District Metals Drills Viken's Target Areas A and B: Hunting Shallow, Thick Alum Shale

District Metals (TSX-V: DMX) has mobilized a drill rig to its flagship Viken property in Sweden, targeting two conductive anomalies known as Target Areas A and B. In an October 9 interview with The KE Report, president and CEO Garrett Ainsworth laid out why his team is drilling there, what success would look like, and which catalysts could move the stock next.

## Why Target Areas A and B

Last year the company flew an airborne MobileMT geophysical survey across the entire Viken property. The survey registered a conductive response over the known Viken deposit itself, but it also picked up nine other conductive areas. Three of those — Target Areas A, B, and C — produced conductive responses that Ainsworth says are larger and stronger than the response over the deposit. In his view, that suggests significant potential for more mineralized alum shale (the organic-rich black shale host rock that carries uranium and other metals at Viken) across the property.

There is supporting evidence from the past. Historical drill holes near Target Area A intersected mineralized alum shale 50 metres or more in thickness. Ainsworth noted that no drilling has taken place on the Viken property since roughly 2012 to 2014, so any mineralized intersection in the new holes would count as a discovery in a technical sense.

## A small program could carry a lot of weight

The economics here hinge on continuity. Ainsworth explained that the company's preliminary economic assessment (PEA — an early, preliminary study of whether a deposit can be mined profitably), released in June 2026, was based on about 130 million tonnes of inferred mineral resource. Because the alum shale mineralization is continuous and the planned drill spacing is 300 metres, he argues that a 600-by-600-metre block of ground with 150-metre-thick mineralized alum shale — which he says could be outlined with only about nine holes — would carry tonnage similar to what the PEA used.

That framing matters for how investors should read the current program: the goal of this first pass is not to define a resource but to test the best spots. Step-out drilling from the best hits would follow later to build toward a mineral resource estimate.

## Not chasing size or grade — chasing the right ground

The host pointed out that Viken already holds one of the largest uranium resources globally — citing a figure the guest has previously put at second largest — and the underlying inferred deposit at about 4.3 billion tonnes. So why drill more? Ainsworth's answer is one of the more substantive points in the interview: the objective is neither to grow the biggest resource nor to find higher grades, because grade continuity across the alum shell appears fairly uniform.

Instead, the company wants to identify the best area of the Viken project to advance toward a mine, judged on three fronts:

- **Technical:** shallow, thick mineralization keeps the strip ratio (waste rock moved per unit of ore) low. - **Social:** Target Areas A and B sit mostly on woodlands, whereas the PEA area mixes woodlands and farmland. - **Environmental:** the target areas are a long distance from the lake.

## Program size and budget

The plan is to drill until the Christmas break, with 2,000 to 3,000 metres across roughly 10 to 15 holes, each typically 200 to 300 metres deep. At an all-in cost of about C$300 per metre, the full 3,000-metre scenario would run roughly C$900,000.

Within the target areas, the team is prioritizing north-south ridges where the alum shale is often thickened, looking specifically for where the mineralized horizon is shallowest and thickest.

## Regional drilling validates the survey method

A September 9 news release covered drilling at two other alum shale licenses, Österkälen and Malgomaj: just under 2,000 metres in 15 holes, with every hole intersecting graphitic black shale. Ainsworth's takeaway is that the program proved the airborne MobileMT survey works — which, he argues, makes the ongoing Target Area A and B drilling at Viken more exciting, since those targets came from the same method.

He flagged elevated radioactivity in some of the regional material, but geochemical results are pending. One wrinkle: the analytical laboratory the company uses has dropped four-acid digestion, the sample-preparation method District Metals prefers for consistency. The company may switch labs, which could delay assays from Österkälen and Malgomaj.

## The broader portfolio

The alum shale properties cover roughly 150,000 hectares, and the company flew the remaining half of that land this year. Final survey data is being processed by geophysical consultants, with maps and a news release expected before year-end. At the non-alum shale properties, field crews are doing prospecting, mapping, and geochemical sampling to vector in on drill targets, with the aim of making those projects drill-ready — possibly drilling next year, possibly with a partner.

## Catalysts ahead

Ainsworth listed the near-term catalysts he is watching: visual drill results from Viken (alum shale is, he says, easy to identify visually), assays from the regional program once the lab question is resolved, and the survey data release. But the one he called potentially most significant is regulatory: the Geological Survey of Sweden's decision on whether the Viken deposit will be designated a deposit of national interest. A neighboring deposit was proposed for that designation last April, and Ainsworth would be surprised if Viken did not receive it — though the decision has slipped from June to August and is now expected "soon."

On politics, he expressed surprise at the post-election share-price weakness, noting that the largest party on the center left is pro-nuclear, pro-mining, and on record supporting domestic uranium mining as a byproduct. Clarity on which government forms is, in his view, another item that could reduce share-price volatility.