Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 19, 2026) - Mercado Minerals Ltd. (CSE: MERC) (OTCQB: MRMNF) ("Mercado" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the completion of its inaugural diamond drill program at the Copalito Project ("Copalito" or the "Project") in Sinaloa, Mexico. The 25-hole program) successfully confirmed and expanded mineralization on the Project's three principal veins — 5 Señores, El Agua and El Pilar — and delivered initial drill tests of several newly discovered and previously undrilled vein structures, which are summarized in this news release. The company also wishes to highlight the comprehensive concurrent surface exploration program, which successfully identified and delineated extensions to four veins (El Medio, SE 5 Senores, La Cobriza Norte and SE El Pilar) and discovered two new significant veins: El Pilar Sur and La Renata.

Diamond Drill Program Highlights

• A 25-hole, inaugural diamond drill program (COP-26-001 to COP-26-025) was completed across seven vein structures: 5 Señores, SE 5 Senores, El Agua, El Pilar, El Pilar Sur, El Medio and Chente.

• Work in 2026 has advanced the Copalito Project from 6 principal veins with 8 kilometres of cumulative vein strike length to 8 principal veins with 11 kilometres of cumulative vein strike length. Highlights from this drilling include:

El Pilar Vein — Diamond drilling has now defined the vein over 1,250 metres of strike, with a higher-grade area of approximately 400 metres strike by 200 metres down-dip, and remains open in all directions. Step-out drilling returned the two best intercepts on the vein to date:

• COP-26-019 intersected 3.40 metres of 11 g/t silver, 3.53 g/t gold, 1.45% lead, and 4.41% zinc (403 g/t silver equivalent¹) from 118 metres, including 0.80 metres of 9 g/t silver, 5.37 g/t gold, 1.65% lead, and 10.05% zinc (675 g/t silver equivalent¹)

• COP-26-018 intersected 4.05 metres of 9 g/t silver, 1.86 g/t gold, 1.19% lead and 4.08% zinc (264 g/t silver equivalent¹) from 117.40 metres, including 0.65 metres of 18 g/t silver, 3.80 g/t gold, 3.14% lead and 11.85% zinc (635 g/t silver equivalent¹)

El Agua Vein — Step-out drilling returned the 2026 drilling program's highest-grade intercept:

• COP-26-012 intersected 3.50 metres of 30 g/t silver, 1.94 g/t gold, 9.47% lead and 14.61% zinc (686 g/t silver equivalent¹) from 124.75 metres
• Including 1.20 metres of 34 g/t silver, 3.40 g/t gold, 19.00% lead, and 21.00% zinc (1120 g/t silver equivalent¹)

• COP-26-023 intersected 8.00 metres of 103 g/t silver, 1.11 g/t gold, 0.18% lead, and 0.86% zinc (200 g/t silver equivalent¹) within a broad 48.40 metre interval, helping define a higher-grade corridor of roughly 500 metres strike by 200 metres down-dip within the 950 metre strike length of the vein.

5 Señores Vein — the mineralized strike length was expanded to approximately 800 metres and to approximately 125 metres vertical depth, with an approximately 250 metre southeast fault-offset strike length segment identified and tested (SE 5 Señores). Best intercepts include:

• COP-26-014 intersected 7.60 metres of 340 g/t silver, 1.22 g/t gold, 0.34% lead, and 1.18% zinc (434 g/t silver equivalent¹) from 22.50 metres within a broader interval of 24.20 metres of 114 g/t silver, 0.50 g/t gold, 0.13% lead and 0.47% zinc (154 g/t silver equivalent¹).

• COP-26-001 intersected 6.50 metres of 256 g/t silver, 1.45 g/t gold, 0.32% lead, and 1.06% zinc (372 g/t silver equivalent¹) from 43.60 metres, including 1.20 metres of 848 g/t silver, 4.83 g/t gold, 0.20% lead, and 0.47% zinc (1146 g/t silver equivalent¹).

