Mr. Greg Isenor reports

KO GOLD PROVIDES EXPLORATION AND DRILLING UPDATE ON ITS OTAGO GOLD BELT PERMITS IN NEW ZEALAND

KO Gold Inc. has provided an update on its continuing exploration activities across its permits in the Otago gold belt region, South Island, New Zealand, and to outline its upcoming drilling programs.

Exploration and drilling overview

The company's exploration and evaluation programs continue to advance across its permits. Drilling programs are planned on four of KO Gold's five exploration permits, all of which are now drill ready. In addition, detailed fieldwork is being initiated in areas of gold and antimony mineralization with little exploration to date, and regional exploration will focus on zones with strong interpreted gold prospectivity.

Planned drilling programs

Drilling will take place both within the historic Carrick gold field, and also along the western, eastern and down-dip extensions of Hyde-Macraes shear zone (HMSZ) currently being mined by OceanaGold at the Macraes gold mine, New Zealand's largest active gold operation.

1. Carrick exploration permit -- Drilling will twin and validate key historical gold intersections within the Carrick gold field. This area, despite its historical production history, has never been systematically tested with modern exploration techniques or deeper drilling.
2. Smylers gold exploration permit -- Located along the eastern extension of the HMSZ, that hosts the Macraes gold mining operation, drilling at Smylers will step out from prior KO Gold drill holes completed in 2021 that included impressive gold intersections and test continuity of this mineralization to support a maiden mineral resource estimate.
3. Hyde exploration permit -- The drilling program will target the western extension of the HMSZ as defined by mapping and recent geophysical interpretations. Drilling will evaluate the potential for gold mineralization within this part of the shear zone.
4. Glenpark exploration permit -- The drilling program is designed to test potential deep down-dip extensions of the HMSZ, which has been well defined at the Macraes gold mine.

Exploration potential

The Otago gold belt's gold potential is underscored by the long-standing success of OceanaGold's Macraes mine, which has produced approximately 250,000 ounces of gold per year since 1990, and by Santana Minerals' rapid mine development at its Bendigo-Ophir gold project, located northwest of Macraes mine along a similar shear zone. The Bendigo-Ophir gold project, located in close proximity to the company's Carrick exploration permit, contains a JORC (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) indicated resource of 18.9 Mt (million tonnes) at an average grade of 2.5 grams per tonne Au for 1.5 million contained ounces of gold as defined over the past four years from extensive drilling (source: Santana Minerals ASX news release dated March 4, 2025). On Nov. 5, 2025, Santana Minerals announced that the New Zealand government had granted a mining permit for the Bendigo-Ophir gold project, a major step toward reaching the production phase with continuing permitting and consents being approved through the recently enacted Fast-track Approvals Act allowing mining projects to reach production much faster than in the past. Note that a qualified person (QP) has been unable to verify the information on the Bendigo-Ophir gold project and this information is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the company's permits in the Otago gold belt.

Recent drilling results throughout the region highlight the continuity and depth extensions of mineralized zones, signaling increasing exploration momentum. The Otago region remains significantly underexplored, particularly at depth and has seen a notable uptick in new staking activity in recent months.

KO Gold is currently completing a financing to finance its planned exploration and drilling programs (see Nov. 3, 2025, news release). With the upcoming summer field season, the company is well positioned to initiate drilling operations.

Greg Isenor, president and chief executive officer of KO Gold, commented: "We are excited about the opportunities emerging in the Otago gold belt. Having explored and made discoveries across the Birimian greenstone belts of West Africa over the past 25 years, I see many similarities here. Thirty-five years ago, the Birimian hosted only small-scale operations, today it is one of the world's largest gold-producing regions. We believe the Otago gold belt is at a similar stage of discovery and KO Gold is positioned at the right place, at the right time."

The QP has reviewed the historical scientific and technical information on the Carrick gold project from historical reports and scientific papers, but has not yet fully verified the sampling, analytical and test data underlying this information. Current limitations include getting access to original assay certificates or the general lack of original assay certificates from the historical drilling on the Carrick EP and the need to potentially twin or redrill a significant portion of the historical drill holes to verify historical gold grades and mineralized widths.

Qualified person statement

All scientific and technical information contained in this news release was prepared and approved by Paul Teniere, PGeo, vice-president of exploration and director of KO Gold, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About KO Gold Inc.

KO Gold is a Canadian junior exploration company listed on the CSE under KOG. The company's strategy is to acquire and explore highly prospective gold properties within the Otago gold district in New Zealand and has a continuing program of permit exploration and drilling. KO Gold presently has four 100-per-cent-owned exploration permits and one exploration permit under application (Carrick Range) within the Otago gold district for a combined land package of 400 square kilometres. The company's Smylers Gold, Hyde and Glenpark EPs are located adjacent to OceanaGold's Macraes gold mine and the Carrick EP hosts the historic Carrick gold field which holds promise as a significant gold deposit near Santana Minerals' Bendigo-Ophir gold project. The company also has an NSR (net smelter return) on three additional permits including Garibaldi, Raggedy Range and Rough Ridge South totalling 340 square kilometres. KO Gold has spent over $3-million in exploration and drilling on its permits in the Otago gold district over the past five years including RC (reverse circulation) and diamond drilling on its Smylers Gold EP.

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