Orla Mining Discovers High-Grade Oxide Gold Beyond Pit Shells at South Carlin Complex, Reinforcing Growth Trajectory Ahead of 2026 Construction

The December 2, 2025 news release announces final 2025 exploration results from its South Carlin Complex in Nevada, which hosts the development-stage South Railroad Project. The company completed its planned 18,000-metre drill program and reports multiple significant intercepts of high-grade, oxide gold mineralization located outside of the currently defined pit shells for the Pinion and Dark Star deposits.

Key drill intercepts highlighted include: - DS25-03 (Dark Star): 22.6 metres grading 5.65 g/t gold (oxide) - PR25-05 (Pinion): 67.1 metres grading 1.16 g/t gold (oxide) - PR25-09 (Pinion): 24.4 metres grading 1.08 g/t gold (oxide)

The release states these results provide a strong foundation for resource growth and reinforces the company's timeline for the South Railroad project, with an optimized feasibility study expected in early Q1 2026, construction starting mid-2026, and first gold production in 2028.

The news is materially positive as it successfully demonstrates significant resource expansion potential at the company's next major growth project. The reported grades, particularly the 5.65 g/t Au intercept at Dark Star, are exceptionally high for a Carlin-style oxide heap leach deposit and could materially enhance the project's economics if this high-grade mineralization proves to have continuity.

This announcement provides strong validation for Orla's exploration strategy in Nevada and increases confidence in the long-term potential of the South Carlin land package. While the market already anticipates exploration success here, these specific high-grade results exceed typical expectations and de-risk the asset's growth profile.

However, the news is an incremental positive, not a game-changer. The immediate value accretion is dependent on these results being incorporated into a new resource and reserve model, which will be detailed in the forthcoming Feasibility Study. The key catalyst remains the delivery of that study, which will quantify the economic impact of these and other findings, and provide an updated capital expenditure estimate for construction.

Chronologically, this news follows a year of significant transformation and volatility for Orla: - The company took on substantial debt to acquire the Musselwhite mine in February 2025. - It faced a material operational setback with a pit wall failure at Camino Rojo in July 2025, resulting in a guidance reduction. - It saw its two largest strategic shareholders, Newmont and Agnico Eagle, sell their entire positions in September 2025.

Against this backdrop, positive execution on the development pipeline is critical. Strong operational results from Musselwhite, recovery at Camino Rojo, and now excellent exploration results at South Carlin demonstrate management's ability to execute on its multi-asset strategy. The November 12 conference call confirmed this positive trajectory, with management highlighting record free cash flow in Q3 and progress on all fronts. This exploration news adds another layer of fundamental support to the bullish narrative that has propelled the stock to new highs.

Orla Mining is an intermediate gold producer with a portfolio of assets in North America. Following its transformative acquisition of the Musselwhite Mine in early 2025, the company operates two mines: 1. Musselwhite Mine: A large, long-life underground gold mine in Ontario, Canada. It is now Orla's cornerstone production asset. 2. Camino Rojo Oxide Mine: A heap leach gold mine in Zacatecas, Mexico. This mine also has a significant underlying sulphide deposit that the company is advancing.

The company's flagship development project is the South Railroad Project, a heap leach gold project located on the prolific Carlin Trend in Nevada, USA. Orla is advancing South Railroad through final permitting with a goal of starting construction in mid-2026 and becoming the company's third producing asset, pushing consolidated annual production towards 500,000 ounces.