By 
Issued on behalf of Rua Gold Inc.
A 100%-owned underground gold-antimony starter mine in the historic Reefton Goldfield, with a positive PEA reporting US$42M base-case after-tax NPV5%, a Fast-Track Referral filed under New Zealand's one-stop-shop regime, approximately C$38 million in cash, and 19,000 metres of drilling underway
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canada News Group News Commentary — Gold has spent 2026 setting record highs amid sustained central bank purchasing and forecasts pushing toward US$5,000 per ounce by Q4 2026. Antimony was designated a U.S. Critical Mineral following China's late-2024 export restrictions, and remains structurally short in Western markets. The intersection of those two macro setups inside a single project is unusual in the public market — and even more unusual when paired with a Fast-Track permitting jurisdiction and a 19,000-metre drill program already turning.[1]
Rua Gold Inc. (TSX: RUA) (NZX: RGI) (OTCQX: NZAUF) (FSE: X9R) has consolidated that intersection on a single asset. On May 5, 2026, the Company released the results of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment for the 100%-owned Auld Creek Gold-Antimony Project, located in the historic Reefton Goldfield on New Zealand's South Island.[1] The PEA was prepared in accordance with the disclosure standards of National Instrument 43-101 and is effective April 25, 2026.[2] Two weeks earlier, on April 20, 2026, the Company had submitted its Fast-Track Referral application for the same project under New Zealand's one-stop-shop Fast-Track Approvals regime, marking a key milestone in the Company's transition from explorer to mine developer.[3] NOTE: For a Cautionary Note on Production Decision and related risks, please see the Disclaimer below.
The PEA: Base Case Economics And Spot-Gold Leverage
The Auld Creek PEA reports an after-tax NPV5% of US$42 million and an after-tax IRR of 17% at long-term gold of US$3,300 per ounce and antimony of US$27,000 per tonne, with a 3.3-year payback.[2] Using a spot gold price assumption of US$4,700 per ounce, the after-tax NPV5% increases to US$113 million, the after-tax IRR rises to 36%, and the payback compresses to 2.2 years.[2] Pre-production capital is US$132.6 million, inclusive of a US$29.8 million contingency representing approximately 29% of direct capital costs. Sustaining capital is estimated at US$63.9 million over the LOM.[2]
The PEA mine plan models a 5.5-year initial mine life with average annual production of approximately 26,665 ounces gold-equivalent — for total LOM gold-equivalent production of approximately 146,660 ounces.[2] Total contained metals across the PEA mine plan are 84,000 ounces of gold and approximately 9,000 tonnes of antimony.[2] All-In Sustaining Costs are estimated at US$1,850 per ounce gold, placing the project comfortably inside the global gold cost curve at any reasonable price deck.[1]
The project is anticipated to employ approximately 200 people and contribute an estimated NZ$240 million to the regional economy.[3]
CEO Robert Eckford framed the outcome: "The Auld Creek PEA highlights the strong cash flow generation, compelling economics, and scalability potential within the Reefton Goldfield. This study represents only a portion of the broader district opportunity, with significant upside remaining at depth and along strike. With drilling underway and permitting advancing, we are well positioned to deliver a PFS in Q4 2026 and take advantage of New Zealand's Fast-Track Approvals permitting process."[1] An independent NI 43-101 Technical Report supporting the PEA disclosure is scheduled for filing on SEDAR+ within 45 days of the May 5, 2026 release.[1]
The Resource And The Underground Mine Plan
The Mineral Resource Estimate for Auld Creek, effective February 27, 2026, reports 0.3 million tonnes Indicated at 5.67 g/t AuEq for 54,000 ounces, plus 1.3 million tonnes Inferred at 3.66 g/t AuEq for 150,000 ounces, at a 1.6 g/t AuEq cut-off — for a total of approximately 204,000 ounces gold-equivalent.[2] Gold-equivalent grades were calculated using the formula AuEq = Au g/t + 2.15 × Sb%, with the 2.15 factor derived from the PEA price assumptions of US$3,300/oz Au and US$27,000/t Sb and applying metallurgical recoveries of 95% gold and 85% antimony.[2]
