Arras Minerals Outlines 2026 Elemes Exploration Plan - Doubles Drill Rigs to Four in Q1 2026
ARRAS MINERALS OUTLINES 2026 ELEMES
EXPLORATION PLAN - DOUBLES DRILL RIGS
TO FOUR IN Q1 2026
TSX-V: ARK / OTCQB: ARRKF
VANCOUVER, BC
,
Jan. 22, 2026
/CNW/ -
Arras Minerals Corp.
(TSXV: ARK) (OTCQB: ARRKF)
("Arras" or "Arras Minerals" or "the Company")
is pleased to outline the 2026 Elemes
Exploration Plan focused on accelerating the advancement of the Elemes Project in the Pavlodar
region of northeast
Kazakhstan
.
Highlights of the program include:
Phase 2 Elemes drill program expanded, additional 20,000+ metres ("m") of core drilling
planned, with
Two drills to commence in February and an additional two drills to commence in March
Primary emphasis on expanding scale of Berezski Central and Berezski North targets
Additional drilling extending the footprint of Berezski East Target and to find the source of the
porphyry mineralization identified at the Novii target (announced
December 16, 2025
)
6,000m
of Top of Bedrock ("KGK") drilling planned at both Berezski and Aimandai Trends to
accelerate target definition in these zones.
Darren Klinck
, President commented,
"One year ago this month we announced the initial results
from our Phase 1 drilling program at Elemes which started to outline the emergence of two distinct
porphyry centres at Berezski North and Berezski Central. Pleasingly, after successfully raising
capital and commencing the Phase 2 program in May, the follow-on eight months of work has
delivered further expansion of the mineralized zones in both of these target areas and has
identified additional targets at Berezski East and Novii which the Company has yet to determine if
they are likely extensions of Berezski Central or new porphyry systems altogether. Overall, we
believe that the outcomes from this first year of work warrants accelerating activity and we are
doubling the drills that will be operating at Elemes to four rigs by March this year."
He went on to say,
"At a time when the world is waking up to the importance of critical minerals
and commodities generally, our thesis that
Kazakhstan
would continue to be a stable jurisdiction to
operate in and one that goes on attracting more and more foreign interest continues to play out.
Marrying that with tremendous mineral endowment, and the
Kazakhstan
cost advantage, we
continue to believe that the Elemes Project holds the near-term potential to demonstrate more than
one scalable copper-gold deposit at grades that are consistent with operating copper-gold mines in
Kazakhstan
today, some of which are among the lowest cost operations globally. The timeline to
explore for, develop, permit and operate a new mine in
Kazakhstan
going forward we believe will
be amongst the shortest and with some of the lowest capex intensity of any critical minerals
provinces globally. The vast infrastructure, deep acceptance from society paired with the ongoing
support and encouragement from our government partners, creates the environment that will be a
competitive advantage for Arras going forward."
Berezski Trend - Overview
2025 marked a year of major advancements at Elemes. The Company commenced Phase 2 drilling
in May and completed nearly
10,000m
of drilling by late December. The program significantly
expanded the footprints of copper-gold mineralization at Berezski Central, Berezski East and
Berezski North and discovered a potential new porphyry system at Novii. This work has expanded
the length of the Berezski Trend to at least a 10 kilometre ("km") long strike length and
demonstrates that mineralization continues below cover to the south. Grades and widths reported
to-date at Elemes are consistent with mined grades from operating open-pit copper operations in
Kazakhstan
today.
A 64-hole KGK drilling program was completed in Q4 2025 across the Berezski East and Berezski
Central targets to evaluate whether this technique could accelerate exploration along the entire
length of the Berezski Trend. The program was highly successful, confirming the northward and
southward continuation of mineralization at both Berezski Central and Berezski East, while also
identifying multiple new, previously unrecognized, gold zones in the immediate vicinity of Berezski
East. Initial follow-up drilling of one of these newly identified zones returned encouraging gold
mineralization in drill hole EL25022, which intersected
29.9m
grading 0.63 g/t Au starting from a
depth of
14.0m
. These results validate the effectiveness of the KGK approach as a powerful
discovery tool and demonstrate its potential to rapidly generate new targets, which represent priority
areas for future exploration and expansion of the mineralized footprint.
