ValOre Advances Pedra Branca Toward Its First PEA: 8 Things You Need to Know

Pedra Branca Before the Study

ValOre Metals (TSXV: VO | OTCQB: KVLQF | FSE: KEQ0) is targeting delivery of an NI 43-101 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its 100%-owned Pedra Branca platinum, palladium and gold project in Ceará State, Brazil, in the fourth quarter of 2026. The study will be the first economic test of a resource the company has doubled since acquisition. Much of the technical groundwork is underway: an expanded drill database, laboratory recovery results across the major material types, and a development concept based on near-surface open-pit mining and a phased build.

The PEA has yet to define cost. Capital and operating estimates, the processing route, and the scale of a first phase all remain open, and the company enters the study with less than $0.8 million in cash.

1. The Resource Has Doubled Since Acquisition to 2.2 Million Ounces

ValOre has grown Pedra Branca from 1.1 million ounces to 2.2 million ounces of platinum, palladium, and gold, with more than 1 million ounces in 4 core deposits.

The current NI 43-101 Inferred resource, effective March 8, 2022, totals 63.6 million tonnes at 1.08 grams per tonne platinum, palladium and gold. It covers 7 near-surface deposits along an 80-kilometer trend, and the 4 core deposits are Esbarro, Curiu, Cedro and Cana Brava. The project has more than 50,000 meters of drilling in total, including more than 23,500 meters completed by ValOre, which built on an extensive historical dataset from previous owners Anglo American and Anglo Platinum.

ValOre has invested approximately US$10 million at Pedra Branca. Pedra Branca is one of the few primary platinum group element (PGE) projects outside Southern Africa, in a market where South Africa and Russia hold 97.1% of world platinum group metal reserves, according to the US Geological Survey. The whole resource is Inferred, so the PEA will be the first document to attach economics to it.

2. Post-2022 Drilling Will Feed an Updated Resource Estimate

ValOre will fold approximately 5,000 to 6,000 meters of drilling since the 2022 estimate into a resource update that runs in sequence with the PEA.

ValOre's focus has broadened from the core deposits, where most historical drilling has occurred, to satellite deposits and additional ounces along the mineralized trend. The company also reports that Trado auger-guided exploration has added approximately 250,000 ounces, and the Salvador discovery is not included in the current resource. The company has identified more than 20 mineralized targets across the 80-kilometer district.

The team is relogging historical core from Curiu, Esbarro, and Cedro to refine geological and mineralization controls and mine-planning assumptions. The updated estimate is a key input, as it sets the tonnes and grade the mine plan and processing design will use.

3. Every Major Material Type Now Has Laboratory Recovery Results

Metallurgical testwork reported on March 26, 2026, returned platinum and palladium recoveries across weathered, fresh and chromitite material, with fresh material reaching 83% platinum through conventional flotation.

Pedra Branca hosts 3 material types, each tested with a different process. Weathered material, approximately 30% of the resource at 1 to 3 grams per tonne platinum, palladium and gold, returned 73% platinum and 74% palladium recoveries using bio-pretreatment and cyanide leaching. Fresh material, approximately 70% of the resource at 1 to 2 grams per tonne, returned 83% platinum and 71% palladium through conventional flotation. High-grade chromitite, at 5 to 10 grams per tonne, returned 66% platinum and 79% palladium using caustic pretreatment and cyanide leaching. The reported results cover platinum and palladium, and no gold recovery figure was included.

Fresh material makes up the bulk of the resource and was tested through conventional flotation to produce a concentrate. Weathered material is near-surface and higher than average grade but more difficult to float, so the work there has focused on hydrometallurgy. The overall target for the flowsheet is recovery in the high 70s, which Chief Executive Officer of ValOre Metals, Nick Smart, described as consistent with the company's assumptions:

"It's in line with expectations, and there is room to improve overall into the future as we optimize the flowsheet."

4. The Flowsheet Choice Is Heap Leaching Versus Vessel Leaching

Column tests on weathered material will determine whether Pedra Branca's PEA leans toward lower capital or higher recovery.

Testing on weathered material has scaled up from 1 liter shake flasks to stirred tank vessels, and column tests are now evaluating whether the material is amenable to heap leaching. Heap leaching typically requires less capital than processing in tanks but returns lower recoveries, and ValOre is weighing both routes for the PEA.

