NGEx Minerals plans phase 4 exploration at Lunahuasi

Mr. Wojtek Wodzicki reports NGEX ANNOUNCES PHASE 4 EXPLORATION PLAN AT LUNAHUASI NGEx Minerals Ltd. has released its phase 4 exploration plan for the coming drill program at its Lunahuasi high-grade copper-gold-silver project in San Juan, Argentina. The field team is now on site preparing for mobilization of drill rigs, with drilling expected to start in early October. Wojtek Wodzicki, president and chief executive officer, commented: "The upcoming drill program aims to build on the successes of the phase 3 program, further exploring the four distinct styles of mineralization discovered at Lunahuasi and extending the boundaries of the deposit, which remains open in all directions. "Phase 3 drilling showed us that Lunahuasi is not just high-grade but also has considerable scale and is multifaceted. Drilling not only expanded and improved definition of the Lunahuasi deposit but also discovered different mineralization styles, a common trait in giant systems. Drilling this season is designed to further test each style of mineralization while also exploring for new high-grade zones and continuing to expand the boundaries of the system. Our interpretation, based on the limited amount of drilling completed, is that we have drilled only a small part of the deposit and what we have discovered so far is the peripheral part of a much larger mineralized system. Phase 4 drilling intends to keep filling in the gaps and help us improve our understanding of the geological setting." Phase 3 highlights The successful phase 3 drill program at Lunahuasi, completed in the first half of 2025, continued to deliver some of the highest-grade copper, gold and silver intercepts drilled anywhere in the world. Drilling consistently intersected high-grade vein mineralization across considerable widths and significantly contributed to improvements in the geological understanding of the structures that form the original Lunahuasi discovery. The final assay results from the phase 3 program confirmed the discovery of a new copper-gold porphyry system at Lunahuasi (see news release dated May 21, 2025) and the discovery of a fourth, distinct type of mineralization at the project with ultrahigh-grade gold in quartz veins (see news release dated July 8, 2025). To date, drilling at Lunahuasi has discovered and confirmed four distinct styles of mineralization, all with unusually high grades: High-sulphidation copper-gold-silver veins; Intermediate sulphidation epithermal gold veins; Disseminated and stockwork high-sulphidation copper-gold mineralization; Porphyry copper-gold. A number of known high-grade zones within the Lunahuasi deposit were confirmed and extended during phase 3 drilling, providing enough confidence in the size and shape of three zones to give them names -- the Mars, Saturn and Jupiter zones. Each of these zones represents a significant volume of contiguous high-grade mineralization, which phase 4 drilling will aim to further extend and define. In addition to these three zones, numerous isolated drill intersections exist that the company is confident will be developed into new zones with additional drilling. The mineralized volume drilled to date measures 1,100 metres by 1,200 metres by 1,200 metres and is open in all directions. High-grade holes mark the outer boundaries of the current drill pattern with the northern boundary marked by drill hole DPDH043, which included 46.80 m at 9.55 per cent copper equivalent (6.63 per cent Cu, 3.05 grams per tonne Au and 79.2 g/t Ag); and the southern boundary marked by DPDH029, which included 823.10 m at 1.17 per cent CuEq, and the westernmost drill holes finishing in high-grade mineralization, including the last 743 m of DPDH027 grading 0.55 per cent CuEq (0.43 per cent Cu, 0.13 g/t Au and 2.3 g/t Ag). Lunahuasi phase 4 drill program details -- testing all four styles of mineralization NGEx is set up for an exciting drill season as the company further explores and defines the four distinct styles of mineralization found to date at Lunahuasi and aims to further extend exploration into the areas outside the current drill pattern that lie beneath similar surface alteration. The Lunahuasi phase 4 program will use eight drill rigs and is expected to total up to 25,000 metres of diamond drilling to follow up on the 43,249 m drilled since discovery of the deposit in 2023. The planned program will consist of three targeted ranges of drill spacing to accomplish different objectives: Short-range resource definition -- define and expand the Mars, Saturn and Jupiter zones and contribute toward eventually defining mineral resources at Lunahuasi; Mid-range stepout -- extend mineralized intersections and discover new high-grade zones in the deposit; Long-range exploration -- test anomalies and district-scale targets to discover new components of the Lunahuasi system and demonstrate its true potential. The phase 4 program is scheduled to start in early October and continue until the onset of the austral winter, typically in May. Eight drill rigs have been contracted, including rigs with capacity to drill beyond 2,000 m and rigs that can drill horizontally, to ensure the company can accomplish the program objectives. Holes are planned to be collared from existing platforms as much as possible, with multiple holes from each platform, which will reduce the need for drill moves and increase the program efficiency. Short-range resource definition Phase 3 drilling provided enough confidence in the location and continuity of three initial high-grade zones to name them and begin designing drill holes specifically to understand their geometry and extent. These three zones were named Jupiter, Saturn