Ms. Wendy Chan reports

LODE GOLD RECEIVES THREE-YEAR DRILL PERMIT AT FLAGSHIP FREMONT GOLD MINE, CALIFORNIA

Mariposa County has officially approved Lode Gold Resources Inc.'s application for an administrative use permit (AUP). Valid for a period of three years, the permit authorizes surface mineral exploration and comprehensive drilling activities across the company's 100-per-cent-privately-owned patented land at its flagship Fremont gold mine in Mariposa county, California.

The approval of the AUP enables the company to initiate a planned 3,500-to-4,500-metre (m) drilling program for the second half of 2026. This campaign is designed to advance the project's technical baseline in preparation for a prefeasibility study (PFS) to be completed in 2027.

Technical initiatives and summer 2026 drilling program

The upcoming drilling program, slated to commence on this summer, will collect geological, geotechnical and hydrologic data vital to defining early milestones and deliverables. The company intends to utilize this targeted drilling campaign to advance several key technical initiatives required for advanced development studies, including:

• Metallurgical optimization: completing dedicated metallurgical core drilling to update and refine historical processing parameters, building upon positive baseline technical studies from 2014, which demonstrated gold recoveries of 91 per cent;
• Geotechnical and rock mechanics: to optimize the underground mine design and dimensioning in the upcoming PFS, comprehensive rock mechanics studies using large-diameter core will be conducted, which is anticipated to support a safer design layout and expedite local permitting processes;
• Resource classification and reserve conversion: executing strategic infill drilling within the defined indicated resource areas of the Pine Tree-Josephine zones. This program is engineered to provide the technical continuity and density required to support the future conversion of current indicated resources to mineral reserves during the PFS;
• Dual-purpose hydrogeological drilling: concurrently, vertical hydrogeological drill holes will intersect the main mineralized body to conduct systematic permeability testing and rock mass characterization. These holes are intentionally positioned in wide-spaced sectors with limited historical data, allowing them to dual-function as hydrogeological test wells and exploratory holes.

Fremont exploration upside and district-scale potential

Beyond the immediate technical baseline work for the 2027 PFS, the Fremont gold mine exhibits significant, untested exploration potential across its four-kilometre (km) strike:

• Pine Tree-Josephine deep resource expansion: As delineated by the structural extension vectors, a significant portion of usually tabular orogenic deposit remains open at depth and along strike. This geometry is structurally defined by normal faults perpendicular to the main orogenic gold trend. Three stepout holes as deep as 1,300 m hit structure and were mineralized, confirming this deposit as a typical orogenic deposit with structural controls. This deep future expansion zone is integrated into long-term planning and is slated for targeted underground exploration via a planned decline ramp following the conclusion of the PFS.
• Chicken Gulch infill and expansion: Due to the limited density of historical drilling at the Chicken Gulch target, exploration activities will focus on executing targeted infill drilling. This program is specifically designed to expand the footprint and confidence of the current inferred resource base, rather than immediate upgrade to the indicated category.
• Queen Specimen target development: The Queen Specimen target represents a significant component of the project's current footprint, hosting approximately 10 per cent of the overall existing resource. Long-term development plans establish that this target will be explored by comprehensive drilling and evaluation post-PFS during the construction of an underground decline ramp, which is anticipated to connect directly with the main Pine Tree-Josephine operations.
• Upside potential -- regional targets and prospects: Advanced evaluation is currently under way on nine greenfield prospects across the broader property footprint, including the high-priority Rosie Jane and Drunken Gulch areas, to confirm structural controls and generate new drill targets. The exploration potential and geological modelling of these regional sectors, alongside other seven distinct property-wide targets, have been further supported by structural data from artificial intelligence (AI) predictive models.

Wendy T. Chan, chief executive officer and director of Lode Gold, commented:

"Securing the three-year AUP provides the regulatory framework required to systematically advance Fremont. This upcoming drilling campaign is focused on the core mineralized zones that will form the basis of our 2027 prefeasibility study. By evaluating grade continuity along strike, testing extensions at depth and advancing our regional exploration targets, we aim to deliver the technical data necessary to define the project's development path."

About Lode Gold Resources Inc.

Lode Gold has key assets in Canada and United States.

The Fremont gold mine project (Fremont Gold Mining LLC) is a brownfield project in Mariposa, Calif., with 43,000 m drilled, 10,000 underground channel samples, 14 adits and two shafts. Mining halted in 1942 due to the gold mining prohibition during the Second World War. It was mined at 10.7 grams per tonne (g/t) when price was gold was $35 per ounce (oz). PEA was completed in 2023. The PEA was based on 1.16 million oz at 1.90 g/t gold (Au) within 19.0 million tonnes (t) indicated and 2.02 million oz at 2.22 g/t Au within 28 million t inferred with a composite cut-off (1). The MRE was updated in 2026; 89 per of the ounces were left unmined if the company compares historical production with its current indicated resource. The average true widths at one g/t cut-off is 53 m. The project sits on more than 3,000 acres of 100-per-cent-owned private and patented land, which is designated as OZ, Trump administration opportunity zone (special tax incentives).

The Dingman property is an orogenic deposit in Ontario, Canada, with over 22,000 m drilled, with a 2013 PEA, MRE: 376,000 oz at 0.94 g/t (M&I (measured and indicated)) and 47,000 oz at 0.71 g/t (inferred).

Qualified person

The technical information contained in this news release was reviewed and approved by Gary Wong, PEng, vice-president of exploration of Lode Gold, designated as a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101.

(1) 0.25 g/t for oxide, 0.45 g/t for open-pit mineralization and 1.45 g/t for underground mineralization.

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