Nord's Wedge Hole Hits 20,676 g/t Silver at Castle East

Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. (TSXV: NTH) reported that wedge hole CS-26-140W1 at its Castle East project near Gowganda, Ontario returned three silver-cobalt intervals between 404.20 and 463.60 metres downhole, headlined by 20,676 g/t silver with 1.16% cobalt over 0.30 metres.

Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. (TSXV: NTH) has reported assay results from a single wedge hole at its Castle East high-grade silver project near Gowganda, Ontario that landed three separate silver-cobalt intervals in one pass of the drill string. The headline number — 20,676 grams per tonne silver, or 603 ounces per ton, with 1.16% cobalt over 0.30 metres — sits at the extreme end of what silver drilling produces anywhere.

The hole, CS-26-140W1, is a wedge: a daughter hole kicked off the parent bore rather than collared fresh from surface, a cheaper way to test several targets from one expensive deep hole. It intersected mineralisation between 404.20 and 463.60 metres downhole, a 59.4-metre span. The company also trades as NPMMF on the OTCQB and as QN3 in Frankfurt.

What the three intervals actually contain

The upper interval ran 4,683 g/t (136.6 oz/ton) silver with 0.53% cobalt over 2.00 metres, from 404.20 to 406.20 metres. Inside that two-metre length sits the 0.30-metre slice grading 20,676 g/t silver and 1.16% cobalt — roughly four and a half times the grade of the composite that contains it, which is the arithmetic of a narrow vein dominating a wider sampled length.

Deeper in the hole, a 4.2-metre interval averaging 1,546 g/t silver contains two higher-grade slices: 4,540 g/t silver over 0.90 metres and 10,413 g/t silver over 0.30 metres. The 10,413 g/t slice is roughly seven times the grade of the 4.2-metre composite around it.

Two caveats belong with every number here, and the company states both. All reported intervals are core lengths, not true widths — true widths have not been determined, so a 0.30-metre core length may represent a thinner vein cut obliquely. And composite intervals are length-weighted, the standard method, which means the 2.00-metre and 4.2-metre averages are mathematically honest but are still averages spanning material of wildly different tenor. Investors reading spectacular spot grades should hold the composite figures in mind alongside them.

Nine metres from holes drilled in 2020 and 2021

The more consequential detail for anyone modelling this deposit is location, not grade. The new intersections lie approximately nine and ten metres from previously reported high-grade holes CS-21-92 and CS-20-43. That is close spacing by any standard, and it is the kind of result that converts an isolated high-grade hit into a mapped structure.

Ultra-high-grade silver systems of the Gowganda–Cobalt camp type are notoriously discontinuous: veins can carry thousands of grams per tonne and then vanish over a few metres. Tying new assays to holes drilled several seasons earlier, at under ten metres of separation, is how a company builds the confidence needed to eventually classify material rather than simply announce it. Nord says the results feed an expanded Castle East geological model, which is the practical output — a three-dimensional interpretation of where the veins run and how they connect.

What the release does not do is attach a tonnage or a resource estimate to any of it, and readers should not infer one. Drill results are inputs to a model; the model is an input to a resource. Those are separate milestones with separate timelines.

The cobalt sitting alongside the silver

The cobalt grades reported — 0.53% over 2.00 metres and 1.16% over 0.30 metres — matter beyond being a footnote to the silver. The historic Cobalt–Gowganda camp is named for the metal, and silver-cobalt arsenide veins are its signature. For a project with battery-metal exposure embedded in a precious-metals story, cobalt credits can change the economics of a narrow, high-grade vein system, where the question is rarely whether the rock is valuable and usually whether enough of it can be mined at once.

Cobalt supply remains heavily concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and North American battery supply chains have been actively hunting for domestic and near-shore units. A Canadian silver-cobalt system with grades in this range is a small piece of that picture, but it is the reason results like these draw attention from two different investor bases at the same time.