Magnetotellurics ("MT") and Gravity geophysical surveys were also completed at the Berezski and
Aimandai Trends in Q4 2025. They have provided additional important data supporting the concept
of the potential presence of several large porphyry systems along the Berezski Trend.
In 2026, Arras plans to expand the diamond drill program for at least an additional
20,000m
on key
Berezski Targets and also conduct a systematic 6,000m+ KGK drilling program along the entire
length of the Berezski Trend and priority areas of the Aimandai Trend identified from the various
magnetic, gravity and MT geophysics surveys. This KGK program will rapidly define the
mineralization footprints of existing targets and identify additional new targets for follow-up
prioritization and drilling.
Berezski North
The Company completed six drill holes at the Berezski North target in H2 2025, outlining a
600m
long
copper-gold mineralized system. Deeper drilling has intersected broad intervals of porphyry-style
mineralization in drill-holes EL24005 (
547.0m
grading 0.48 g/t Au and 0.23% Cu) and EL25027
(results pending).
Berezski North is defined by a several large chargeability highs (Figure 1), surrounding a large
magnetic high (Figure 2). The chargeability anomaly is probably related to a pyrite halo that
commonly surrounds the potassic core of many porphyry deposits.
Figure 1: Berezski North Target showing completed and planned drill-holes overlain on IP
chargeability data (at 100m below surface). (CNW Group/Arras Minerals Corp.)
Several discrete magnetic lows are spatially related to the hydrothermal breccias that have been
intersected in several drill-holes, including drill holes EL25014A (
154.0m
grading 0.72 g/t Au and
0.29% Cu) and EL25023 (
246.2m
grading 0.75 g/t Au and 0.24% Cu).
Figure 2: Berezski North Target showing completed and planned drill-holes overlain on ground
magnetic data with IP chargeability highs and gravity lows outlined. (CNW Group/Arras Minerals
Corp.)
The MT survey results (Figure 3) recently received from the program completed in Q4 2025 has
defined a large conductivity anomaly centered below drill hole EL24006 (
56.0m
grading 0.35 g/t Au
and 0.35% Cu), with high conductivity zones extending to surface that coincide with porphyry
mineralization intersected in holes EL24005 and EL25027 and with the breccias intersected in hole
EL25014A and EL25023, indicating that the areas of mineralization intersected to date may connect
to a much larger mineral system a depth.
Figure 3: MT Cross section B-B’ (looking north) through the Berezski North target, showing
completed and planned drill-holes. (CNW Group/Arras Minerals Corp.)
The 2026 drilling will test the conductivity zones to the southwest of drill-holes EL24005 and
EL25014A, towards the center of Berezski North Target and test the deep conductivity zones. KGK
drilling will be conducted systematically over the entire Berezski North Target to cost-effectively test
the various near surface conductivity, chargeability and magnetic lows to determine their origin.
Berezski Central /Berezski East
Results from 2025 identified wide zones of porphyry Cu-Au mineralization with hole EL25012
(
444.0m
grading 0.25 g/t Au and 0.16% Cu) extending the mineralization to at least
500m
depth.
Hole EL25018 (
76.0m
0.28 g/t Au and 0.17% Cu expanded the footprint to
600m
strike length.
Regional drilling has defined a large, low-grade (>0.1 g/t Au) gold shell extending for at least 2.1 km
(see Figure 4) from drill-hole EL24003 (
264.0m
grading 0.17 g/t Au) to drill-hole EL25013 (
192.0m
grading 0.16 g/t Au).
The ground magnetic data shows that the current Cu-Au mineralized envelope is in the center of a
very large, demagnetized zone caused by the alteration associated with a large porphyry system.
At Berezski East, the mineralization coincides with a 2 km long linear magnetic high. The IP and MT
data shows subtle chargeability and conductivity anomalies, probably reflecting the lower sulphide
content seen in the drilling from this area.
Figure 4: Berezski Central and Berezski East Target with completed and planned drill-holes overlain
on ground magnetic data (reduced to pole), with gravity lows highlighted. (CNW Group/Arras
Minerals Corp.)
The MT survey has defined a large 2.5 km by 1.2 km conductivity high at Berezski Central (Figure 5)
that extends south towards drill-hole NOV25003. It is believed that this anomaly is caused either by
sulphides or clay minerals associated with porphyry systems. The weaker anomalies seen at
Berezski East reflect the lower sulphide content seen in drill-holes at this target.
