P2 Gold & Gabbs: A Boots-on-the-Ground Look at Nevada’s Rotated Porphyry

• P2 Gold Inc. is advancing its 100%-owned Gabbs Project in Nevada toward a feasibility study (FS) targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
• Gabbs has paved highway access, power infrastructure, and purchased water rights, while existing roads provide access to historical and current drilling areas.
• Three geotechnical holes drilled at the margins of the planned Lucky Strike pit intersected gold-copper mineralization, including a 123.44-meter interval grading 0.50 grams per tonne of gold and 0.20% copper. 
• The FS plan evaluates higher processing throughput and earlier milling than the 2025 preliminary economic assessment, with a targeted average annual production of 150,000 ounces of gold and 45 to 50 million pounds of copper.
• P2 Gold is targeting an updated mineral resource estimate (MRE) in the third quarter of 2026 and completion of the FS in the fourth quarter of 2026.

A Project Built Around Existing Infrastructure

A site visit to Gabbs highlights the infrastructure surrounding P2 Gold's (TSXV: PGLD) mineralized zones and the company's strategy of using those existing assets as it advances engineering and permitting. The project is approximately 150 miles from Reno and is accessed by a paved highway, while the company has also secured water rights and has power infrastructure on the property. Existing roads are relevant to the current exploration program because P2 Gold continues to use historical drill access routes.

During the on-site walkthrough, Chief Exploration Officer of P2 Gold, Ken McNaughton, explained that the company can drive directly to outcropping mineralization while using the existing road network:

“First off, we are able to drive right into an outcrop of high-grade, so we've got exposure, we've got ease of access, we've got all the infrastructure. The economics are fantastic because we can start with a low-cost heap leach operation. There's a very large sulfide deposit below this, but we transition into that. We're going to get two, three years of nothing but oxide, and then we can stage our development.”

The infrastructure does not remove the need for additional engineering. P2 Gold is developing a hydrogeological model, conducting pump testing, and advancing engineering for pit dewatering, while baseline studies and permitting work continue toward the feasibility study (FS).

A Porphyry System Exposed at Surface

Gabbs hosts a gold-copper porphyry system with extensive historical drilling across the Sullivan and Lucky Strike zones. The geological setting has allowed P2 Gold to work from existing mineralized zones while using current drilling to improve its understanding of their thickness, continuity, and depth. That historical dataset changes the exploration task because P2 Gold is not starting with an untested geological target. 

McNaughton said the company has used historical drilling to identify the mineralized zones:

“We didn't have to discover where the zones were. We've had to define and understand the geology better, but the discovery risk was off the table, and that was done 30 years ago. So for us, we've been able to take that data, recognize the potential, and then expand upon that.”

P2 Gold's 2024 mineral resource contained 1.16 million ounces of gold equivalent in the indicated category and 2.29 million ounces of gold equivalent in the inferred category, while the 2026 presentation identifies resource expansion and upgrading as part of the current FS work.

Geotechnical Drilling Extends the Lucky Strike Story

The latest drilling provides a direct test of mineralization around the margins of the planned Lucky Strike pit. P2 Gold reported that 3 diamond holes drilled for pit-slope stability intersected gold-copper mineralization at the planned pit margins, with the company concluding that the Lucky Strike Zone remains open in all directions.

The three geotechnical holes returned significant gold-copper mineralization at the margins of the planned pit. The strongest result returned 123.44 meters grading 0.50 grams per tonne gold and 0.20% copper from 166.12 meters downhole, including 16.76 meters grading 0.90 grams per tonne gold and 0.30% copper. Another hole returned 25.91 meters grading 0.44 grams per tonne gold and 0.36% copper, while a third also intersected mineralization at the edge of the planned pit.

The drilling has expanded the exploration program because P2 Gold is now targeting an additional 15,000 meters of reverse circulation drilling at Lucky Strike. The company plans to initially test the higher-grade western portion of the zone before expanding into areas to the northeast and southeast, with the results intended to support the updated mineral resource estimate (MRE).

Earlier Milling Changes the Development Sequence

P2 Gold is revising the mine plan that underpinned its 2025 preliminary economic assessment (PEA). The PEA contemplated 9 million tonnes per year of heap-leach throughput during the initial years and milling beginning in year six, while the current FS plan evaluates 14 million tonnes per year of heap-leach throughput during the first 2 years, followed by 5 million tonnes per year of heap leach and 7 million tonnes per year of milling from year three.

P2 Gold's July 2026 update targets average annual production of 150,000 ounces of gold and 45 to 50 million pounds of copper, compared with 109,000 ounces of gold and 33 million pounds of copper in the 2025 PEA. The comparison reflects the proposed increase in throughput and earlier introduction of milling, subject to the FS work.

Metallurgy Supports the Staged Approach

The staged development strategy also depends on Gabbs' metallurgy. Historical operators struggled to recover gold and copper separately, while P2 Gold has incorporated Sulphidization, Acidification, Recycling, and Thickening (SART) into its proposed process route to recover copper from the leach circuit.

The current FS work is testing higher recoveries and shorter leach cycles than the PEA. The presentation shows PEA metallurgical recoveries of 85% for gold and 67% for copper, compared with updated feasibility-study testing showing 94.5% gold recovery and 79.9% copper recovery in the metallurgical program to date. The company also targets a 110- to 120-day leach cycle, compared with 150 days in the PEA, while further metallurgical testing remains underway to improve heap-leach and mill recoveries.

The Next Milestones at Gabbs

The immediate work program is focused on converting the expanding geological dataset into an updated mineral resource and then incorporating that resource into the feasibility study. P2 Gold's latest presentation identifies resource expansion and upgrading, metallurgical testing, engineering, environmental studies, and permitting as concurrent workstreams.

The company is targeting an updated MRE in the third quarter of 2026, followed by completion of the FS in the fourth quarter of 2026. The Lucky Strike drilling is directly relevant to the next resource update because the additional drilling is designed to test the zone beyond the existing pit model. The measurable milestones are the updated resource, results from the expanded Lucky Strike drilling program, and the fourth-quarter 2026 FS with its revised throughput and milling sequence. The latest drilling establishes that mineralization extends beyond the planned pit margins, while the revised development plan tests whether higher throughput and earlier milling can support the targeted production profile.

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