Mr. Stephen Stares reports

BENTON DISCOVERS NEW GOLD HORIZON 21 KM NORTH-NORTHEAST OF CALIBRE'S MARATHON DEPOSIT AND OPTIONS ADDITIONAL GROUND

Benton Resources Inc. has made a new gold discovery on its 100-per-cent-owned Dominion Lake gold-base metal project. The company acquired Dominion Lake last year after a large parcel of land became available for staking within the northern Tulks volcanic belt of the Victoria Lake supergroup, highly favourable geological terrain with demonstrated potential for hosting both volcanogenic massive sulphides (VMS) and gold mineralization.

A small prospecting program conducted in late summer 2024 on the recently staked Dominion Lake claims resulted in the discovery of a 50-metre-wide sheared zone in contact with greater-than-12.0-metre-wide exposed quartz-flooded and silicified zone that has been traced intermittently for approximately 120 metres. The new zone, named the Rickirb zone, has returned grades as high as 4.6 grams per tonne gold. The company has collected a total of 30 grab samples within a 200-metre area of the new zone, with seven samples grading greater than 0.5 gram per tonne gold. The zone has a trend of 20 degrees and is situated 21 kilometres north-northeast of Calibre Mining Corp.'s Marathon deposit.

In conjunction with the new gold discovery, the company has executed an option agreement to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in several mineral licences from local prospector Herbert Froude. With the addition of Mr. Froude's licences, the company's land package surrounds two known VMS deposits known as the Daniel's Pond deposit and Bobby's Pond deposit, which are currently held by Canterra Minerals Corp. Benton is planning further prospecting and soil sampling to trace out the new gold horizon, along with other potential targets.

Terms of the agreement to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the Froude option, which remain subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, are as follows:

• Pay Mr. Froude $8,000 upon signing the agreement and, upon receipt of regulatory approval (the effective date), issue Mr. Froude 80,000 common shares of the company;
• On the first anniversary of the effective date, issue to Mr. Froude 80,000 common shares of the company and pay $8,000;
• On the second anniversary of the effective date, issue to Mr. Froude 80,000 common shares of the company and pay $8,000;
• On the third anniversary of the effective date, issue to Mr. Froude 80,000 common shares of the company and pay $10,000;
• On the fourth anniversary of the effective date, issue to Mr. Froude 120,000 common shares of the company and pay $20,000.

Mr. Froude will retain a 2-per-cent net smelter royalty (NSR) on the mineral licences encompassed by the Froude option agreement. The company retains the right to buy back one-half of the NSR (1 per cent of the 2 per cent) by paying Mr. Froude $500,000.

Qualified person

Stephen House, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Benton Resources, the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release and prepared or supervised its preparation.

Quality assurance/quality control protocols

Core and rock samples, including standards, blanks and duplicates, are submitted to Eastern Analytical Ltd. of Springdale, Nfld., for preparation and analysis. All samples were acquired by saw cut (channel samples/drill core), with one-half submitted for assay and one-half retained for reference or hand (rocks) and delivered, by Benton personnel, in sealed bags, to the Springdale lab of Eastern Analytical, which is an accredited assay lab that conforms to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. Samples are analyzed using Eastern's gold (fire assay) at 30 grams plus ICP-34 method, which delivers a 34-element package utilizing a 200-milligram subsample totally dissolved in four acids and analyzed by ICP-OES analytical technique. Overlimits are analyzed with Eastern's atomic absorption method using 0.200 gram to 2.00 grams of sample, digested with three acids. All reported assays are uncut. Eastern Analytical achieved ISO 17025 accreditation in February, 2014 (for more details on the scope of accreditation, visit the CALA (Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation) website).

About Benton Resources Inc.

Benton Resources is a well-financed mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BEX. Benton has a diversified, highly prospective property portfolio and holds large equity positions in other mining companies that are advancing high-quality assets. Whenever possible, Benton retains NSR royalties with the potential for long-term cash flow.

Benton is focused on advancing its high-grade copper-gold Great Burnt project in central Newfoundland, which has a mineral resource estimate of 667,000 tonnes at 3.21 per cent copper indicated and 482,000 tonnes at 2.35 per cent copper inferred. The project has an excellent geological setting covering 25 kilometres of strike and boasts six known copper-gold-silver zones over 15 kilometres that are all open for expansion. Further potential for discovery is excellent given the extensive number of untested geophysical targets and copper-gold soil anomalies. Phase 1 and phase 2 drill programs returned impressive results, including 25.42 metres of 5.51 per cent copper, including 9.78 metres of 8.31 per cent copper, and 1.00 metre of 12.70 per cent copper. Drilling at the South Pond gold zone, approximately 7.5 kilometres north of the Great Burnt copper-gold zone, has confirmed a robust gold-mineralized system over 2.5 kilometres with results of 74.20 metres of 1.43 grams per tonne gold and 43.75 metres of 1.62 grams per tonne gold and is open for expansion in all directions.

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