Val-D'Or, Quebec--(Newsfile Corp. - February 19, 2026) - Val-D'Or Mining Corporation (TSXV: VZZ) (OTCQB: VDOMF) ("the Company") is pleased to announce the commencement of an 8,000-metre diamond drilling program on the Perestroika Prospect. The property is in Courville Township, Québec, located approximately 40 kilometres northeast of Val-D'Or, Québec.

The Perestroika property is under option to Eldorado Gold (Québec) Inc. ("Eldorado") who may earn a 70% interest in each of the Murdoch Creek, Claw Lake, Cook Lake and Perestroika properties, on the terms detailed below.

2026 Diamond Drill Program Outline and Objectives:

The 2026 diamond drilling program is budgeted at $1.37 M USD. The program consists of 20 planned holes totalling approximately 8,000 metres, utilizing two diamond drill rigs. The number of holes will depend on the final depths and results obtained for each hole drilled.

This is a Phase III diamond drilling program, intended to follow-up on promising gold values from the 2024 and 2025 drill programs. For specific details on the regional/property geology, program objectives and the highlighted gold assay intersections from the 2024 and 2025 drill programs, including drill hole location maps and table of assay highlights, the reader is referred to the Val-D'Or Mining Corporation's December 19, 2024 (assays for holes PE-24-001 through to PE-24-008, GPS-09-01 EXT and GPS-09-02 EXT), and September 26, 2025 (assays for holes PE-25-10 and PE-25-012 through to PE-25-020) news releases.

The objectives of the drill program are as follows:

• Test the hypothesis that the quartz-ankerite gold bearing veins are stacked in an alignment parallel to the stretching lineation (steeply plunging northeast).

• Test for the presence of multiple shoots of high density stacked vein arrays.

• Follow-up drilling on the intercepts present in PE-24-005 (0.50m @ 213.08 g/t Au) and PE-25-013 (1.30m @ 46.36 g/t).

• Testing the lateral continuity of the quartz-ankerite vein system and determine the areas where the vein density is the highest.

• To test for possible parallel mineralized shear zones north and south of the identified dyke swarm corridor (highest density of the sub-parallel mineralized extensional quartz-carbonate-pyrite veins are concentrated primarily within an intermediate-felsic dyke swarm).

Eldorado is the project operator. Results from the current drill program will be reported on once received.

Summary of Results from the 2024-2025 drill programs:

• Most of the observed gold mineralized veins are flat and extensional.

• The felsic dyke and the gold mineralization are associated with pervasive sericitization.

• The highest density of extension quartz-ankerite veins are hosted in felsic intrusive dykes, within an estimated 150-200-metre wide shear zone corridor.

• Every single hole drilled in the 2025 program returned anomalous gold intervals.

• The best interval was intersected in PE-25-012: 16.30m @ 4.01 g/t Au, incl. 0.50m @ 66.30 g/t Au.

• 500 metres southeast, PE-25-019 returned 4.60m @ 12.35 g/t Au.

• A parallel gold bearing shear zone was identified in PE-25-013: 1.00m @ 46.36 g/t Au, extending the footprint of the mineralized corridor by 1,000 metres to the northwest.

• Based on the results from PE-25-013 (extreme northwest) and PE-25-019 (extreme southeast), the shear corridor is mineralized over its entire "investigated" strike length (1,500m) and is open along strike, and at depth.

• Potential discovery potential to find mineralized parallel structures, i.e. the shear intersected in PE-24-005, located approximately 250-300 metres south of the main shear corridor that returned an intersection of 0.50m @ 213.08 g/t Au.

Drill Hole Highlights:

Seven selected diamond drill hole intervals showing potential economic gold grades and thickness:

GPS-09-01^*: 2.77m @ 26.18 g/t Au (261.65m -264.42)
Incl. 0.30m @ 217.00 g/t Au

GPS-09-02^*: 3.05m @ 20.69 g/t Au (140.40m -143.45)
Incl. 0.37m @ 121.50 g/t Au

PE-24-004: 8.60m @ 4.45 g/t Au (154.40m -163.00m)
Incl. 0.50m @ 35.12 g/t Au

PE-25-012: 16.30m @ 4.01 g/t Au (127.50m -143.80m)
Incl. 0.50m @ 66.30 g/t Au

PE-25-015: 3.00m @ 7.48 g/t Au (225.50m -228.50m)
Incl. 0.55m @ 37.00 g/t Au

PE-25-015: 5.55m @ 4.38 g/t Au (261.00m -266.50m)
Incl. 0.55m @ 15.50 g/t Au and 0.80m @ 18.45 g/t Au

PE-25-019: 4.60m @ 12.35 g/t Au (269.40m -274.00m)

Note: These intersections are along the drill hole length and do not represent true widths.
^*For GPS-09-01 and GPS-09-02 assays, please see Golden Valley Mines news release dated August 11, 2010, titled "Significant Gold Mineralization Intersected on the Perestroika Prospect"

Eldorado Option Agreements:

The Company, Eldorado and Golden Valley Mines & Royalties Inc., as it then was ("Golden Valley") entered into an Assignment Agreement dated January 25, 2023, pursuant to which Golden Valley assigned to the Company all its rights and obligations under an Option Agreement dated October 8, 2021 ("the Option Agreement") between Golden Valley and Eldorado. As the assignee under the Option Agreement, the Company has granted to Eldorado an option ("the Option") to acquire an additional 40% interest in the properties ("the Properties") subject to the Option Agreement, one of which is the Perestroika Property in Québec. The Company currently holds a 70% interest in the Properties, and Eldorado currently holds a 30% interest in the Properties.

To maintain and to exercise the Option, Eldorado must incur minimum expenditures of $10,500,000 on or before the fifth anniversary of the date of the conditions precedent under the Option Agreement being satisfied, as well as comply with its obligations under the terms of the Option Agreement to keep the Properties in good standing. Prior to exercising the Option, Eldorado will make an annual payment to the Company of $50,000 per year. Upon the exercise of the Option by Eldorado, it and the Company will enter into a joint venture agreement on the terms set out in the Option Agreement.

Mr. Glenn J. Mullan, P.Geo., President and CEO of Val-D'Or Mining, is the Qualified Person (as that term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) who has reviewed and approved this news release and is responsible for the technical information reported herein.

About Val-D'Or Mining Corporation

Val-D'Or Mining Corporation is a junior natural resource issuer involved in the process of acquiring and exploring its diverse mineral property assets, most of which are situated in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt of NE Ontario and NW Québec. To complement current property interests, the Company regularly evaluates new opportunities for staking and/or acquisitions. Outside of its principal regional focus in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, the Company holds several other properties in Northern Québec (Nunavik) covering different geological environments and commodities (Ni-Cu-PGE's).

The Company has expertise in the identification and generation of new projects, and in early-stage exploration. The mineral commodities of interest are broad, and range from gold, copper-zinc-silver, nickel-copper-PGE to battery and industrial minerals. After the initial value creation in the 100%-owned, or majority-owned properties, the Company seeks option/joint venture partners with technical expertise and financial capacity to conduct more advanced exploration projects.

For additional information, please contact:

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements. Forward looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or realities may differ materially from those in forward looking statements. Forward looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/284470