New vein and vein extension targets — first-pass drilling has confirmed the presence of the SE 5 Señores, Chente, El Pilar Sur and El Medio structures at depth, which have a cumulative mapped strike length of over 1,900 metres and have only collectively been tested by seven holes to date, representing a small fraction of this overall strike length. All holes intersected the targeted structures and vein mineralization at depth in previously undrilled areas. Hole COP-26-024 intersected an 8.80 metre wide vein and fault breccia at El Pilar Sur, and COP-26-022 returned 0.60 metres of 88 g/t AgEq at El Medio.

Table 1 - 2026 Significant Drill Hole Intersections^1,2

¹ Silver-equivalent values are calculated assuming typical recoveries based on metallurgical studies conducted on analogous epithermal vein deposits and are not necessarily reflective of metallurgy on the property. No metallurgical work has been reported on the property. The recoveries used are 91% silver, 94% gold, 70% lead, and 75% zinc. The silver - equivalent formula is: ((24 * silver (g/t)*0.91 / 31.1035) + (1900 * gold (g/t)*0.94 / 31.1035) + (0.90 * 2204 * lead %*0.7/100) + (1.10 * 2204 * zinc %*0.75/100))*(31.1035 / 24). Metal price assumptions are US$24/oz silver, US$1900/oz gold, US$0.90/lb lead and US$1.10/lb zinc. Numbers may not match due to rounding.
² All intervals are drilled core lengths. Additional drilling is required to establish true widths.

Surface Program and Prospecting Highlights
A comprehensive surface exploration program comprised of drone LiDAR, drone magnetics, detailed mapping, prospecting and soil sampling was undertaken across the Copalito project in 2026 with the goal of better defining the surface strike extent of known veins and their extensions, identify geochemically anomalous corridors that could represent vein extensions or undetected veins, and direct prospecting mapping discoveries of new veins on the project. The surface exploration program was a resounding success in identifying and delineating extensions to four known veins (El Medio, SE 5 Senores, La Cobriza Norte and SE El Pilar) led to the discovery of two new veins at El Pilar Sur and La Renata (Figure 1, Table 2).

At the Renata Vein, sparse and discontinuous historical grab samples were forensically prospected and mapped, resulting in the reinterpretation that they are part of a continuous vein. The Renata Vein has a strike length of 1150 metres and an average width of 1.90 metres, with widths up to 5.00 metres (Table 2). Results at Renata range up to 233 g/t silver, 0.52 g/t gold, 2.67 % lead and 1.51 % zinc. This vein will be the focus for initial exploration drill testing in the phase II exploration program. Surface sampling highlights from 2026 from vein extensions are provided in Table 2.

Table 2: Surface vein sampling results¹ for highlight veins and vein extensions

¹ Silver-equivalent values are calculated assuming typical recoveries based on metallurgical studies conducted on analogous epithermal vein deposits and are not necessarily reflective of metallurgy on the property. No metallurgical work has been reported on the property. The recoveries used are 91% silver, 94% gold, 70% lead, and 75% zinc. The silver - equivalent formula is: ((24 * silver (g/t)*0.91 / 31.1035) + (1900 * gold (g/t)*0.94 / 31.1035) + (0.90 * 2204 * lead %*0.7/100) + (1.10 * 2204 * zinc %*0.75/100))*(31.1035 / 24). Metal price assumptions are US$24/oz silver, US$1900/oz gold, US$0.90/lb lead and US$1.10/lb zinc. Numbers may not match due to rounding.

Soil sampling during the Phase 1 program successfully defined the known vein corridors and their extensions including subtle anomalies that extend into areas mapped as upper succession rhyolites which are commonly viewed as less prospective for hosting vein mineralization than the lower sequence andesites below them. The presence of even subtle geochemical soil anomalies within the rhyolites is viewed as positive for potential areas of new mineralization. Some of these anomalies aided in focusing efforts that subsequently defined several of the vein extensions and the definition of the Renata Vein. Two soil anomalies remain un-explained and will be a focus for follow-up mapping and prospecting work (Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Copalito Project plan map targets with vein array over principal component analysis (PCA) treatment of soil geochemical data that identified silver, gold, arsenic, molybdenum, lead and cadmium as the elements of positive correlation.