A micro-cap quote against a strong tape

Nord's OTC line, NPMMF, last changed hands at 0.12, down 0.69% on the day, with a session range of 0.11 to 0.12, as of the close on Friday, 11 September 2026. The previous close was also 0.12. At that level the stock sits in penny-share territory where a single tick is a meaningful percentage move and where liquidity, not geology, often sets the day's price.

The wider market that week was firm. The S&P 500 tracker closed at $764.29, up 0.85%; the Nasdaq 100 proxy finished at $714.88, up 0.87%; and the Dow 30 fund ended at $525.79, up 0.97%. Nord's flat-to-slightly-lower print against that backdrop is a reminder that exploration micro-caps trade on their own catalysts and their own float, not on index beta.

The full assay tables and interval detail were carried by INN Battery Metals.

What would move this from headline to substance

Three things are worth watching. First, whether subsequent wedges or step-out holes extend the same structures beyond the nine-to-ten-metre tie to CS-21-92 and CS-20-43 — continuity is the whole argument. Second, whether Nord publishes true widths once orientation data is in hand, which would reframe every narrow interval in this release. Third, whether the expanded geological model is followed by a formal resource step, the point at which drill grades become tonnes and ounces that can be valued.

Until then, the release is what it says it is: a very high-grade hole, drilled cheaply off an existing parent bore, in a camp that has produced grades like this before and has also repeatedly proved how hard they are to string together.

Key facts

• Peak interval: 20,676 g/t (603 oz/ton) silver with 1.16% cobalt over 0.30 metres
• Hole and location: Wedge hole CS-26-140W1, Castle East, near Gowganda, Ontario
• Mineralised span: Three intervals between 404.20 m and 463.60 m downhole — a 59.4 m span
• Share quote: NPMMF last closed at 0.12, -0.69%, as of 11 Sep 2026 20:00 GMT

Frequently asked questions

What did hole CS-26-140W1 return?

The wedge hole returned three separate silver-cobalt mineralised intervals between 404.20 and 463.60 metres downhole. The upper interval graded 4,683 g/t silver with 0.53% cobalt over 2.00 metres, including 20,676 g/t silver with 1.16% cobalt over 0.30 metres. A separate 4.2-metre interval graded 1,546 g/t silver and included 4,540 g/t over 0.90 metres and 10,413 g/t over 0.30 metres.

What is a wedge hole?

A wedge hole is a daughter hole deviated off an existing parent drill hole rather than collared fresh from surface. It lets a company test additional targets at depth without re-drilling the upper hundreds of metres, which makes it a significantly cheaper way to add intersections in deep, narrow-vein systems like Castle East.

Why does the company say true widths are not determined?

All reported intervals are core lengths — the distance measured along the drill core — not the actual thickness of the mineralised structure. If a hole cuts a vein at an angle, the core length overstates true width. Nord states true widths have not been determined, so narrow high-grade slices should be read with that limitation in mind.

How close are these hits to earlier drilling?

The new intersections lie approximately nine and ten metres from previously reported high-grade holes CS-21-92 and CS-20-43. That tight spacing is what allows the results to be tied into an expanded Castle East geological model rather than standing as isolated high-grade intercepts in a notoriously discontinuous vein system.

Where does Nord Precious Metals trade?

Nord Precious Metals Mining Inc. is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under NTH, on the OTC and OTCQB markets under NPMMF, and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under QN3. The OTC line last closed at 0.12, down 0.69% on the day, with a session range of 0.11 to 0.12 as of 11 September 2026.

Why does the cobalt content matter?

The intervals carry 0.53% cobalt over 2.00 metres and 1.16% cobalt over 0.30 metres. Cobalt is a battery metal whose global supply is heavily concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, so Canadian silver-cobalt vein systems draw interest from both precious-metals and battery supply-chain investors. Cobalt credits can also improve the economics of narrow high-grade veins.

Sources

• Nord Intersects 20,675 g/t Silver over 0.3 Metres and 10,413 g/t Silver over 0.3 Metres at Castle East — INN Battery Metals

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