mineralized corridor;
- Identify additional prospective zones along parallel and sympathetic structural corridors; and,
- Improve the Company's ability to target potential higher-grade copper mineralization.
Initial Magnetic Survey Results
The initial ground magnetic survey produced several important results. Within the northern portion of the Central Mineralized Block, the survey identified a distinctive pattern of rapidly changing magnetic intensity spatially associated with an area that has returned significant copper intercepts. The magnetic response is interpreted to reflect variations in the underlying lithology and structural architecture associated with the geological setting hosting sulphide-copper mineralization at Dumbwa.
Preliminary interpretation suggests that competent feldspar pegmatites and amphibolites, which commonly contain greater concentrations of magnetite, may define the margins of high-strain structural domains. Lower-magnetite schists occurring within these high-strain domains are to the main host sulphide-copper mineralization.
The higher-resolution magnetic data is also improving the Company's ability to identify late-stage faulting that may have displaced portions of the Dumbwa mineralized system, particularly in the North Central Block. Incorporating these structures into the geological model is expected to assist with the positioning of future drill collars and improve the effectiveness of drill testing.
The initial magnetic survey has already generated two new exploration targets, previously unrecognized and untested, situated ~1.0 to 1.2 km east of the main Dumbwa mineralized corridor. Both targets display magnetic characteristics like those observed in portions of Dumbwa associated with higher-grade copper mineralization.
Similar north-south trending magnetic features have also been identified west of the known Dumbwa corridor and represent additional areas requiring evaluation and testing.
Dipole-Dipole IP Survey
Dipole-dipole IP served an important purpose in Phase One and was employed over the initial 11.5 km of the Dumbwa system. This information informed the early drill targets which were successfully drilled. Coupled with magnetic measurements, the IP results have allowed a detailed understanding of the structural architecture of the Dumbwa mineralized corridor.
As part of Phase Two, Midnight Sun plans to extend the IP survey northward, along the remainder of the 20 km copper-in-soil anomaly. Approximately 19.1 line-km of additional IP surveying, at approximately 500 m north-south spacing, is currently underway to aid in Phase 2 drill planning in the search for the northward extension of the Dumba mineralized corridor.
The expanded survey is intended to provide geophysical coverage across areas beyond the current Phase One footprint and, when integrated with magnetic and geochemical data, assist in prioritizing targets for upcoming drill testing.
Soil Geochemistry
Phase One included soil sampling across selected portions of the initial 11.5 km Dumbwa target area. This work was undertaken to bolster the historical soil geochemical dataset and assist in evaluating the relationship between surface geochemistry and underlying sulphide-copper mineralization.
Phase Two plans to further strengthen the soil geochemical dataset. The current program is designed to extend a 100 m by 50 m sampling grid along the interpreted mineralized system and over magnetic targets west of Dumbwa that show strong similarities to the Dumbwa mineralized corridor, with ~4,600 samples planned.
Completion of the Phase Two soil sampling program is expected to provide consistent geochemical coverage across the entirety of the Dumbwa system and will be correlated with magnetic and IP geophysics to prioritize targets for drilling.
Phase Two Diamond Drilling - From Systematic Drilling to Targeted Exploration
Phase Two diamond drilling will focus on testing the highest-priority targets generated through the Company's integrated exploration approach.
While Phase One drilling was designed to systematically establish the geological and mineralization framework of the Dumbwa corridor, Phase Two drilling will be highly targeted, integrating the Company's Phase One exploration dataset, which includes drill data, high-resolution magnetics, IP, and geochemistry, with the evolving geological and structural model.
Phase Two drilling will initially focus on four target categories:
- Lateral extensions of known mineralization, including extensions of selected existing drill fences east and west beyond their currently tested limits;
- New parallel and sympathetic structures, including targets identified by the high-resolution magnetic survey east and west of the known Dumbwa corridor;
- The northern extension of the Dumbwa system, where geophysical, geochemical and geological evidence demonstrates the prospective structural corridor continues beyond the current Phase One drilling footprint; and
- Targeted drilling to define the geometry, continuity and extent of higher-grade copper domains within the broader mineralized corridor, focusing on areas where drilling has identified coherent zones of enhanced mineralization.
This represents a shift in the Company's exploration approach at Dumbwa. Rather than maintaining uniform drill density across the corridor, drilling will increasingly focus on areas where multiple datasets support the potential for larger or higher-grade mineralized blocks.
The high-resolution magnetic survey, expanded IP coverage, and soil sampling program will continue concurrently with the remainder of Phase One drilling but will be completed ahead of the initiation of Phase Two drilling, allowing the new information to be incorporated into the targeting model as it becomes available. The Company expects the continuing integration of drilling, geophysics, geochemistry, and geological interpretation to generate and refine additional targets throughout the program.
Qualified Person: Darin Labrenz, P.Geo., a consulting geologist for the Company and Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical data and contents of this release.
Rose and Co.
Midnight Sun has retained Rose & Company Holdings, LLC to provide investor relations services, including investor targeting and outreach, non-deal roadshows, and investor feedback analysis. The mandate runs for an initial term of one year at a fee of US$50,000 per quarter, payable from cash on hand, with no equity compensation to the firm.
Rose & Company Holdings is based in New York City, operates at arm's length from the Company, and holds no securities or other interests in Midnight Sun. The agreement is subject to TSX.V acceptance.
About Midnight Sun
Midnight Sun is rapidly advancing the Solwezi Copper Project, with a focus on our flagship Dumbwa copper deposit. The Project is located near the town of Solwezi in the heart of the Zambia-Congo Copperbelt, the world's second-largest copper-producing region. This prolific mining district is renowned for hosting multiple major copper deposits, and benefits from excellent infrastructure, an established mining workforce, and a long history of successful production.
The Solwezi Copper Project is surrounded by producing copper mines, including the geologically similar Lumwana mine just west of our project and First Quantum's Kansanshi mine - Africa's largest integrated metallurgical processing facility, approximately six kilometres east of the company's property boundary. This highly favourable location highlights the district-scale potential of Midnight Sun's land package.
The Dumbwa copper deposit underlays a robust 20-kilometre copper-in-soil anomaly, and ongoing drilling has demonstrated strong geological similarities to the nearby Lumwana mine, underscoring the potential scale of this new copper system.
Led by an experienced geological team with a proven track record of major discoveries in the Zambia-Congo Copperbelt and globally, Midnight Sun's goal is to delineate Zambia's next generational copper deposit.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF MIDNIGHT SUN MINING CORP.
Al Fabbro
President & CEO
For Further Information Contact:
Adrian O'Brien
VP Business Development and Communications
Tel: +1 604 809 6890
Em: adrian@midnightsunmining.com
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This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that are based on expectations, estimates, assumptions, geological theories, and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this news release about any information herein that is not a historical fact may be "forward looking statements." Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (which may, but not always, include phrases such as "anticipates", "expects", "plans", "scheduled", "believed" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements and are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure readers that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Such factors include, among others, risks relating to the timing and ability of the Company to obtain and the timing of the approval of relevant regulatory bodies, if at all; risks relating to property interests; risks related to access to the project; risks inherent in mineral exploration, including the fact that any particular phase of exploration may be unsuccessful; the availability of contractors; geo-political risks; the global economic climate; metal prices; environmental risks; political risks; and community and non-governmental actions. Further to this, geological similarities or characteristics are not guarantees or certainties of successful exploration. Neither the Company nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of any such forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake, and assumes no obligation, to update or revise any such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by law.
