Mr. Alex Klenman reports

ATCO MINING ACQUIRES STRATEGIC ACREAGE DIRECTLY ADJACENT TO TRIPLE POINT'S ST. FINTAN'S SALT PROJECT AND ADDS NEW FOUND GOLD'S QUEENSWAY PROJECT FOUNDER KEVIN KEATS AS STRATEGIC ADVISOR

Atco Mining Inc. has acquired a claim block on the west coast of Newfoundland in the St. George Bay basin area. The project is contiguous to the company's Adonis salt project and is adjacent to Triple Point's (spinout of Atlas Salt Inc.) St. Fintan's salt project. The project consists of 48 claim units, totalling 1,200 hectares, and will be called the Rocky salt project.

The project will be covered by the continuing airborne gravity survey that is being completed on the company's other projects in the region (news release dated Dec. 13, 2022). Gravity surveying has proven to be an effective tool in the St. George's Bay basin and other areas to define potential salt dome structures. For example, Atlas Salt recently defined an additional potential salt dome next to its Fischell's Brook salt dome deposit using gravity surveying.

Salt domes are currently being used for energy storage and are a key component to delivering clean energy. With climate change and green environmental policies and agreements like the one signed by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in August, significant investment is being driven toward alternate energy sources and global carbon emission reduction. Underground energy storage will likely play a key role in Canada's and Newfoundland's energy future and Atco is looking to become a part of that industry.

With the newly acquired mining claims, Atco now controls six projects in the area which consist of a total of 19,475 hectares. In comparison, Atlas Salt's spinout company, Triple Point Resources, currently holds approximately 22,599 hectares.

Transaction terms

The project was acquired from certain arm's-length vendors pursuant to the terms of a mineral property acquisition agreement. In consideration for the project, the company issued an aggregate of 700,000 common shares at a deemed price of 25 cents per payment share and will issue an additional 1.05 million common shares on the 12-month anniversary of closing. All common shares issued in connection with the acquisition of the project are subject to a statutory hold period for four-months-and-one-day following issuance.

As further consideration for the acquisition of the project, the company has granted the vendors a 2-per-cent royalty on commercial production from the project. One-half of the royalty may be purchased by the company at any time for a cash payment of $1-million.

Strategic adviser

The company is excited to announce that Kevin Keats has agreed to come on as a strategic adviser to the company. Mr. Keats is a successful business entrepreneur who comes from a family with many generations of prospectors. He has in excess of over 30 years experience in mineral exploration, spanning many geological terrains across Canada, Nevada, Mexico, Peru and Indonesia.

Mr. Keats has worked with many major and junior exploration companies throughout his 30 years and is the co-discoverer of the most recent gold discovery, the famous Keats zones at the Queensway project, that he recently sold to New Found Gold Corp. He currently is the field/logistics manager at this project, overseeing 14 diamond drills.

Mr. Keats was a co-founder of Golden Dory Resources, now Sokoman Minerals Corp., where he held the president/chief executive officer position for 13 years. Mr. Keats was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his dedication to his peers, community, province, country and the prospecting community. He was also one of the recipients of the PDAC (Prospector & Developers Association of Canada) Bill Dennis Prospector of the Year award in March, 2007, which was awarded to the members of the Keats/Stares family.

The company has granted 100,000 incentive stock options to purchase common shares of the company to Mr. Keats in connection with his services as a strategic adviser. The options vest on the date of issuance and are exercisable for a period of two years at an exercise price of 31 cents per option share.

About Atco Mining Inc.

Atco is a junior exploration mining company focused on exploring for green energy metals throughout Canada. Atco is also exploring for sulphide-rich VHMS (volcanic-hosted massive sulphide) deposits in Saskatchewan, as well as salt opportunities in western Newfoundland.

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