Mr. Brad Peters reports

PACIFIC EMPIRE MINERALS CORP. COMPLETES 2026 DIAMOND DRILL PROGRAM AT ITS TRIDENT AND PINNACLE COPPER-GOLD PROPERTIES

Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. has completed its 2026 diamond drill program at its Trident and Pinnacle properties, located in the Quesnel terrane of north-central British Columbia. The company completed 14 diamond drill holes totalling 4,548.5 metres (m): eight holes (2,410.6 metres) at Trident and six holes (2,137.9 metres) at Pinnacle. Core from 13 of the 14 holes has been logged and sampled, and 2,286 core samples have been submitted for analysis to ALS Canada Ltd. Full assay results from Trident are anticipated by the end of 2026, with results from Pinnacle anticipated in early 2027.

2026 Program highlights:

• Expanded program: Fourteen diamond drill holes totalling 4,548.5 metres of NQ core were completed, approximately 75 per cent more metres than the company's 2025 program.
• District-scale testing: Both Trident and Pinnacle were drill tested in a single season, advancing the company's interpretation of the two properties as one district-scale copper-gold porphyry system.
• Six targets tested: Drilling tested the A zone, east IP anomaly, east breccia and west breccia targets at Trident, and the Pinnacle south and Pinnacle Aplite north target areas at Pinnacle. Three of the Trident targets step out from the A zone and central porphyry areas drilled by the company in 2025.
• Trident assays by year-end: Full assay results for the eight Trident holes are anticipated by the end of 2026.
• Pinnacle and 2025 core to follow: Assays for the six Pinnacle holes, and for previously unsampled core from 2025 holes DD25TRI003, DD25TRI004 and DD25TRI005, are anticipated in early 2027.

Trident

Eight holes totalling 2,410.6 metres were drilled at Trident across four target areas: the A zone (DD26TRI007 to DD26TRI009), the east IP anomaly (DD26TRI010 to DD26TRI012), the east breccia (DD26TRI013) and the west breccia (DD26TRI014). The A zone holes followed up the company's 2025 drilling, while the remaining five holes stepped out to test three new targets. Hole DD26TRI011, collared from the same pad as DD26TRI010, has not been logged or sampled at this time.

Pinnacle

Six holes totalling 2,137.9 metres were drilled at Pinnacle across two target areas: Pinnacle south (DD26PIN015 and DD26PIN016) and Pinnacle Aplite north (DD26PIN017 to DD26PIN020). The program marks the return of diamond drilling to Pinnacle, which was last diamond drilled in 2017.

Assay timing and next steps

Full assay results from the 2026 Trident drilling are anticipated by the end of 2026 and results from Pinnacle are anticipated in early 2027. The company has also submitted samples from previously unsampled intervals of 2025 holes DD25TRI003, DD25TRI004 and DD25TRI005 to ALS, with results anticipated in early 2027. The remaining core from DD25TRI006 will be submitted shortly. Results will be released following review and verification by the qualified person, and will be integrated with historic drilling, geophysics and geochemistry into an updated geological model of the Trident-Pinnacle system to guide target selection for future drilling.

Brad Peters, the company's president and chief executive officer, commented: "Two thousand twenty-six was a milestone season for Pacific Empire. For the first time, we drilled both Trident and Pinnacle in the same program, testing the system on a district scale. Our site team and our drilling contractor, Omineca Drilling, delivered excellent production and a safe, professional program. This program advances our view of Trident and Pinnacle as one large copper-gold porphyry system. With Trident assays due before year-end, and Pinnacle and our 2025 core to follow early in 2027, we look forward to a steady flow of results for shareholders over the coming months."

Qualified person and data compilation

The company has engaged Quinn Harper, PGeo, of inData Geoscience Ltd., as its qualified person to oversee technical disclosure for the Trident and Pinnacle projects. Before reporting on the program, the company chose to complete logging and sampling of the 2026 drill core, submit the outstanding 2025 core for analysis and compile the drilling data set for review by the qualified person. The company is now positioned to report assay results promptly as they are received.

Sampling, QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) and qualified person

Drill core was logged and sampled at the company's 2026 exploration camp. Samples were sealed in security-tagged bags and shipped under chain of custody by Bandstra Transportation to ALS Canada Ltd. preparation facilities in Terrace and Langley, B.C. ALS is an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory independent of the company. Samples are crushed to 70 per cent passing two millimetres (mm) and a 1,000-gram (g) split is pulverized to 85 per cent passing 75 microns (ALS PREP-31B). Gold is determined by 30 g fire assay with atomic absorption finish (Au-AA23) and 48 elements by four-acid digestion with ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) finish (ME-MS61). As part of its QA/QC program, the company inserted a blank or certified reference material at every 20th sample position (5 per cent), alternating between the two.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Quinn Harper, PGeo, of inData Geoscience, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and independent of the company.

About Pacific Empire Minerals Corp.

Pacific Empire is a copper-gold exploration company based in Vancouver, B.C., and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PEMC. The company has a district-scale land position in north-central British Columbia totalling 16,982 hectares.

British Columbia is a green copper jurisdiction with abundant hydroelectric power, access and infrastructure in close proximity to the end-market.

We seek Safe Harbor.