Mr. Peter Schloo reports

HERITAGE CONFIRMS ADDITIONAL VISIBLE GOLD IN CORE AT MELBA, OUTSIDE NEW GOLD ZONE

Heritage Mining Ltd. has made another confirmation of visible gold in core. This is outside the current internal model previously announced Feb. 9 and 10, 2026, at the Melba mine project with its continuing diamond drill program. Fine-grained visible gold has been identified in core, ML3840-001, at approximately 31 metres, significantly enhancing the exploration potential of the Melba project. At least four identifications have been made thus far. The core is currently being logged and sampled.

"The identification of additional visible gold further enhances the exploration upside and positive potential of Melba this early in the initial exploration program. We look forward to additional updates in short order," commented Peter Schloo, president, chief executive officer and a director of Heritage.

Melba is located approximately 22 kilometres northeast from Kirkland Lake and 90 kilometres southeast of Timmins in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The project comprises approximately 3,886 hectares. Melba lies along the Ross fault, which is a splay off of the Porcupine-Destor fault zone and is associated with development-stage and historic producing gold mines: McEwen Mine (Grey Fox mine, greater than one million ounces gold) approximately 22 kilometres away and the Ross mine (greater than one million ounces gold) approximately 16 kilometres away.

The company has identified at least four instances of very fine-grained gold mineralization within a shallow, previously unidentified zone. The gold occurs in sheared quartz veinlets within a silicified quartz diorite intrusion, accompanied by up to 3 per cent pyrite across a two-metre interval.

Technical program

Heritage Mining adheres to a strict quality assurance/quality control protocol for handling, sampling, sample transportation and analyses. Chain-of-custody protocols are designed to ensure security of samples until their delivery at the laboratory.

Drill core was boxed, covered and sealed at the drill rig site. Core boxes were labelled with the official drill hole name and identified in numerical sequence starting from beginning of the hole to the end. Wooden blocks with the corresponding downhole metreage were inserted after every drill run. Drill core boxes were transported by drilling contractors to the on-site logging facility, where company personnel would take over the core handling.

Sampling, subsampling, and laboratory analysis for Heritage Mining's Melba project

All drilling at the Melba project recovers NQ core. Drill core is systematically cut in half using a diamond saw. A qualified geologist examines the drill core, marking intervals for sampling and indicating the cutting line. Sample lengths are typically 1.0 metre, adjusted to a minimum length of 0.5 metre as necessary to respect lithological and/or mineralogical contacts and to isolate narrow veins or structures that may contain higher-grade mineralization.

Technicians saw the core along the cutting lines determined by the geologist. One-half of the core is retained as a witness sample, while the other half is submitted for analysis. Individual sample bags are securely sealed and placed into sealed rice bags, which are then clearly marked with their contents. Heritage Mining submits samples for gold determination by PhotonAssay to Paragon Geochemical in Timmins. Paragon operates under a commercial contract with Heritage Mining. Drill core samples are shipped to Paragon for sample preparation at its facilities in Timmins, Ont. Paragon is an ISO/IEC 17025:2017-accredited laboratory for the PhotonAssay method, in addition to a variety of diverse metal determination methods.

Analytical procedures

The Paragon procedure for PhotonAssay involves lab applying preparation codes INV-SAM (sample logging by bar code), PREP-PKG (weighed, dried at 100 C, crushed to 70 per cent passing two millimetres, and riffle split approximately 500 grams into a PA jar and 250 grams for pulverization to 85 per cent passing 75 microns) followed by analytical code Au-PA01, which is a non-destructive gold analysis method using high-energy X-rays with a gold detection range from 0.015 part per million to 350 parts per million. After gold assays are returned, Heritage may then choose to perform multielement assays on selected samples based on the gold results first with Paragon. In these cases, an aliquot is taken from the previously prepared 250-gram split for analysis by 48MA-MS (four-acid digestion followed by multielement ICP-MS analysis for a 48-element suite).

Quality assurance/quality control

The drill program design, QA/QC and interpretation of results are performed by qualified persons employing a rigorous QA/QC program consistent with industry best practices. Standards and blanks account for a minimum of 10 per cent of the samples, in addition to the laboratories' internal quality assurance programs. Quality control data are meticulously evaluated upon receipt from the laboratories for any failures. Appropriate corrective action is taken if assay results for standards and blanks fall outside allowed tolerances. All results disclosed by Heritage Mining have successfully passed the company's stringent quality control protocols. The company does not recognize any factors of drilling, sampling or recovery that could materially affect the accuracy or reliability of the assay data disclosed. The assay data disclosed in this press release have been verified by the company's qualified person against the original assay certificates. Heritage Mining notes that it has not completed any economic evaluations of its Melba project, and the project does not currently have any resources or reserves.

Qualified person

Mitchell Lavery, PGeo, strategic adviser for the company, serves as a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this news release, approving the disclosure herein.

About Heritage Mining Ltd.

The company is a Canadian mineral exploration company advancing its Ontario project portfolio in Northwestern and Northeastern Ontario. The Drayton-Black Lake, Contact Bay and Scattergood projects are located near Sioux Lookout in the underexplored Eagle-Wabigoon-Manitou greenstone belt. The Melba property is located near Ramore, Ont. All projects benefit from a wealth of historic data, excellent site access and logistical support from the local community.

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