VANCOUVER, BC — February 20, 2026 — Leads & Copy —
Arras Minerals Corp. (TSXV: ARK) (OTCQB: ARRKF) has announced the recommencement of diamond drilling at the Elemes Project in northeastern Kazakhstan.
Two diamond drill rigs have arrived on site, with the first two holes commencing at the Berezski East target. The company said that two more drill rigs will arrive at site in March, and will commence drilling at Berezski Central, where the Company has completed nine holes and defined a zone of copper-gold mineralization measuring approximately 600m x 500m by up to 550m depth.
Approximately 20,000 meters of drilling is planned for this year.
The initial two holes will focus on defining and expanding the wide zones of gold-copper mineralization intersected by holes EL24004 (138.8m grading 0.77 g/t Au and 0.09% Cu starting from a depth of 1.2m) and EL25019 (457.5m grading 0.61 g/t Au and 0.10% Cu from surface), and explore the prominent gravity anomaly located to the east-northeast of drill-hole EL25019.
Upon completion of these two holes, both drill-rigs will move up to drill at Berezski North, 4.5 kilometres northwest of Berezski East to follow-up on previously announced holes EL25023 (246.2m grading 0.75 g/t Au, 0.24% Cu starting from a depth of 0.8m) and EL25014A (154.0m grading 0.72 g/t Au, 0.28% Cu starting at a depth of 130m), and to explore for the continuation of porphyry style bornite-chalcopyrite mineralization intersected by hole EL25027 (results pending).
Arras Minerals CEO Tim Barry stated that the 2026 program at Elemes is off to a strong start. He added that the company’s focus is to rapidly advance and expand the Berezski North and Berezski Central discoveries while continuing to define the broader porphyry footprint. In parallel, the company will begin systematically testing Berezski East and Novii targets to determine their relationship to the main porphyry centres, with the objective of unlocking the potential across the 10-kilometre Berezski Trend.
Barry also noted that final Magneto-telluric and gravity survey results received in December have sharpened targeting and provided greater conviction in the structural controls and scale of the system. He added that drilling to date has returned broad, near-surface intervals of copper and gold mineralization, reinforcing the view that Elemes has the potential to host a significant, large-scale porphyry system comparable to low-cost producing mines in Kazakhstan. The company believes 2026 will be a transformative year for Arras as it continues to demonstrate the scale and continuity of this emerging copper-gold district.
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 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.
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.
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 is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Source: Arras Minerals
