07:41 AM EDT, 05/11/2026 (MT Newswires) -- NGEx Minerals (NGEX.TO) on Monday reported a widened loss for the first quarter, but said its Phase 4 Lunahuasi drill program achieved campaign objective while it has made board and management changes.

For Q1, NGEX reported basic and diluted loss per share C$0.20 versus $0.17 a year earlier.

On liquidity and capital resources, as at March 31, 2026, the company had net working capital of $632.2 million, including $106.3 million in cash, an investment in LunR in the form of common shares having a value of $406.6 million, and short-term investments of $142.1 million, compared to net working capital of $436.5 million as at December 31, 2025, which included cash of $192.5 million, an investment in LunR with a value of $174.5 million, and short-term investments of $80.7 million. It said the strong net working capital position provides the company significant flexibility, as it looks ahead to a Phase 5 drill program, the potential development of an exploration adit, and beyond.

In an operations update, the company said its Phase 4 drill program at Lunahuasi is now complete, with a total of 27,318 metres drilled in 32 holes. Phase 4 assay results received to date have continued to demonstrate the deposit's scale and high grades, particularly in the Mars and Saturn zones, it added. Final Phase 4 assays, representing approximately 50% of the drilling completed, are expected to be released as received until the third quarter of 2026, it added.

Phase 4 drilling has also confirmed and begun to define two new high-grade zones, which reaffirm a key feature of the Lunahuasi system: the occurrence of multiple mineralized zones and multiple overlapping styles of mineralization, the company said.

Environmental approval has been received for a proposed exploration adit at Lunahuasi, it noted.

The company also announced that Alex Tong has been appointed by the board as Chief Financial Officer to be effective as of June 10, 2026. Tong succeeds Jeff Yip, who has notified the company of his resignation as CFO to take effect on that date.

Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO, said, "We have now completed our Phase 4 drill program at Lunahuasi, the project's largest campaign to date. The earlier part of the campaign successfully completed short-range definition drilling that expanded and better defined the Saturn, Mars and Jupiter zones, which consist of the high-sulphidation vein mineralization that formed the original discovery. Phase 4 drilling has increased our understanding of each of these individually unique and sizeable high-grade zones, with Saturn and Mars in particular continuing to expand and deliver high-grade intercepts throughout and showing potential for at least three very high-grade cores within broader envelopes of good grade material.

"The latter portion of the drill program focused on mid-range step-outs to test the potential for discovery of new high-grade zones, and long-range exploration holes to test district scale anomalies. These holes tested the broader potential of Lunahuasi, which is part of a much larger system that may still host new high-grade zones as well as new styles of mineralization in addition to the four already identified. Results to date have confirmed the existence of two new high-grade zones, which share common characteristics with our previously identified zones and will be exciting targets for our next drill program.

"Final assays will steadily come in over the next few weeks, and our attention will turn to a full analysis of the Phase 4 results, which will guide planning for Phase 5, scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2026. With a robust balance sheet and no shortage of drill targets, we are looking forward to getting started on the exploration adit and having rigs turning again at Lunahuasi after a short austral winter break."

Shares in NGEX rose $0.88 or 3.4% to $26.61 on Friday.