Mining method at Auld Creek is overhand cut-and-fill via underground decline access from surface portals, with the on-Crown-land surface footprint targeted at less than one hectare.[1] Access is via a ramp from the open-pit portal to efficiently develop the higher-grade portions of the deposit and minimize surface disturbance. In wider zones, a drift-and-fill approach using shotcrete could also be employed, while later studies will evaluate whether sublevel open stoping is also a viable option.[4] The processing flowsheet is conventional grind, rougher flotation, and four-stage cleaner flotation — producing a gold concentrate and a separate antimony concentrate, with no cyanide in the circuit.[1] The nominal processing throughput is 250,000 tonnes per annum.[2]
The Fast-Track Permitting Application And A 112-Day Precedent
On April 20, 2026, Rua Gold submitted its Fast-Track Referral application for the Auld Creek Project, with the Company expecting a decision within three months of submission.[3] In December 2024, the New Zealand Government introduced legislation establishing a one-stop-shop Fast-Track Approvals regime to accelerate nationally significant projects.[3] Rua Gold engaged a dedicated project team in late 2025 to advance permitting activities and support the Fast-Track application.[3] If successful, the ability to utilize the Fast-Track process has the potential to significantly accelerate development timelines and streamline permitting for the Auld Creek Project.[3]
The precedent for how fast the New Zealand Fast-Track process can move is already on the public record. Rua Gold's tenements at the Glamorgan Project on the North Island are adjacent to OceanaGold's Wharekirauponga Project, which advanced through the same Fast-Track permitting process in 112 days and is now under construction.[5] The 112-day reference point is structurally significant for evaluating the Auld Creek permitting timeline — and indicates that the Fast-Track framework can deliver fully permitted status meaningfully faster than conventional New Zealand mining permitting pathways. New Zealand's membership in the Minerals Security Partnership — alongside Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union — further aligns with the development strategy Rua Gold is now executing on.[5]
The C$38M Funding, Six Drill Rigs, And A 19,000-Metre Program
Rua Gold reported approximately C$38 million in available cash following an oversubscribed January 2026 financing — funding 2026 exploration and permitting work across both the Reefton Goldfield and the Glamorgan Project.[5] The 19,000-metre infill and step-out drill program is currently underway at Reefton with six drill rigs in operation.[1] The program targets establishing Measured Resources, conversion of Inferred Resources to Indicated ahead of a planned PFS, and step-out drilling to extend the Inferred Resource at depth and northwards — both of which remain open.[1] Per Company disclosure, the program has the potential to further improve production volumes and extend the LOM.[1]
Beyond Reefton, the Glamorgan Project on the North Island is located within the highly prospective Hauraki Goldfield, which has historically produced 15 million ounces of gold and 60 million ounces of silver, with active mining operations ongoing today.[5] A 5,000-metre Glamorgan drill program was planned for Q2 2026 with two additional rigs.[5] Rua Gold is also the dominant landholder in the Reefton Goldfield, with more than 120,000 hectares of permits across a district that has reportedly produced more than 2 million ounces of gold historically at grades reportedly ranging from 9 to 50 g/t.[1] The Auld Creek mine plan represents a starter operation against that broader district endowment, with significant upside remaining at depth and along strike.
How Rua Gold Sits Inside The Development-Stage Gold Universe
GoldMining Inc. (NYSE-A: GLDG) (TSX: GOLD) recently released results of an updated Preliminary Economic Assessment for its La Mina Project in Antioquia, Colombia.[6] The updated PEA reports an after-tax NPV5% of approximately US$523.3 million, contemplating an 11.2-year open-pit mine life processing 61.3 Mt of ore at 15,000 tpd, with average life-of-mine annual production of approximately 137,000 ounces gold equivalent.[6] GoldMining represents the directly comparable multi-asset development-stage gold company comparable for the kind of PEA-stage gold project economics that the broader gold pricing macro is now actively repricing. The comparable framework matters because GoldMining's portfolio approach across multiple gold development assets in the Americas provides one of the cleanest references for how the development-stage gold universe is positioned inside the current gold pricing environment.
