# Iconic Minerals Initiates Drilling at New Pass Gold Property, Nevada *2026-05-21T11:44:00-04:00* Iconic Minerals Initiates Drilling at New Pass Gold Property, Nevada Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 21, 2026) - **Iconic Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ICM)****(OTCQB: ICMFF) (FSE: YQG)**(the "Company" or "Iconic") announces that drilling is now underway at its New Pass Gold Property ("New Pass" or the "Property") in Churchill County, Nevada. American Drilling Corporation of Spokane, Washington, has commenced HQ core drilling at the Property, marking a significant advancement in the Company's exploration and resource expansion strategy. The 2,140-hectare New Pass Property is located along a highly prospective Carlin-type gold trend approximately 150 miles (240 km) east of Reno, Nevada, one of the world's premier mining jurisdictions. The current drill program is designed to test extensions of a mineralized zone that has already been defined over more than 3,000 feet (915 metres) of strike length and remains open along strike and at depth. New Pass is being explored under a joint venture agreement with McEwen Mining Inc. (TSX: MUX) (NYSE: MUX), with Iconic serving as operator of the exploration program. The Company believes the current drill campaign has the potential to significantly expand the known mineralized system and further enhance the value of the existing inferred resource. Iconic Minerals' President and CEO, Richard Kern stated; _"We are excited to have drilling underway at New Pass as we target extensions of the mineralized zone. Core recovery has been excellent, and the drilling is helping define the structure and alteration associated with the system. We have already identified a decalcified and silicified limonite-stained section that we believe represents the mineralized zone. Importantly, the geological characteristics intercepted to date appear analogous to Carlin-type mineralized structures found elsewhere in Nevada. We believe New Pass has the potential to become a significantly larger mineralized system and create additional value for shareholders."_ **New Pass Drilling Exploration Summary** - Road and drill pad construction has been completed for nine drill sites, with additional sites in progress. - Drill holes are designed to intersect the southwest-dipping mineralized zone, interpreted to be up to 250 feet (76 metres) thick. - Gold-silver mineralization occurs primarily near the contact between rhyolite tuff and limestone and extends into the limestone host rocks. - Alteration includes strong silicification and jasperoid development within decalcified limestone, features commonly associated with Carlin-type gold systems. - Drill core will be processed in Reno, Nevada before shipment to ALS Limited laboratories for fire assay analysis. - The current program is intended to improve geological understanding of the system while testing for potential expansion of the existing inferred resource. **About the New Pass Gold Property** The New Pass Gold Property is located within Nevada's Basin and Range Province along the highly prospective Sulfur-Lovelock-Austin structural gold trend, a region recognized for hosting Carlin-type gold systems. The Property was initially explored in 1980, when a stream sediment arsenic anomaly led to the discovery of a gold-bearing jasperoid system. Since that time, more than 131,000 feet (40,000 metres) of drilling across 329 drill holes have identified significant intervals of Carlin-type gold-silver mineralization, leading to the delineation of the New Pass Au-Ag deposit. The New Pass Au-Ag deposit represents a classic Carlin-type system, with mineralization hosted primarily within silicified rocks and jasperoid developed in decalcified limestone of the Triassic Lower Augusta Mountain Formation. A major north-northwest to south-southeast trending, west-dipping structure separates Triassic calcareous rocks from younger Tertiary volcanic rocks and acted as a major conduit for hydrothermal circulation, alteration, and gold-silver deposition. The deposit outcrops at surface and has been drilled along approximately 3,000 feet (915 m) of strike length, with the deepest pierce point reaching a vertical depth of approximately 295 metres. The shallowly west-dipping tabular deposit remains open along strike in both directions and at depth, providing significant exploration upside. **Inferred Resource Summary** - Total Short Tons: 15,515,488 - Average Grade AuEq: 0.022 oz/ton - Contained AuEq Ounces: 341,750 - Average Silver Grade: 0.202 oz/ton - Contained Silver Ounces: 3,139,054 - Average Gold Grade: 0.018 oz/ton - Contained Gold Ounces: 282,98 The New Pass deposit hosts a significant inferred mineral resource, demonstrating the established scale and continuity of the system. Historical NI 43-101 reporting outlines an inferred resource containing both gold and silver mineralization within a near-surface, oxide-dominant system. This existing inferred resource pr