Mr. Paul Anderson reports

ABACUS PROVIDES NEWS ON WILLOW OPTION

Abacus Mining & Exploration Corp. has extended the earn-in period on the Willow porphyry copper project in the Yerington copper camp, southeast of Reno, Nev.

The company originally optioned the Willow property from Almadex Minerals Ltd. in 2017 with an obligation to issue shares and to spend $3-million (U.S.) over five years to earn an initial 60-per-cent interest in the project. Further expenditures would allow Abacus to increase its interest to 75 per cent, whereupon a joint venture with Almadex would be established.

Due to market conditions, the company finds itself just short of the required $3-million (U.S.) spending requirement and has negotiated an extension with Almadex. Abacus now has until Dec. 31, 2025, to earn the initial 60-per-cent interest in Willow for the issuance of two million shares and for the expenditure of an additional $2-million (U.S.). All other terms of the option remain the same and the amendment is subject to regulatory approval.

"I am pleased to extend the Willow option period as the property has an excellent potential to host a new porphyry copper-molybdenum (Cu-Mo) deposit in the Yerington camp. The company has identified the granite on Willow which hosts the other four known porphyry Cu-Mo deposits at Yerington and has assayed low grade Cu-Mo over considerable drilled intervals. This is a significant new discovery in the camp and more work is definitely merited. Porphyry copper systems are large in extent and much of Willow remains untested," commented Paul G. Anderson, president and chief executive officer of Abacus.

To date, Abacus has completed a comprehensive program of geological, geochemical and geophysical work on Willow, identifying an extensive zone of intense silicic and advanced argillic alteration, marked by coincident geological, geochemical and geophysical signatures typical of a porphyry Cu-Mo deposit.

The company has also completed two core drilling programs on Willow, which identified the Luhr Hill granite, which is the host to the other known porphyry deposits in the camp. You cannot have a porphyry deposit at Yerington without the presence of this host rock. The granite on Willow contains significant composited intervals of low-grade copper and molybdenum mineralization, including:

• 0.11 per cent Cu over 72.2 metres (m);
• 0.12 per cent Cu over 57.5 m (including 0.37 per cent Cu over 1.1 m and 0.19 per cent Cu over 34 m);
• 0.1 per cent Cu over 37.9 m within a longer intercept of 0.08 per cent Cu over 308.4 m;
• 0.38 per cent Cu over 0.2 m;
• 0.24 per cent Cu over 2.3 m;
• 0.17 per cent Cu over 1.8 m;
• True widths are estimated at 80 to 85 per cent of the drilled interval.

In addition, molybdenum values are elevated in all holes and are a particularly strong indicator that you are close to a porphyry copper centre, although this centre has not yet been intersected on Willow.

Cu-Mo porphyry deposits at Yerington occur at the contact of the Luhr Hill granite porphyry and surrounding volcanic rocks, or else close to the granite but associated with porphyry dike swarms off the granite that extend further into the volcanic package. As there are no known instances of this granite in the camp without an associated porphyry, the discovery of Luhr Hill granite on Willow marks a key new discovery, which means that there is a very high likelihood of a Cu-Mo deposit being found on Willow.

The company's target is essentially identical to the two largest porphyry deposits in the Yerington camp, namely the past-producing Yerington mine and the undeveloped Ann Mason deposit. Because the target at Willow is covered by later volcanism, prospecting by drill and sampling for geochemistry is the only effective means of trying to locate a porphyry centre, and this often takes several drill campaigns to achieve, with each successive campaign vectoring closer to a porphyry centre.

Of the porphyry Cu-Mo deposits in the camp, the Ann Mason deposit lies adjacent and east of Willow and is held by HudBay Minerals. In 2021, Hudbay announced an updated PEA (preliminary economic assessment) on Ann Mason with a revised M&I (measured and indicated) resource of 2.2 billion tonnes at 0.34 per cent Cu. Lion Copper and Gold (formerly Quaterra Resources) controls the Yerington, Bear and MacArthur porphyries farther to the east. Anaconda mined the Yerington porphyry between 1952 until 1978, producing 1.6 billion pounds of copper. MacArthur (M&I of 159 million tonnes (MT) at 0.212 per cent Cu) has seen some past production and is currently undergoing a prefeasibility study. In March, 2022, Lion announced that Rio Tinto had taken an option on the company's Yerington assets. Nevada Copper is in production to the southeast at its Pumpkin Hollow skarn (P&P (proven and probably) of 572 MT at 0.4 per cent Cu).

Abacus has the right to earn a 75-per-cent ownership interest in the Willow property from Almadex America Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Almadex Minerals. The company also has a lease on the contiguous Nev-Lorraine claims giving it the right to explore and to elect to purchase these claims outright over a 10-year period. The entire claim group is known as the Willow property.

Abacus also holds a 20-per-cent ownership interest in the Ajax copper-gold porphyry project, located near Kamloops, B.C., which is managed by base metal major KGHM Polska Miedz SA, which holds the remaining 80 per cent. The Ajax project contains significant quantities of copper and gold, within a National Instrument 43-101 proven and probable mineral reserve of 426 MT at 0.29 per cent Cu, 0.19 gram per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and 0.39 g/t silver (Ag). Contained metal is in the order of 2.7 billion pounds (lb) Cu, 2.6 million ounces (Moz) Au and 5.3 Moz Ag.

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul G. Anderson, MSc, PGeo, a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

About Abacus Mining & Exploration Corp.

Abacus is a mineral exploration and mine development company currently focused on copper and gold in British Columbia and Nevada. The company's main asset is a 20-per-cent ownership interest, together with KGHM Polska Miedz (80 per cent), in the proposed copper-gold Ajax mine located southwest of Kamloops, B.C., which has undergone a joint provincial and federal environmental assessment process. On Dec. 14, 2017, a decision was made by the B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum resources to decline to issue an environmental assessment certificate for the project. KGHM has recently reopened an office in Kamloops, B.C., to facilitate first nation, community and governmental engagement in order to advance the project toward a potential resubmission of the environmental application.

Abacus also holds an option on the Willow copper-gold property located near Yerington, Nev., in which it can acquire up to a 75-per-cent ownership interest, and the contiguous Nev-Lorraine claims, subject to a 10-year lease agreement.

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