Mr. Michael Murphy reports

SOUTH PACIFIC METALS COMMENCES EXPLORATION AT THE KILI TEKE COPPER-GOLD PROJECT, PAPUA NEW GUINEA - HOST TO A 4.2MOZ GOLD-EQUIVALENT NI 43-101 INFERRED RESOURCE

South Pacific Metals Corp. has commenced exploration at its 100-per-cent-owned Kili Teke copper-gold project in the Hela province of Papua New Guinea. Following community awareness meetings concluded in Tari in late April and early May, 2026, the company has secured the support of landowners, the Hela provincial government, the Koroba-Kopiago District and the Awi-Logayu local-level government to return to the ground at exploration licence 2310, held through South Pacific Metals' wholly owned Papua New Guinean operating subsidiary, Kainantu Resources Ltd. (KRL).

Highlights:

• Established resource base: a National Instrument 43-101 inferred mineral resource (effective Nov. 18. 2022) of 237 million tonnes grading 0.24 gram per tonne gold and 0.34 per cent copper, containing 1.81 million ounces gold, 802,000 tonnes copper and 40,000 tonnes molybdenum for 4.2 million ounces gold equivalent, defined on only the Central Main Porphyry (CMP) alone, a fraction of the intrusive complex (see news release dated Jan. 12, 2023);
• Four prospect areas, one drilled: the resource sits within just one of the four prospect areas; the remaining three: the Ieru porphyry, the Ridge gold area and the skarn corridor, together with the deeper, higher-grade parts of the resource system, remain largely untested;
• Additional exploration targets: beyond the resource, South Pacific Metals has defined over 10 exploration targets across three distinct mineralized styles (see news release dated Oct. 1, 2024):
  • A Porgera-style alkalic epithermal gold target: the Ridge gold area (RGA) with a gold-tellurium-arsenic signature distinct from the resource porphyry's copper/gold/molybdenum; soils up to 9.39 g/t Au; rock chips to nine g/t Au, 7.4 g/t silver and 1.5 per cent Cu;
  • A separately modelled intrusive complex, the copper-gold Ieru porphyry (IP): surface rock chips up to 38.7 per cent Cu and 40 g/t Au; historic trenching of 27 metres at 0.97 per cent Cu and 1.25 g/t Au;
  • A corridor of high-grade copper/gold/silver/zinc skarn targets, each largely untested; historical drilling returned 7.8 m at 12.98 per cent Cu and 11.75 g/t Au, outside the current resource;
• 14 ranked drill targets: a machine-learning targeting study with ALS Geoanalytics ranked 14 drill targets, classifying six of them Rank 1, including a high-priority deep porphyry target beneath the CMP and a series of targets on the resource margins, where the system remains open;
• Exploration under way with full stakeholder support: the project has been formally endorsed by the Office of the Honourable Philip Undialu, Governor of Hela Province, the Hela Provincial Administration, the Koroba-Kopiago District and the local-level government, with provincial and district leaders confirming the local Kili Teke community is eager for work to begin; KRL is now mobilizing to site to begin a staged work program at one of Papua New Guinea's most advanced undeveloped copper-gold systems;
• Detailed interactive 3-D model: a Vrify technical presentation on the Kili Teke staged exploration program is available on the company's website.

Executive chairman Michael Murphy commented: "Kili Teke is rare for an explorer of our size. A district-scale system with a 4.2-million-ounce resource and more than $20-million (U.S.) of past work behind it, yet with three of its four prospect areas barely drilled. The high-grade results are already on the board, from high-grade skarn intercepts to multigram gold in soils. Our job is to follow the data, stage by stage, back to the productive heart of this system, and we are doing so with the full support of the landowners and the Hela provincial government, to whom we are deeply grateful."

A data-rich foundation with more than a decade of work

Kili Teke has been the subject of systematic exploration for more than a decade, principally by Harmony Gold between 2014 and 2017, with in excess of $20-million (U.S.) of expenditure. Work to date includes 55 diamond drill holes for 36,917 metres (averaging 660 metres, with 12 holes deeper than 900 metres and a maximum of 1,533 metres), 1,674 surface geochemistry samples, airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys, induced polarization geophysics and 3-D magnetic vector inversion modelling, and detailed mapping across the 253-square-kilometre tenement. This work culminated in an independent NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource (effective Nov. 18, 2022). South Pacific Metals has since added a machine-learning reinterpretation of the historical drill database (ALS Geoanalytics LithoLens) and the University of British Columbia MDRU porphyry-proximity (MPIx) index, together generating the 14-target ranked inventory now being advanced.

Four prospect areas

More than 95 per cent of historical drilling focused on the Central Main porphyry, leaving three prospect areas and the deeper, higher-grade parts of the system largely untested:

• Central Main porphyry -- the existing resource: This is the drilled core of the system, hosting the project's entire NI 43-101 inferred resource of 237 million tonnes at 0.34 per cent Cu and 0.24 g/t Au (equal to 1.81 million ounces Au, 802,000 tonnes Cu and 40,000 tonnes Mo). Highlight intercepts include 152 m at 1.17 per cent Cu and 0.93 g/t Au (KTDD045). The resource model is trimmed at roughly 400 m below surface, so deeper high-grade intercepts are excluded, and pit optimization has already identified a higher-grade core of 56 million tonnes at 0.42 per cent Cu and 0.33 g/t Au. Rising copper-to-sulphur ratios, stronger stockworking and intercepts like KTDD025 (1.27 per cent Cu and 0.55 g/t Au at 716 m), supported by ALS LithoLens AI (artificial intelligence) modelling, point to an untested higher-grade porphyry centre at depth.
• Ieru porphyry -- an undrilled separately modelled intrusive complex immediately west of the CMP: Surface trenching by the previous operator returned 132 m at 0.55 per cent Cu and 0.6 g/t Au (including 27 m at 0.97 per cent Cu and 1.25 g/t Au), with individual rock chips up to 38.7 per cent Cu, 40 g/t Au and 208 g/t Ag. South Pacific Metals' geochemical fingerprinting shows Ieru is distinct from the CMP with a higher gold-to-copper ratio and a strong tellurium overprint suggesting Porgera-style potential. MPIx modelling indicates the single historical Harmony hole sat very close to porphyry mineralization but was drilled subparallel to structure, so the target was never effectively tested. New magnetic inversion modelling has defined two north-south elongate porphyry targets 1,500 to 2,000 m long and 200 to 500 m wide at depth, to be drill tested on an east-west transect.
• Ridge gold area -- a Porgera-style alkalic gold target hosted in alkalic monzodiorite with an interpreted basin/collapse zone (possible diatreme), defined by an approximately 900-metre-by-500-metre soil anomaly running to 9.39 g/t Au, 7.4 g/t Ag and 1.5 per cent Cu alongside greater than 10,000 parts per billlion tellurium and greater than 50 parts per million arsenic: The setting is an interpreted analogue to Porgera's Roamane fault zone (5.1 million ounces at 27 g/t Au), with likely south-dipping east-west structural controls. The two historical holes were collared in the footwall and drilled subparallel to those structures, and KTDD008 showed gold grades increasing downhole, so the target has not been effectively drill tested.
• Skarn corridor -- several high-grade skarn bodies covering a combined 26,250 square metres, mapped at surface adjoining the CMP and excluded entirely from the current mineral resource estimate: Historical drilling returned bornite-chalcopyrite-magnetite intercepts, including 7.8 m at 12.98 per cent Cu and 11.75 g/t Au within a broader 54 m at 2.1 per cent Cu, 1.82 g/t Au and 3.87 g/t Ag (from 878 m downhole), while 57 surface rock chips average 1.7 per cent Cu with a peak of 27 per cent Cu, 3.4 g/t Au, 37.6 g/t Ag and 3.3 per cent Zn. Because the skarns are strongly magnetic (approximately twice background), close-spaced drone or ground magnetics offer a low-cost way to directly generate near-surface drill targets.

A staged, disciplined work program

The program begins with low-impact field activities; camp re-establishment and community engagement, field verification and reconnaissance mapping, systematic soil geochemistry and close-spaced ground magnetics, and trenching to finalize targets, building methodically toward discovery drilling of the highest-ranked targets. Drilling is the final stage, not the first, with each stage predicated on the success of the one before it.

Qualified person

The technical and scientific information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Darren Holden, BSc (honours), PhD, FAusIMM, a technical adviser and consultant to the company and a qualified person as defined under NI 43-101. Resource information is drawn from the independent technical report dated Nov. 18, 2022, prepared by Graeme J. Fleming, BAppSc, MAIG, available under the company's profile on SEDAR+.

Note: The Kili Teke NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 237 million tonnes grading 0.34 per cent Cu, 0.24 g/t Au and 168 ppm Mo contains approximately 1.81 million ounces gold, 802,000 tonnes copper and 40,000 tonnes molybdenum, equivalent to approximately 4.2 million ounces of gold on a contained-metal basis. Gold equivalent assumes equal co-recovery of gold and copper using $3,300 (U.S.) per ounce gold and $4.45 (U.S.) per pound copper and is provided for indicative comparison only; readers are directed to the November Nov. 18, 2022, technical report for the underlying assumptions. Individual drill, trench and surface results referenced are historical and/or selected high-grade results, are not necessarily representative of the deposit as a whole, and have not been independently verified by the company's qualified person beyond the resource data set. Exploration targets at depth, in the skarns and in the alkalic system are conceptual in nature; there has been insufficient exploration to define them as mineral resources, and it is uncertain whether further exploration will result in their delineation as mineral resources.

About South Pacific Metals Corp.

South Pacific Metals is an emerging gold-copper exploration company operating in the heart of Papua New Guinea's proven gold and copper production corridors. South Pacific Metals has four exploration properties:

• Ontenu (Osena) -- bordering K92 to the southwest: drilling under way on K92-style targets with surface assays up to 21 per cent Cu, 13.9 g/t Au, 645 g/t Ag and 73 g/t Au defining kilometre-scale corridors;
• Anga -- bordering K92 to the northeast, along strike from K92's Arakompa discovery: soils to 1,080 ppb Au, 3,397 ppm Cu and stream samples up to 281.8 g/t Au;
• Kili Teke -- 4.2 million ounces AuEq NI 43-101 inferred resource (effective Nov. 18, 2022) containing 1.81 million ounces Au, 802,000 tonnes Cu and 40,000 tonnes Mo; results outside of resource include drilling 7.8 m at 12.98 per cent Cu plus 11.75 g/t Au, surface samples up to 27.5 per cent Cu;
• May River -- district-scale system beside Frieda River; high-grade drilling includes 19 m at 11.47 per cent Cu and 2.17 g/t Au and 109 m at 1.53 g/t Au.

South Pacific Metals common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (symbol: SPMC), the OTCQB marketplace (symbol: SPMEF) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (symbol: 6J00).

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