A low-cost hydrometallurgical process is under evaluation, and flotation and leaching testwork continues with the University of Cape Town and Lycopodium South Africa. The recovery assumption the PEA adopts for weathered material, and the capital cost attached to it, will be one of the clearest signals of how ValOre intends to balance upfront spending against metal output.

5. Near-Surface, Open Pit Geology Shapes the Cost Base

Pedra Branca's deposits are near-surface and suited to open pit mining, which avoids deep-level underground development. Smart is a chemical engineer with 21 years at Anglo American and De Beers, including platinum projects in South Africa. He identified processing as a significant cost for Pedra Branca, and ValOre is developing low-cost processing options to address it, including the hydrometallurgical route now under evaluation.

6. A Phased Build Could Limit Initial Capital Requirements

ValOre is planning Pedra Branca as a Phase 1 operation with scope to add Phases 2 and 3, so the first phase does not need to carry the full resource.

The PEA will compare throughput scales and plant sizes to balance capital intensity, present options, and recommend a preferred case for optimization in a later pre-feasibility study (PFS). 

Smart outlined how the resource size will be balanced against infrastructure costs:

"We have a large resource and want to take maximum benefit of that, trading it off against infrastructure, water and energy investment. The most likely approach is a stepwise approach: develop it, prove the process, go through licensing to open Phase 1, with the ability to add Phases 2 and 3 into the future."

Preliminary water and power supply studies are under way and form part of the PEA's site infrastructure workstream. The capital figure the PEA attaches to Phase 1 will determine how much funding ValOre needs to reach first production.

7. Brazil Offers Supply Diversification & a Potential Domestic Smelting Option

Pedra Branca is located outside the 3 jurisdictions that produce roughly 90% of global PGE supply, and a proposed smelter complex at Barcarena could become a domestic processing option.

South Africa, Zimbabwe and Russia account for roughly 90% of global PGE supply, and operators in South Africa face challenges with electricity supply and with the price and availability of diesel. Brazil is developing critical minerals frameworks to fast-track permitting and licensing and to support inward investment, and it has a skilled mining workforce, local suppliers and technology. Licensing for Phase 1 follows the PEA, as the company moves Pedra Branca onto a development track.

ValOre's operations base is at Capitão Mor, a community of approximately 900 people, where the company has long-standing relationships supporting exploration and development. Bravo Mining, another PGE developer in Brazil, is advancing export zoning at the port of Barcarena in Pará State to establish a local smelter complex, and ValOre maintains regular dialogue with the company. No commercial agreement between the 2 companies has been disclosed, and the PEA will assess global marketability of Pedra Branca's products.

8. The PEA Workstreams Are Set, but Financing Remains a Constraint

The PEA covers 6 workstreams, and ValOre enters the study with less than $0.8 million in cash and a market capitalization of approximately $20 million.

The 6 workstreams, feeding an NI 43-101 PEA technical report targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026, are the resource review, the mine plan, processing flowsheet design, site infrastructure and water and power supply, market studies, and capital and operating cost estimates with economic analysis.

As of October 1, 2026, ValOre had 255 million shares outstanding and 304.4 million fully diluted, including 29.5 million warrants exercisable at $0.10 until October 8, 2027, and 20 million options at $0.12, against a share price of $0.08. The Phase 1 capital estimate will set the scale of the company's next financing.

Catalysts to Watch

The first disclosure to track is an updated Pedra Branca mineral resource estimate incorporating approximately 5,000 to 6,000 meters of drilling completed since the 2022 estimate, followed by delivery of the NI 43-101 preliminary economic assessment, targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026, with capital and operating cost estimates and a recommended Phase 1 throughput. Column test results will show whether weathered material can be heap leached and which recovery and capital assumptions the study adopts for each material type. With cash of less than $0.8 million as of October 1, 2026, financing to fund work after the preliminary economic assessment is the next milestone, alongside progress on licensing for Phase 1 once the study is complete.

Bottom Line

Pedra Branca enters its first PEA with a larger resource, laboratory recovery results across its major material types and a phased open pit development concept. The study must now establish whether those elements can support an economic first phase, including the processing route, throughput, infrastructure requirements and initial capital. With less than $0.8 million in cash, ValOre's ability to finance the next stage will be as important as the PEA's technical conclusions.