Mr. Dan Barnholden reports

LUCA LAUNCHES THREE-YEAR, US$25 MILLION EXPLORATION PROGRAM TO UNLOCK EXCEPTIONAL GOLD POTENTIAL AT CAMPO MORADO AND TAHUEHUETO

Luca Mining Corp. has launched a comprehensive three-year, $25-million (U.S.) exploration program designed to unlock the district-scale, high-grade gold potential across its wholly owned Campo Morado and Tahuehueto mining operations in Mexico.

Key highlights

• $25-million (U.S.), three-year exploration plan targeting district-scale gold discovery potential across Luca's two producing mines;
• 80,000 metres of diamond drilling (surface and underground) to expand and define high-grade gold resources;
• AI-based assessment of greater than 30 years of advanced historical exploration data available, leveraging greater than 650,000 metres of drilling and decades of geologic and geophysical data valued at over $100-million (U.S.);
• 2026 program: $6.5-million (U.S.) budget for 20,000 metres of drilling; a further $18.5-million (U.S.) budgeted for 2027 to 2028 with 60,000 metres planned;
• Campo Morado: 38 priority targets identified, including Reforma Deeps, a new high-grade gold zone below historical drilling;
• Tahuehueto: near-mine and brownfields drilling to extend the Creston, Perdido and Santiago structures along strike and depth;
• Fully permitted with strong community agreements and existing site access and infrastructure.

Program overview

Over 80,000 metres of surface and underground diamond drilling are planned to underpin future production growth. This campaign follows a detailed review of Luca's extensive geological data sets and will systematically test both near-mine and district-scale targets across more than 220 square kilometres of highly prospective concessions.

As part of the program, Vrify will apply its proprietary AI-assisted target-generation platform to Luca's vast data sets including over 650,000 metres of historical drilling, decades of soil sampling, mapping and geophysical surveys.

Luca has partnered with Vrify to leverage DORA, an AI prospectivity mapping software, to process and augment the extensive data sets from both projects. This collaboration will empower Luca to make data-driven decisions in exploration planning and uncover patterns that point to areas with high mineralization potential. With an AI model that is pretrained on several known VMS systems, DORA is a valuable tool for the Luca team to utilize in advancing this multiyear exploration campaign.

Program focus and targets

Drilling will concentrate on high-grade gold mineralization at both mines, building on recent exploration successes (see news releases dated Aug. 27 and Sept. 8, 2025), which included:

• Campo Morado -- Reforma: 37.2 metres of 5.9 grams per tonne Au (gold), 368 g/t Ag (silver), 0.53 per cent Cu (copper), 5.54 per cent Zn (zinc) and 2.57 per cent Pb (lead), the first drill holes at this target in over 14 years;
• Tahuehueto -- Santiago: 14.0 metres of 6.7 g/t Au and 6.0 metres of 9.0 g/t Au.

Campo Morado

• Focus on undrilled gravity anomalies, proven effective in discovering current resources;
• 38 priority targets ranked using integrated geological, geochemical and geophysical criteria;
• Reforma and El Rey deposits, both open at depth, will be drilled to expand known high-grade zones;
• Reforma Deeps is a new target located immediately below all historical drilling of the Reforma deposit that is associated with a significant untested gravity anomaly.

Tahuehueto

• Surface and underground drilling to test extensions of the Creston and Perdido structures;
• The Santiago deposit strike extension, east onto newly acquired concessions, and west toward the Perdido vein, will test a highly prospective gap interpreted as a continuation of the same mineralized system.

All exploration activities are covered by existing permits and community agreements, allowing rapid mobilization and minimal permitting risk.

Paul D. Gray, Luca vice-president of exploration, commented: "This $25-million (U.S.), three-year exploration program will leverage Luca's extensive proprietary historical data sets available to unlock the district-scale gold potential at both projects, which have seen little meaningful exploration in over a decade. Our projects are ripe for discovery and the definition of new mineral resources. We are confident that the substantive, systematic approach that Luca is undertaking will lead to significant exploration successes. The AI-driven analysis of the data sets at both projects is a key part of this work. Luca is uniquely positioned in this regard with large and valuable historical geological data sets and highly prospective, underexplored 100-per-cent-owned land packages hosting producing operations which together represent an ideal framework for AI analysis and target generation. Luca looks forward to this initiative with Vrify AI, an industry-leading mineral exploration AI firm."

Dan Barnholden, Luca's chief executive officer, added: "We are committed to value creation through exploration at our mines. With operating mills at both Campo Morado and Tahuehueto, we believe the potential is high for the discovery of new mineralization that can feed these mills and add to our near-term production profiles at both operations. Our belief in the potential of our assets is matched by our willingness to innovate as we apply industry-leading AI technology to a world-class data set."

About Luca Mining Corp.

Luca Mining is a diversified Canadian mining company with two 100-per-cent-owned producing mines within the prolific Sierra Madre mineralized belt in Mexico which hosts numerous producing and historical mines along its trend. The company produces gold, copper, zinc, silver and lead from these mines that each have considerable development and resource upside.

The Campo Morado polymetallic VMS mine is an underground operation located in Guerrero state. It produces copper-zinc-lead concentrates with precious metals credits. It is currently undergoing an optimization program which is already generating significant improvements in recoveries, grades, efficiencies and cash flows.

The Tahuehueto mine is a large property of over 100 square kilometres in Durango state. The project hosts epithermal gold and silver vein-style mineralization. Tahuehueto is a newly constructed underground mining operation producing primarily gold and silver. The company has successfully commissioned its mill and is now in commercial production.

Qualified person

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, PGeo, vice-president of exploration at Luca Mining. Mr. Gray is a qualified person for the company as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

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