Western Forelands Exploration

The Western Forelands 2026 exploration budget has increased to $86 million, reflecting Ivanhoe Mines’ commitment to unlocking the region’s world-class copper potential.  Ivanhoe’s largest-ever exploration program is underway, with more than 80,000 metres of diamond drilling and 14,500 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling planned for 2026. The diamond drilling program is focused primarily on step-out and infill drilling across the Makoko District, advancing the understanding of this rapidly expanding copper discovery.

Makoko District – The highest-grade and fifth largest new copper discovery of past decade

The Makoko discovery, within the Western Forelands Exploration Project, was made in 2018 when step-out drilling from Kakula intersected geologically identical flat-lying, sedimentary-hosted copper mineralization west of the Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex.

Subsequent drilling has discovered a continuously mineralized region, now called the Makoko District, which encompasses the three discoveries of Makoko, Makoko West, and Kitoko.  Since the maiden Mineral Resource of Makoko, the strike length of the Makoko District has increased by over 400% to 16 kilometres and the total combined area has increased by 300% to 61 square kilometres.

On September 8, 2026, Ivanhoe Mines released an updated Mineral Resource on the Makoko District. Mineralization across the Makoko District remains open in multiple directions. Approximately 64,000 metres of drilling have been completed across 106 holes. The drilling has added approximately 130,000 tonnes of contained copper in the Indicated Mineral Resource category, an increase of 17%. In addition, 2.63 million tonnes of contained copper have been added to the Inferred category, an increase of 31%.

Makoko District’s Mineral Resources are now 34 million tonnes at 2.66% copper in the Indicated category, plus 612 million tonnes at 1.80% copper in the Inferred category.

Kiala

Kiala, discovered in 2020, adjoins the northern boundary of the Kamoa-Kakula mining licence and is a northern extension of mineralization from this licence along a north-trending controlling growth structure, where a sulfur-rich siltstone layer is brought progressively closer to, and eventually overlain on the aquifer. This onlapping relationship brings two key mineralizing controls in contact with one another, resulting in a zone of high-grade mineralization parallel to the growth fault.

The Kiala Mineral Resource has been defined by drilling covering an area of 0.9 square kilometres. The average dip of the mineralized zone within the Indicated Resource is nine degrees.

The Mineral Resource estimate is based on the results from approximately 13,000 metres of drilling in 35 holes.

Total Western Forelands’ Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources estimates, per zone at a 1.0% cut-off grade.

Kitoko – Ivanhoe’s fifth high-grade sedimentary copper discover in the DRC

Kitoko has no surface expression or connection to shallower mineralization. It was identified through conceptual targeting adjacent to a prominent north-south lineament-fault structure in the airborne magnetics. Mineralization begins at approximately 950 metres and extends down to 1,250 metres depth below surface. High-grade mineralization has been identified in two zones – Kitoko West and Kitoko East – hosted in two sulfur-rich siltstones that pinch out as an onlap against a subtle basement high. These siltstones occur lower in the stratigraphic sequence than those at Makoko and Makoko West.

Kitoko East hosts some of the highest-grade drill hole intersections, including 5.2 metres at 11.6% copper from a depth of 1,134 metres. Mineralization at Kitoko East spans approximately 2 kilometres north-south and 1 kilometres east-west and remains open to the south and east.

Kitoko West is a narrower zone of approximately 500 to 600 metres wide, and appears to be closed off to the west, with weakening mineralization toward the south. Ongoing drilling is testing whether the onlapping siltstone units wrap around the basement high and connect with Kitoko East at depth.