Mr. Niel Marotta reports

SUN SUMMIT COMMENCES FULLY FUNDED 10,000 METER DRILL PROGRAM AT THE JD PROJECT, TOODOGGONE MINING DISTRICT, B.C.

Sun Summit Minerals Corp. has started its fully financed 2026 exploration drill program at the JD project in the Toodoggone mining district in north-central British Columbia. Over 10,000 metres of drilling is planned across the Creek and Finn zones.

Highlights:

• Transformational drill program has started: One drill rig is currently in operation kick-starting a significant 10,000-metre drill program, with a second drill rig set to begin operating in the coming days.
• Focused and systematic drill program: Results from the carefully planned 2026 drill program will contribute to an inaugural mineral resource estimate (MRE) planned for Q1 of 2027.
• Creek zone targeted drilling: Drilling at the Creek zone will include stepout and infill drill holes designed to investigate the extent and continuity of near-surface, high-grade and bulk-tonnage gold mineralization. Drilling will follow-up significant 2024 and 2025 results, including 81.0 metres of 4.80 grams per tonne gold, including 34.0 metres of 9.07 grams per tonne gold in drill hole CZ-25-021 (Nov. 25, 2025, news release).
• Finn zone targeted drilling: Drilling at the Finn zone will include stepout, infill and exploration drill holes designed to investigate the extent and continuity of near-surface, bulk-tonnage gold-silver mineralization. Drilling will follow-up significant historic and 2025 results, including: 17.0 metres of 2.31 grams per tonne gold with 113.1 grams per tonne silver, including 6.0 metres of 5.30 grams per tonne gold with 157.9 grams per tonne silver in drill hole FZ-25-002 (Jan. 22, 2026, news release).
• Project-wide geophysical surveying under way: An airborne mobile magnetotelluric (MobileMT) survey is under way across the entire JD project. The goal of the survey is to investigate the scale of alteration zones of known targets as well as identify new target areas.

"We are excited to have officially launched our fully funded 10,000-metre drill program at our JD project," said Niel Marotta, chief executive officer of Sun Summit Minerals. "This program will include the most significant drilling at JD since the late 1990s. The 2026 program is the largest drill program planned since Sun Summit optioned the JD property in 2024 and represents more metres of drilling at JD than the last two drill seasons combined. Importantly, this program will drive the JD project towards an inaugural mineral resource estimate, expected in Q1 of 2027."

Fully financed 10,000-metre drill program

The recently commenced, 10,000-metre drill program at the JD project has been carefully planned, with drill holes designed to contribute to an inaugural MRE for the Finn and Creek zones, anticipated to be released in Q1 2027 (see May 5, 2026, news release).

Details of the 2026 drill program include:

• Up to 5,000 metres of drilling are planned at the Creek zone to systematically evaluate the modelled vein-controlling structures covering a strike length of over 600 metres and a vertical extent of over 350 metres. Results from this phase of drilling at the Creek zone should inform grade continuity, the downdip and strike extents of mineralization, and the presence of additional high-grade zones (for example, 34.0 metres of 9.07 grams per tonne gold in drill hole CZ-25-021).
• Up to 5,000 metres of drilling are planned at the Finn zone to systematically evaluate the downdip and strike extents of the favourable, and well-mineralized volcaniclastic unit. Drill holes will cover a footprint of approximately 650 metres by 350 metres primarily downdip from the densely drilled core of the mineralized zone. Results from this phase of drilling at the Finn zone should inform grade continuity, the downdip and strike extents of mineralization, verify historical data, and evaluate the structural controls on high-grade silver mineralization central to the target (for example, 6.0 metres of 5.30 grams per tonne gold with 157.9 grams per tonne silver in drill hole FZ-25-002).

One drill rig is currently in operation, focused on the Creek zone. A second rig is set to begin operating in the coming days. One of the drill rigs will move to the Finn zone in the coming weeks once drill pads at Finn are constructed.

Target generation

A project-wide airborne (MobileMT) survey has commenced across the entire JD project. The survey consists of 740 line kilometres on 250-metre-spaced, northwest-southeast-oriented lines. The objective of the survey is to image subsurface resistivity/conductivity to a depth of approximately one to two kilometres. The purpose of the survey is to investigate the scale of broad and locally concealed alteration zones associated with known targets as well as to identify new target areas.

National Instrument 43-101 disclosure

This news release has been reviewed and approved by Sun Summit's vice-president, exploration, Ken MacDonald, PGeo, a qualified person as defined in NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Mr. MacDonald has verified the data disclosed in this press release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying this information that has been collected by Sun Summit. Verification procedures include industry-standard quality control practices. Some technical information contained in this release is historical in nature and has been compiled from public sources believed to be accurate. The historical technical information has not been verified by Sun Summit and may in some instances be unverifiable dependent on the existence of historical drill core and grab samples. Management cautions that past results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be achieved on the property.

Community engagement

Sun Summit is engaging with first nations on whose territory the company's projects are located and is discussing their interests and identifying contract and work opportunities as well as opportunities to support community initiatives. The company looks forward to continuing to work with local and regional first nations with continuing exploration.

Option grant

The company has granted stock options to purchase an aggregate of 250,000 common shares in the capital of the company to certain investor relations service providers of the company. The stock options have an exercise price of 15 cents per common share, expire three years from the date of grant and vest over a 12-month period. Each grant of stock options is subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About the JD project

The JD project is located in the Toodoggone mining district in north-central British Columbia, a highly prospective deposit-rich mineral trend. The project covers an area of over 15,000 hectares and is in close proximity to active exploration and development projects, such as Thesis Gold and Silver Inc.'s Lawyers and Ranch projects, TDG Gold Corp.'s Baker-Shasta projects, Amarc Resource Ltd.'s Aurora project, Centerra Gold Inc.'s Kemess East and Underground projects, as well as the past-producing Kemess open-pit copper-gold mine.

The project is 450 kilometres northwest of the city of Prince George and 25 kilometres north of the Sturdee airstrip. It is proximal to existing infrastructure in place to support the past-producing Kemess mine, including roads and a hydroelectric power line.

The JD project is in a favourable geological environment characterized by both high-grade epithermal gold and silver mineralization as well as porphyry-related copper and gold mineralization. Some historical exploration, including drilling, geochemistry and geophysics, has been carried out on the property; however, the project area is largely underexplored.

About Sun Summit Minerals Corp.

Sun Summit Minerals is a mineral exploration company focused on the discovery, expansion and advancement of district-scale gold and copper assets in British Columbia. The company's portfolio is anchored by its flagship JD project alongside the Theory project and the Orbit project in the prolific Toodoggone region of north-central British Columbia and the Buck project in central British Columbia.

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