Mr. Koby Kushner reports

ATHENA PROVIDES DRILLING UPDATE FROM EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, NEVADA

Athena Gold Corp. has provided a further exploration update from its Excelsior Springs project in Nevada. Mammoth Minerals Ltd. has been aggressively exploring Excelsior pursuant to its option agreement to earn an 80-per-cent interest in the project over five years, providing Athena a free-carry to definitive feasibility study thereafter (see the company's press releases dated June 2, 2025, and Aug. 22, 2025). Athena remains a significant shareholder of Mammoth. Mammoth has reported new high-grade gold intercepts from reverse circulation (RC) drilling at Lunchbox Ridge on the Buster trend, on a previously untested parallel structure approximately 700 metres along strike from the Buster mine zone (see Mammoth's press release dated Aug. 31, 2026, and the company's press release dated Aug. 12, 2026).

Highlights from Mammoth-Excelsior Springs project, Nevada:

• RC drilling at Lunchbox Ridge returned 3.76 grams per tonne gold over 10.67 metres from 198.2 metres (MEXRC2637):
  • This hole targeted a geophysical feature along the Buster trend corridor and expanded known mineralization along a previously untested parallel structure that remains open along strike and downdip.
• New high-grade surface sampling results from the western extents of parallel trends at the Blue Dick prospect include:
  • 1,190 g/t silver, 4.7 g/t Au and 4.55 per cent lead (MREX01209);
  • 891 g/t Ag, 10.7 g/t Au, 1.7 per cent Pb and 3.7 per cent zinc (MREX01206);
  • 708 g/t Ag, 9.6 g/t Au, 2.1 per cent Pb and 5.4 per cent Zn (MREX01207);
  • 1,078 g/t Ag, 11.8 g/t Au, 1.1 per cent copper, 8.5 per cent Pb and 15.3 per cent Zn (MREX01194);
  • 1,388 g/t Ag, 0.6 g/t Au and 0.28 per cent antimony (MREX01174).
• RC drilling at the high-grade Blue Dick Prospect is continuing, with nine of 29 planned holes now completed across priority trends spanning a cumulative greater-than-6.5-kilometre of mapped mineralization. Samples have been submitted for analysis, with additional holes remaining in the approximately 5,000-metre program.

Qualified person statement

The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Benjamin Kuzmich, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Athena Gold and the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Readers are cautioned that historical records referred to in this press release have been examined but not verified by a qualified person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this press release are accurate. Information contained in this press release was taken from Mammoth Minerals' recent press release dated Aug. 31, 2026.

About Athena Gold Corp.

Athena is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit and to conduct additional exploration drilling and studies on its projects across North America. Athena's Laird Lake project is situated in the Red Lake gold district of Ontario, covering more than 7,000 hectares along more than 10 kilometres of the Balmer-Confederation assemblage contact, where the company recently made a high-grade, near-surface, grassroots gold discovery. This underexplored area is road accessible, located about 10 kilometres west of West Red Lake Gold's Madsen mine and 34 kilometres northwest of Kinross Gold's Great Bear project. Also in Northwestern Ontario is Athena's Forester project, a 14,930-hectare land package located less than 30 kilometres southeast of Equinox Gold's Musselwhite gold mine, with historical drill intercepts showing strong potential for both high-grade, narrow-vein and low-grade, bulk-tonnage gold mineralization. Meanwhile, Athena's Excelsior Springs project is located in the prolific Walker Lane trend in Nevada, where it is currently under an earn-in option with Mammoth Minerals. The Excelsior Springs project spans more than 2,500 hectares and includes at least three historic mines.

We seek Safe Harbor.