and Mars and represent the first group of what will ultimately become several distinct high-grade zones within the Lunahuasi deposit. Jupiter was the initial high-grade zone discovered by hole DPDH002 -- the first hole drilled into this part of the property. Mars is the shallow high-grade zone first discovered by hole DPDH014. Saturn is currently the largest and southernmost defined zone and was first intersected by hole DPDH028. All three of these zones, along with the entirety of the Lunahuasi deposit, remain open to expansion in all directions and these short-range holes are designed to infill and step out from existing intersections of the zones to begin to determine their full extent. Mid-range stepout In addition to the Jupiter, Mars and Saturn zones, there are numerous isolated drill intersections that the company is confident will develop into new zones as additional drilling allows the company to begin to define their size, geometry and continuity. Mid-range stepout drilling will allow the company to start this process and is expected to ultimately allow the company to define additional discrete mineralized zones, or ore shoots, within the deposit. Long-range exploration Drill hole DPDH027, completed during phase 3, confirmed the predicted existence of a porphyry copper-gold deposit to the west of the Lunahuasi deposit. This large porphyry system is the source of the various types of mineralization that define Lunahuasi, and a well-established geological model, combined with analogies to other global and Vicuna district deposits, suggests that the company is still missing important parts of the overall system. Long-range holes are designed to explore for the existence of these missing parts, such as a disseminated and stockwork-plus-or-minus-breccia-hosted high-sulphidation deposit above the centre of the porphyry. They will also begin to establish the full extent and geometry of the porphyry mineralization. Investor day 2025 NGEx will be hosting an investor day at the Ivey Donald K. Johnson Centre in Toronto, Ont., on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, starting at 9 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. For those unable to attend, a live webcast will be available. A recording of the event will thereafter be available on the company's website. Webcast/conference call details Date:   Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025 Time:  9 a.m. ET Qualified person and technical notes The scientific and technical disclosure included in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Bob Carmichael, BASc, PEng, who is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Carmichael is vice-president, exploration, for the company. Samples were cut at NGEx's operations base in San Juan, Argentina, by company personnel. Diamond drill core was sawn and then sampled in maximum two-metre intervals, stopping at geological boundaries. Core diameter is a mix of PQ, HQ and NQ depending on the depth of the drill hole. Samples were bagged, tagged and packaged for shipment by truck to the ALS preparation laboratory in Mendoza, Argentina, where they were crushed and a 500-gram split was pulverized to 85 per cent passing 200 mesh. The prepared sample splits were sent to the ALS assay laboratory in Lima, Peru, for copper, gold and silver assays and multielement ICP. ALS is an accredited laboratory that is independent of the company. Gold assays were by fire assay fusion with AAS finish on a 30-gram sample (Au-AA23). Any samples returning greater than 10 g/t were then reanalyzed by fire assay with gravimetric finish on a 30-gram sample (Au-GRA21). Copper and silver were assayed by atomic absorption following a four-acid digestion. Samples were also analyzed for a suite of 48 elements with ME-MS61 plus mercury and a sequential copper leach analysis was completed on each sample with copper greater than 500 parts per million (0.05 per cent). Sequential copper analysis involves the sequential leaching of the sample by acid, followed by a cyanide solution. It can be used to differentiate copper speciation, with copper oxide minerals leachable with acid and secondary copper minerals (enargite, chalcocite and covellite) leachable by cyanide. The residual copper remaining following the sequential leaches it typically contained in chalcopyrite and bornite. Copper and gold standards as well as blanks and duplicates (field, preparation and analysis) were randomly inserted into the sampling sequence for quality control. On average, 9.3 per cent of the submitted samples are quality control samples. No data quality problems were indicated by the quality assurance/quality control program. About NGEx Minerals Ltd. NGEx Minerals is a copper and gold exploration company based in Canada, focused on exploration of the Lunahuasi copper-gold-silver project in San Juan province, Argentina, and the nearby Los Helados copper-gold project, located approximately nine kilometres to the northeast in Chile's Region III. Both projects are located within the Vicuna district, which includes the Caserones mine and the Josemaria and Filo del Sol deposits. NGEx owns 100 per cent of Lunahuasi and is the majority partner and operator for the Los Helados project, subject to a joint exploration agreement with Nippon Caserones Resources LLC, which is the indirect 30-per-cent owner of the operating Caserones open-pit copper mine, located approximately 17 kilometres north of Los Helados. Lundin Mining Corp. holds the remaining 70-per-cent stake in Caserones. The company's common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol NGEX and also trade on the OTCQX under the symbol NGXXF. NGEx is part of the Lundin Group of Companies. We seek Safe Harbor.