Mr. Jim Atkinson reports

BIG RED MINING CORP. EXPANDS ANTIMONY SOIL ANOMALY ON ITS ANTIMONY 2.0 PROPERTY IN NEW BRUNSWICK

Big Red Mining Corp. has provided an update on the Antimony 2.0 project considering China's recent announcement banning exports of gallium, germanium and antimony to the United States. This strategic move, paired with September, 2024, export restrictions, has exacerbated global concerns over supply chain stability for these indispensable materials.

Highlights:

• The antimony market has become very restricted with the recent announcements by China.
• Recent prices for antimony have increased in response to perceived shortages and there is a push to develop alternative sources of this metal.
• Big Red's Antimony 2.0 project in New Brunswick is poised to become even more interesting as North America strives to replace the output of antimony from China.
• Additional soil samples collected by the original owner in the area where antimony was discovered have been submitted to the laboratory for analysis.
• Results include highly anomalous soil values for antimony and pathfinder elements.
• An expanded soil sampling program is under way to further explore the area where antimony was discovered in soils.
• An IP (induced polarization) survey has been scheduled to commence in early January to cover the areas of known antimony anomalies to assist in generating trenching and drilling targets.

Perspective

China is the world's leading producer of antimony, accounting for 48 per cent of global production and 63 per cent of U.S. antimony imports. The United States has no domestic antimony production and severely limited stockpiles. Since antimony export restrictions were imposed in September, 2024, antimony shipments from China dropped 97 per cent while prices rose 200 per cent.

Antimony, a mineral vital for defence systems, renewable energy storage and high-tech manufacturing, has become the latest flashpoint in the resource security landscape. Industry experts warn that this trend could severely impact U.S. national defence readiness and the development of advanced technologies unless alternative sources are secured.

Antimony is in high demand globally and has been classified as a critical mineral. Antimony is a critical component for battery technology, advanced military systems and other industrial applications. China announced antimony export restrictions, which took effect on Sept. 15, 2024 (source: Reuters, Aug. 28, 2024), and are expected to have significant implications for the global antimony supply chain. An extreme supply shortage since April has led to the sharpest price rally ever recorded in the antimony market since Fastmarkets started pricing the metal back in the early 1980s. Fastmarkets-assessed antimony metal prices in Rotterdam increased at their fastest rate in more than 40 years in the week to May 17, 2024, due to a severe supply squeeze after a month of continued extreme shortage of raw materials from China, Russia and Southeast Asia.

The property

The Antimony 2.0 property is located approximately 25 kilometres west of Fredericton, the provincial capital of New Brunswick, and approximately 15 kilometres north-northeast of the historic Lake George antimony mine, which was North America's only primary antimony producer. The Lake George antimony mine operated for various periods from the 1860s to 1998 and produced as much as 4 per cent of the world's demand of antimony from 1970 through 1992.

Past work had identified antimony in soils on the property during reconnaissance sampling.

Big Red's optioned Antimony 2.0 property has exciting antimony discoveries by personnel of Edge Exploration Inc., which include three particularly robust antimony soil anomalies. These findings stem from a 395-sample reconnaissance soil survey and drone-conducted magnetic survey. Geology is the same package of interbedded Silurian greywacke and argillite that characterizes Lake George antimony mine approximately 15 kilometres to the southwest.

Soil samples with high antimony anomalies were previously collected by Edge personnel. The recent sampling has expanded the area of anomalous antimony values. The IP survey will be focused on the areas of anomalous soil values to detect areas of mineralization and to outline differences in resistivity, which could indicate mineralizing conditions in the subsurface. The property has never been effectively explored even though gold has been panned from one of the streams draining the area. Since antimony is known to be associated with gold and because the property is close to and in a similar geological setting as the Lake George antimony mine, previous owners included the analysis for this element in the early exploration.

This preliminary soil sampling program was successful in identifying an area of antimony on the property.

Recent exploration

Exploration on the Antimony 2.0 property by Big Red Mining has commenced with soil sampling and an IP survey, which will be completed in early January to explore the areas of antimony soil anomalies.

Previous soil samples collected on the property were submitted to Activation Laboratories for analysis. The results confirmed the presence of anomalous antimony in B-horizon soils.

The locations of the samples were in the area where antimony soil anomalies were previously identified.

Anomalous soil values in B-horizon soils were encountered over an area of approximately 150 by 120 metres, with 12 results considered anomalous with values up to 35 times the average and over 80 times background. Results are presented in an attached table. In addition to anomalous antimony results there are also corresponding anomalous results for the pathfinder elements arsenic, molybdenum, copper and lead, as shown in another table.

Discussion

The results of the soil samples indicate that there are anomalous antimony values in this area of the Antimony 2.0 property. The corresponding anomalous values for the pathfinder elements molybdenum and arsenic, and the base metals copper and lead, seem to indicate that there is a mineralizing event in the vicinity. The poor exposure in the area does not allow for examination by prospecting and unusually, for New Brunswick, there are no boulders or rocks on the surface. Notwithstanding this, it appears that the overburden in the area is shallow and soil sampling followed up by overburden stripping will be a very effective exploration methodology.

Jim Atkinson, chief executive officer of Big Red, commented: "We are very excited by the results of these samples and are highly encouraged by the size and magnitude of the anomaly. During my tenure as the head geologist at the Lake George antimony mine, we learned that the potential surface exposure of the veins could be limited due to the size of the orebodies. Therefore, we understand that detailed work will be required to develop this project. The fact that there is no bedrock exposure on the Antimony 2.0 property means that soil geochemical surveys will be valuable. To this end, additional detailed soil sampling will be conducted in January. We are also conducting a test IP program to evaluate the usefulness of this technique."

Mr. Atkinson continues: "We are proceeding to quickly explore this highly prospective antimony project for Big Red and we are glad to be able to focus on this critical metal. China's recent actions amplify the need for active exploration and development of antimony projects, as well other critical metals in North America. With the work planned, I am confident our initial exploration program will result in targets for follow-up trenching, sampling and eventually drilling."

The technical contents of this news release were reviewed and approved by Jim Atkinson, MSc, PGeo, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Big Red Mining Corp.

Big Red holds an option to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the Antimony 2.0 property, which is located approximately 25 kilometres west of Fredericton, N.B., and approximately 15 kilometres northeast of the historic Lake George antimony mine. The Lake George antimony mine operated for various periods from the 1860s to 1998 and produced as much as 4 per cent of the world's demand of antimony from 1970 through 1992. The Antimony 2.0 property comprises over 35 square kilometres of relatively unexplored ground with excellent access via provincial and logging roads, and hydro power.

Antimony has been detected at highly anomalous levels in soil samples collected on the Antimony 2.0 property by the optionor.

Big Red also holds an option to acquire a 100-per-cent interest in the Dobie Lake copper project, which is located approximately 100 kilometres from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The Dobie Lake property surrounds and covers extensions of the past-producing Jentina mine and comprises 131 claims totalling 6,500 acres (26 square kilometres).

Big Red's management team possess extensive experience in financing, exploration, development and mining. Big Red intends to conduct exploration campaigns on each of its optioned properties with a goal of finding one or more minable resources.