September 03, 2026 – VANCOUVER -- Defense Metals Corp. (TSXV: DEFN) (OTCQB: DFMTF) (FSE:35D) has reported assay results from an initial eleven core drill holes totaling 1,633 metres at its 100%-owned Wicheeda Rare Earth Project near Prince George, British Columbia, with drill hole WI26-96 returning 2.86% Total Rare Earth Oxide (TREO) over 65 metres, including a higher-grade section averaging 6.15% TREO over 20.3 metres.
Drill hole WI26-93 delivers 1.70% TREO over 184 metres at the deposit's southern margin
Collared from the same setup as WI26-96, hole WI26-93 cut obliquely across the southern margin of the Wicheeda Deposit, intersecting mixed xenolithic and dolomite carbonatite grading 1.70% TREO over 184 metres, including 2.52% TREO over 57 metres.
Adjacent holes WI26-100 and WI26-102 confirm mineralization continuity 100 metres northwest
WI26-100, collared 100 metres northwest of WI26-93 and oriented southwest, returned 2.40% TREO over 85 metres within a broader 1.55% TREO zone spanning 149 metres. WI26-102, drilled southeast from the same setup, intersected 3.25% TREO over 34.3 metres within a wider interval averaging 2.62% TREO over 73.4 metres to a depth of 79 metres; assays for the remaining 47 metres of that hole are still pending.
All eleven reported holes fall within the pit limits set by the 2025 Preliminary Feasibility Study
Robin Jones, Defense Metals' VP Projects, said all eleven holes intersected significant widths of high-to-moderate-grade rare earth mineralization within the pit confines defined by the company's 2025 Preliminary Feasibility Study, and are expected to contribute to a resource classification uplift.
The 2026 program totals 31 holes and 5,345 metres across three drilling categories
The season's program comprised 20 resource upgrade and infill holes (3,136 metres), seven pit-slope geotechnical holes (1,507 metres), and four waste-rock geochemical holes (702 metres). The infill drilling targets upgrading inferred resources within the PFS ultimate pit design to an indicated or better category.
Assays for ten additional resource holes remain pending at ALS Canada laboratories
This release covers assay results for the first of ten resource upgrade and infill holes plus one pit-slope geotechnical hole, WI26-86. Analysis of the remaining ten resource upgrade and infill holes is underway at ALS Canada Ltd. laboratories in Vancouver, with results expected in the coming weeks. Samples were processed under ALS's ISO-IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015 accreditation, with no significant QA/QC issues identified by the Qualified Person, Kristopher J. Raffle of APEX Geoscience Ltd.