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CEO Comment

Daniel Rodriguez, CEO & Director, commented:
"The goal of this program was to define productive segments of the known mineralized veins in drilling, to expand the extent of the known veins and the discovery of new veins at Copalito. I believe we achieved that and we are extremely pleased with the results. In a single campaign we confirmed and grew three principal veins along strike and at depth, returned high-grade intercepts at 5 Señores, El Agua and El Pilar, and made successful first-pass tests on several new structures that were never previously drilled. In addition, we also discovered and delineated a new 1150 metre strike length vein at Renata which has never been drilled. The results from our drilling and field program across multiple veins reinforces our conviction that Copalito hosts a critical mass of productive vein structures. With this new dataset in hand, we are now prioritizing follow-up drilling and exploration aimed at expanding the higher-grade areas of drilled veins and the new areas of interest we have defined across the Project."

Phase II Program at Copalito
The Company intends to complete a Phase Two program at Copalito, which will concentrate on four goals:

• Drill expansion of the higher-grade areas of the El Agua and El Pilar veins
• Exploration drilling of vein extensions including SE 5 Senores, SE El Pilar, La Cobriza Norte and El Pilar Sur
• Initial drill testing of the 1150 metre strike length Renata Vein
• Surface mapping and prospecting work following up on unexplained soil anomalies and vein trends in the northwestern portion of the Copalito project

Quality Assurance/Quality Control and Chain of Custody
Where samples were taken, drill core was sawn in half, with one half being sent for analysis and the remaining half kept in the core box for record. Duplicate samples, standard reference materials and blanks were inserted by Mercado personnel at regular intervals into the sample stream. Drill core was sawn and bagged, with bagged samples being grouped into rice bags and secured by a locking security tag with a unique security tag identification number. Sample batches were transported from the logging site in Copalito to a secured courier transport service vehicle provided by ALS Laboratories. The samples were delivered by ALS secured courier to their laboratory in Hermosillo for analysis.

Samples were crushed by ALS to over 70 per cent passing below two millimetres and split using a riffle splitter. Sample splits were then pulverized to over 85 per cent passing below 75 microns. Gold determinations were completed by fire assay with an atomic absorption (AA) finish on a 30 g subsample of the prepared pulp (Au-AA23). Any sample returning over 10 g/t gold was re-analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50 g subsample (Au-GRA21). In addition, a 34-element analysis was performed on a 0.25 g subsample of the prepared pulps by a four acid digestion followed by an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish (ME-ICP61). Samples that returned overlimit values for silver, lead or zinc were finished by Ore Grade analysis (Ag-OG62, Pb-OG62 and/or Zn-OG62).

Qualified Person
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) and was reviewed and approved by Kelson Willms, P.Geo., of Archer, Cathro & Associates (1981) Limited. Mr. Willms is a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

About Mercado Minerals Ltd.
Mercado Minerals Ltd. (CSE: MERC) (OTCQB: MRMNF) is a silver-focused exploration company targeting the next world-class discovery in Mexico's emerging Western Silver Belt, part of the prolific Sierra Madre Occidental mining district. With a proven team boasting extensive experience in Mexican exploration, Mercado is actively advancing multiple projects across more than 3,000 hectares. The Company is committed to creating shareholder value through disciplined exploration, strategic growth, and discovery-driven results.

Forward-Looking Statement (Safe Harbor Statement):

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "anticipate," "plan," "continue," "expect," "estimate," "objective," "may," "will," "project," "should," "predict," "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the Company's exploration plans and the intended use of proceeds from the Offering. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements because the Company cannot provide assurance that they will prove correct. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and, except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements.

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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