Figure 5: Berezski Central and Berezski East Target with completed and planned drill-holes overlain
on MT data at 340m depth. (CNW Group/Arras Minerals Corp.)
At Berezski Central, drilling will focus on expanding the footprint of the known mineralization with
holes exploring the continuation of the near surface conductivity anomaly to the south towards the
Novii Target; additionally several holes are planned to test the large near-surface conductivity
anomaly; and several holes are planned to explore the large deeper conductivity anomaly located to
the west of the current mineralization to determine its cause.
At Berezski East, drilling will explore the prominent magnetic high that hosts the Au-Cu mineralization
seen in holes EL24004 (
138.8m
grading 0.77 g/t Au and 0.09% Cu) and EL25019 (
457.5m
grading
0.61 g/t Au and 0.10% Cu) to the north and south. Several holes will explore a prominent gravity low
to the northeast of hole EL25019 to determine its cause, and to see if it is the source of the
porphyry-style (potassic) alteration and mineralization intersected in that hole (released
October 8,
2025
). Follow-up drilling on gold intercepts from the KGK drilling (released
December 16, 2025
) that
identified multiple gold zones to the east of holes EL25019 and EL24004 is also planned.
The MT survey defined a series of large, near surface conductivity anomalies at Berezski Central
and Berezski East. These appear to link at depth to a larger anomaly at depth to the west of
Berezski Central (Figure 6), which is also planned to be tested as part of the 2026 drill program.
Figure 6: MT Cross section (A – A’) through Berezski Central and Berezski East deposits showing
completed and planned drill-holes. The vertical white zone is due to a powerline crossing the
property. (CNW Group/Arras Minerals Corp.)
Novii
The discovery of porphyry style mineralization at Novii in hole NOV25003 (announced in the
December 16, 2025
news release –
14.0m
grading 0.23 g/t Au and 0.08% Cu) demonstrated that
the Berezski Trend continues at least another 2 km south of Berezski Central beneath cover. A
review of the geophysical data including ground magnetic and MT conductivity appears to show that
hole NOV25003 may have intersected the distal margin of a porphyry system.
The ground magnetic survey (Figure 7) identified a discrete magnetic high located
900m
south of
hole NOV25003, and the Company believes that this potentially could be related to the core of a
porphyry system, with hole NOV25003 intersecting the demagnetized phyllic halo.
Figure 7: Novii Target showing completed and planned drill-holes overlain on ground magnetic data
(reduced to pole), with gravity lows and conductivity highs highlighted. (CNW Group/Arras Minerals
Corp.)
Arras plans to test these compelling geophysical targets to determine their source and evaluate their
relationship to the distal porphyry-style mineralization intersected in drill hole NOV25003. These
targets may represent vectors toward the core of a large, previously unrecognized porphyry system
and offer a significant opportunity for discovery.
Aimandai Trend
In 2025, the Company focused on the emerging Berezski Trend, as well as conducting regional
drilling on the Teck joint venture licenses. Concurrently, the Company completed extensive IP, MT
and gravity surveys over the largely unexplored Aimandai Trend that delineated several conductivity
highs with coincident gravity lows. The Company plans to initiate a systematic KGK drilling program
(Figure 8) across geophysical targets on the Aimandai Trend in Q2, designed to quickly evaluate
large areas, define mineralized zones and district-scale trends, and generate immediate, high-priority
targets for follow-up diamond drilling.
Figure 8: Proposed KGK drill-program and soil copper pXRF geochemical anomalies, Aimandai
Trend (CNW Group/Arras Minerals Corp.)
