Scorpio Gold Reports Round Mountain-Style Gold in Volcanics at New Manhattan Caldera Target

Scorpio Gold's most interesting exploration news may not be a single drill hole but a change of map. In a June 2026 interview on Mining Stock Education, CEO and director Zayn Kalyan laid out the company's "caldera thesis" at its 100%-owned Manhattan district on Nevada's Walker Lane trend: gold mineralization that extends into volcanic rocks previous operators mapped as barren. The same setting, he argues, underlies Kinross' Round Mountain mine, which the host describes as a 15-to-16-million-ounce gold producer sitting 10 miles to the north.

## The caldera thesis, in plain terms

A caldera is a collapsed volcano. At Round Mountain, Kalyan explains, gold-bearing epithermal veins — near-surface deposits formed by hot, mineral-rich fluids — sit inside a porous, sponge-like volcanic rock. Gold bleeds out of the veins into that rock, which produces very wide intercepts of roughly 0.4 to 0.6 grams per tonne (g/t — grams of gold per tonne of rock), along with higher-grade "blowouts" within the structures.

At Manhattan, on the southern end of the same caldera, earlier operators saw those volcanic units, mapped them as barren, and never drilled them. Kalyan says Scorpio Gold's step-out drilling north of its core resource area — toward the historic Black Mammoth workings — is now finding mineralization in exactly those volcanic and tuff units. He calls it "very analogous" to Round Mountain, and says it opens potential for bulk-tonnage mining: recovering gold from large volumes of lower-grade rock instead of relying only on narrower, higher-grade veins.

## Early proof of concept, not a resource

This is where the caution belongs. The best intercept in volcanic rock so far is roughly 0.6 g/t over about 60 meters, just north of Black Mammoth. The new target covers roughly five square kilometers — a figure the host proposed and Kalyan confirmed. He describes it as one of the most grassroots targets on the property: early stage, not well understood, and outside the company's core resource-expansion model. Historic workings inside the caldera support further exploration, he says, but he frames the whole idea as proof of concept.

Operationally, nothing changes for now. Rigs are already working the area, and Kalyan says the drill plan for the next 6 to 12 months stays as is.

## The measurable story: building ounces toward December

The caldera target sits on top of the company's main task, not in place of it. The existing mineral resource estimate (MRE — a formal tally of in-ground gold) is 740,000 ounces in the inferred category at 1.26 g/t, conceptualized for an open pit. Inferred is the lowest-confidence resource class, so converting it through drilling is the point of the current work.

Scorpio Gold is roughly midway through a 50,000-meter campaign with three rigs running. Kalyan says results are out for about 98 holes, and the company has drilled more than 100 holes since current management took over at the beginning of 2024. Meters drilled sit just over 27,000, approaching 28,000, year to date — none of it reflected in the existing resource. An updated MRE is targeted for December or January, and Kalyan reaffirmed the goal of 2 million ounces by the end of the year. Asked whether the target might move, he said the company is comfortable with the forecast.

## Cash, dilution, and the tailings idea

On funding, Kalyan notes a second deferred payment from the Mineral Ridge sale arrived at the end of May, with a final US$1 million payment due at the end of August. With gold dipping below $4,000 an ounce and junior sentiment weak, he calls the market a lull rather than a downturn, and says the company has to be creative rather than raise at depressed valuations.

The most concrete creative idea: the historic tailings and leach pad at Manhattan, left by Echo Bay's earlier mining. Tailings are the ground-up rock left after processing; a leach pad is where crushed ore is chemically treated to recover gold. Kalyan believes the material — effectively waste sitting at surface — could hold significant gold tonnage with relatively easy permitting. The company is looking at partners to process it without taking balance-sheet or production risk, which could add non-dilutive cash flow. He estimates about six months to pin down grade and volume, and caveats that the size of the opportunity is not yet defined.

## Uplisting and news flow

Kalyan says the company's uplisting to the big board in New York is near the finish line, with a public announcement possible within a couple of weeks. News flow should continue at roughly one press release every one to two weeks.

## What investors can measure

Two stories are on the table. The measurable one is the December/January resource update against the 2-million-ounce goal, which Kalyan describes as on track. The speculative one is the caldera thesis: Round Mountain-style bulk tonnage that could expand the resource at scale, but which today rests on a handful of wide, low-grade intercepts. Kalyan's framing is deliberately cautious — proof of concept today — so the December resource update is where the thesis gets its first real test.

Disclosure: Scorpio Gold sponsors Mining Stock Education; the video description states the company pays the show US$10,000 per month. Claims in the interview are management's and were made in that sponsored context.