Gladiator adds fifth rig to expand Whitehorse copper exploration

Gladiator Metals has expanded drilling at the Best Chance and Grafter prospects at its wholly owned Whitehorse Copper Project in Canada’s Yukon Territory, Mining Technology reported. The company has brought a fifth drill rig to the project to accelerate exploration along the 2km Arctic Chief trend, with the latest work targeting near-surface copper mineralisation.

The programme will investigate whether copper mineralisation continues along the corridor connecting the Best Chance, Arctic Chief and Grafter occurrences. According to Gladiator, recent gravity and induced polarisation surveys suggest the trend could host a more extensive, connected mineralised system than previously understood. Testing that interpretation is a central objective of the additional drilling.

Mining Technology cited historical Best Chance intersections of 15.94m grading 3.19% copper in hole BCH-024 and 46.27m at 1% copper in BCH-023. At Grafter, hole GR-001 intersected 11.58m at 2.11% copper, including a 6.19m interval at 3.19%, while GR-005 returned 6.22m at 3.95% copper. These earlier results provide the basis for the new exploration work.

Chief executive Jason Bontempo said Best Chance-Grafter could become the project’s third near-term resource opportunity. He pointed to Gladiator’s initial drilling in 2024 and 2025, including an intersection in ACG-009 of 77.25m grading 0.70% copper from a depth of 2.75m, as evidence supporting the company’s assessment of the trend’s potential scale and grade.

The additional rig is part of Gladiator’s 2026–27 exploration plans, backed by a proposed budget exceeding C$40m, reported as more than $28.4m by Mining Technology. The company plans over 100,000m of drilling during that period, including more than 50,000m on high-priority targets in 2026. The expanded effort also covers the Cowley and Cub Trend prospects within the Whitehorse Copper Belt.

The Whitehorse project spans an area measuring 35km by 5km near Whitehorse City, in a region where copper mineralisation was first identified in 1897. Following further delineation drilling, Gladiator intends to publish an initial NI 43-101-compliant resource estimate for Cowley in 2027.