Calibre Mining Corp. is a Canadian-listed gold producer with operating mines across Nicaragua and Nevada, and an active development pipeline that includes the Valentine Gold Mine in Newfoundland. Calibre represents the producer-end comparable for what a multi-asset, transition-stage gold company looks like at full operating scale inside the current gold pricing environment — and provides one of the cleanest North American producer comparables for the broader institutional re-rating of gold producer and near-producer exposure that has reshaped the gold equity universe across 2025 and 2026.
Artemis Gold Inc. (TSXV: ARTG) (OTCQX: ARGTF) operates the Blackwater Mine in central British Columbia — a primary gold-silver operation that achieved first gold pour in January 2025 and declared commercial production on May 1, 2025.[7] Artemis is currently advancing a Phase 1A expansion to lift nameplate capacity from 6 to 8 million tonnes per annum by Q4 2026, with full year 2026 production guidance of 265,000 to 290,000 ounces of gold.[7] Artemis represents the directly comparable BC-jurisdiction transition-stage gold developer-to-producer comparable for what the development-to-production sequence can look like inside an established Canadian gold-producing jurisdiction.
The comparable category is structurally analogous to where Rua Gold is positioning to advance over the coming twelve to eighteen months: a fully-permitted, 100%-owned, defined-mine-plan asset crossing from development into commercial production.
Orla Mining Ltd. (TSX: OLA) (NYSE-A: ORLA) operates the Camino Rojo Mine in Mexico and is advancing the South Railroad Project in Nevada. Orla provides the producer-end comparable for what a small-to-mid-cap, multi-asset, multi-jurisdiction gold operator looks like at full operating scale inside the current gold pricing environment. As one of the most-watched smaller-cap gold producers that has successfully crossed from development into production over the past several years, Orla represents the operating-precedent comparable that Rua Gold's transition-to-mine-developer arc is now positioning to advance toward.
Across all four comparables, the recurring pattern is recognizable: 2026 has been the year the gold development and producer universe has been repriced inside a structurally bullish gold price macro. Rua Gold sits at the PEA-stage development end of that spectrum in New Zealand — with the Fast-Track Referral submitted, the 19,000-metre drill program turning, approximately C$38 million in cash, and a positive PEA on a 100%-owned gold-antimony asset — and offers small-cap exposure to a near-term-PFS-decision pathway inside one of the more institutionally watched gold-development jurisdictions of the current cycle.
The Window Ahead
Rua Gold's near-term catalyst window is unusually well-defined. The PEA is on file as of May 5, 2026, with the supporting NI 43-101 Technical Report scheduled for filing on SEDAR+ within 45 days.[1] The Fast-Track Referral application has been submitted, with a decision expected within three months of the April 20, 2026 submission.[3] The 19,000-metre drill program is turning at Reefton with six rigs in operation.[1] The PFS is targeted for completion in Q4 2026.[2] The project is targeted to be fully permitted in Q2 2027 under the Fast-Track framework.[2] The Glamorgan drill program on the North Island provides a parallel discovery vector inside the same year.[5]
For investors looking at small-cap exposure to a positive-PEA underground gold-antimony development asset inside a Fast-Track permitting jurisdiction, with a 19,000-metre drill program already turning and US$42M base-case / US$113M spot-case NPV economics on file, Rua Gold offers exposure to a multi-tailwind structural story at the development stage where the Company has converted from explorer to mine developer. The next reads on whether the PEA economics convert into PFS-stage validation arrive across the back half of 2026 and into Q2 2027.
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