Hole_ID
Intersection
Interval
Au
Cu
Ag
Mo
CuEq
AuEq
From (m)
To (m)
(m)
(g/t)
( %)
(g/t)
ppm
( %)
(g/t)
EL25012
3.0
581.0
578.0
0.21
0.14
0.49
42.14
0.37
0.31
including
137.0
577.0
440.0
0.25
0.16
0.55
42.64
0.42
0.36
EL25013
69.0
261.0
192.0
0.16
0.01
1.08
1.48
0.18
0.15
including
105.0
123.0
18.0
0.29
0.00
1.53
1.51
0.31
0.26
EL25014
Hole Lost at 30m depth
EL25014A
130.0
284.0
154.0
0.72
0.29
3.43
53.51
1.04
0.89
including
130.0
248.0
118.0
0.91
0.36
4.41
68.66
1.31
1.12
EL25015
No Significant Results
EL25016
0.0
276.0
276.0
0.32
0.21
3.73
1.96
0.55
0.47
Including
0.0
104.0
104.0
0.63
0.46
4.24
3.52
1.09
0.93
EL25017
91.0
128.0
37.0
0.11
0.02
0.71
1.64
0.14
0.12
EL25018
52.0
244.0
192.0
0.19
0.13
0.79
62.38
0.35
0.30
Include
76.0
152.0
76.0
0.28
0.17
1.02
92.18
0.50
0.43
EL25019
0.0
457.5
457.5
0.61
0.10
0.48
2.69
0.70
0.60
Include
0.0
231.0
231.0
0.97
0.13
0.53
2.19
1.08
0.93
EL25020
358.1
672.0
313.9
0.14
0.12
0.43
48.44
0.29
0.25
Include
358.1
414.0
55.9
0.21
0.13
0.39
60.26
0.37
0.31
EL25021
42.0
97.0
55.0
0.11
0.11
1.04
70.97
0.26
0.22
EL25022
14.0
43.9
29.9
0.63
0.01
0.30
7.50
0.64
0.55
&
302.0
349.0
47.0
0.42
0.13
0.58
4.75
0.54
0.46
EL25023
0.8
247.0
246.2
0.75
0.24
3.70
40.30
1.02
0.88
including
7.0
147.0
140.0
0.88
0.35
4.37
52.20
1.26
1.08
NOV25001
No Significant Results
NOV25002
No Significant Results
NOV25003
249.0
306.0
57.0
0.10
0.07
0.37
26.40
0.18
0.15
including
249.0
263.0
14.0
0.23
0.08
0.45
21.31
0.32
0.27
Table 1. Summary results from 2025 drill holes to date
Notes: For copper and gold equivalent calculations the following metal process were used: US$3.75/lb. Copper, US$3,000/oz Gold, US$35/oz Silver, US$30/lb Molybdenum, and
metallurgical recoveries have been updated to Cu 90%, Au 85%, Ag 75%, Mo 80%. All intervals are presented as core lengths as the true thicknesses of mineralization is
currently unknown.
Figure 9: Arras Minerals Elemes Project and project portfolio located in Pavlodar, Northeastern
Kazakhstan. (CNW Group/Arras Minerals Corp.)
Elemes Phase II Drill Program:
Since June of last year, Arras Minerals has been advancing its
20,000m
Phase II diamond drill program at the Elemes Project. Drilling was paused in late
December for a scheduled winter break and is expected to recommence in February. Nearly
10,000m
were completed in 2025, and the strength of the results has prompted Arras to plan an
expansion of the program to
30,000m
, with completion targeted by the end of 2026.
Elemes Project Overview:
The Elemes Project comprises two exploration licenses covering 531
square kilometres in northeast
Kazakhstan
, located approximately 13 km southwest of Ekibastuz
and just 20 km from Arras's operational base. The project benefits from exceptional infrastructure,
with a paved highway crossing the licence, and access to 1100 KVA power lines, heavy rail, and
other utilities within a 15 km radius.
Situated within the prolific Bozshakol-Chingiz metallogenic belt, Elemes lies near significant regional
deposits, including the Beskauga porphyry copper-gold-silver deposit (~80 km east) and KAZ
Minerals' Bozshakol copper-gold mine (~60 km northwest), which reported mined grades in Q1 2025
of 0.37% Copper and 0.20 g/t gold.
1
Geologically, the property is underlain by interbedded intermediate volcanic and sedimentary rocks
intruded by multiple phases of diorite and monzodiorite porphyry. Copper-gold mineralization occurs
in sheeted and stockwork quartz-chalcopyrite veins associated with these intrusions. In addition,
high-grade low-sulphidation epithermal veins have been mapped on the property, representing a
secondary exploration target.
Property-wide soil sampling programs defined two extensive Cu-Mo-As geochemical anomalies: the
Berezski and Aimandai Trends, both considered priority targets for follow-up exploration drilling. A
Phase 1 drill program on the Berezski Trend in late 2024 returned high-grade porphyry/epithermal
copper and gold mineralization in results announced in Q1 2025. A
20,000m
Phase 2 drill program
commenced in
May 2025
which was expanded to 30,000 metres in
January 2026
and expected to
be completed by the end of 2026.
References
1
Bozshakol Q1, 2025 Report
https://www.kazminerals.com/media/23282/q1-2025-production-report_final.pdf
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
The Company adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines for exploration related activities conducted
on its property. Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures are overseen by the
Qualified Person.
Arras Minerals QA/QC protocols are maintained through the insertion of certified reference material
(standards), blanks and field duplicates within the sample stream. Drill core is cut at Arras Minerals
operations base in Ekibastuz,
Kazakhstan
by Company personnel. Diamond drill core was sawed in-
half with a diamond saw, and then sampled in maximum 2-meter intervals, stopping at geological
boundaries, with one-half placed in sealed bags and shipped to the laboratory and the other half
retained on site.
Each bagged core sample was shipped to ALS Laboratory in Karaganda,
Kazakhstan
. Samples
were dried, crushed and pulverized to >80% passing -200 mesh. The prepared sample splits were
sent to the ALS Chemex's geochemical analysis laboratories laboratory in Loughrea,
County
Galway, Ireland
and
Lima, Peru
for multi-element analysis. Multielement analyses were analyzed
with ICP-MS following a four-acid digestion (method ME-MS61) and samples containing >1.0%
copper are analyzed via method Cu-OG62.
Gold analysis was conducted by ALS Chemex at the analytical laboratory in Karaganda,
Kazakhstan
. Gold was analyzed by fire assay (30 g) with an AA (atomic absorption) finish (method
Au-AA23) with detection limits of 0.005 g/t gold. Samples containing greater than 10.0 g/t gold are
analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish (method Au-GRA21).
ALS is an accredited laboratory which is independent of the Company. Chain of custody is
maintained from the drill to the submittal into the laboratory preparation facility.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical disclosure for this news release has been prepared under supervision of
and approved by
Matthew Booth
, Vice President of Exploration, of Arras Minerals Corp., a Qualified
Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. Mr. Booth has reviewed and approved this release. Mr.
Booth has over 20 years of mineral exploration experience and is a Qualified Person member of the
American Institute of Professional Geologists (CPG 12044).
Gold, copper and other mineral equivalents are calculated on the basis specifically set forth in
respect thereto in this presentation and are based upon the reasonable assumptions as to the prices
of various metals and their recoveries thereof made by management of the Company on a project-
by-project basis as converted metal. All drill-hole intervals are reported as drill widths, as true
thicknesses are unknown. Assumed metal prices are:
US$3.75
/lb. Copper,
US$3,000
/oz Gold,
US$35
/oz Silver, &
US$30
/lb Molybdenum.
The Company has updated metal recoveries: 90% for copper, 85% for gold, 75% for silver, and
80% for molybdenum. These figures are based on a review of published data from advanced-stage
porphyry projects (including Vizcachitas, Los Andes Copper; Copper Creek, Faraday Coper;
Valeriano, ATEX Copper; Los Helados, NGEx Resources Inc.; Opemiska, XXIX Metal Corp; Costa
Fuego, Hot Chili Limited; Moonlight-Superior, US Copper Corp; Warintza, Solaris Resources, Inc.;
Chita Valley
, Minsud Resources Corp.; Hat, Doubleview Gold Corp.)
Copper Equivalent ("CuEq") grades reported for the drill holes at Elemes were calculated using the
following formula: CuEq % = ((Copper (%))*0.9) + ((Gold (g/t) x 0.8571)*0.85) + ((Silver (g/t) x
0.0117)*0.75) + ((Molybdenum (ppm) x 6.8568)*0.80).
Gold Equivalent ("AuEq") grades reported for the drill holes at Elemes were calculated using the
following formula: AuEq g/t = ((Gold (g/t)*0.85) + ((Copper (%) x 1.1667)*0.9) + ((Silver (g/t) x
0.0136)*0.75) + ((Molybdenum (ppm) x 8.0)*0.80).
On behalf of the Board of Directors,