Athena optionee expands Excelsior Springs landholding

Mr. Koby Kushner reports MAJOR LANDHOLDING INCREASE AT EXCELSIOR GOLD-SILVER PROJECT, NEVADA Athena Gold Corp. has provided an exploration update from its Excelsior Springs project in Nevada. Mammoth minerals Ltd. (Australian Securities Exchange: M79) (formerly Firetail Resources Ltd.) has been aggressively exploring and expanding the Excelsior Springs project, per its option agreement to earn an 80-per-cent interest in the project over five years, providing Athena a free carry to definitive feasibility study thereafter (refer to press releases dated June 2, 2025, Aug. 22, Oct. 7 and Nov. 10, 2025). Recently, Mammoth reported that it had increased its strategic landholding at the Excelsior Springs project area by 340 per cent, for a total area covering 83.6 square kilometres, which additional landholding was secured via direct staking (refer to Mammoth minerals press release dated Nov. 11, 2025). Portions of this newly staked ground fall within the project's five km area of interest (AOI) buffer around the existing Excelsior claims, automatically incorporating them into the joint venture (JV) upon Mammoth's earn-in, allowing Athena to benefit in these areas without immediate costs via the 20-per-cent carried interest plus a 1-per-cent net smelter return royalty over these areas. As of today, Athena remains a significant (greater than 5 per cent) shareholder of Mammoth minerals. Highlights U.S. Geological Survey MRDS database notes multiple mineralized occurrences within the newly staked tenure, including gold, tungsten, antimony, copper, silver and iron: Old Buster mine: past gold-tungsten-silver producer; Kentucky mine: past gold-silver producer; Lidia Queen mine: past gold-silver-lead producer; Mattmueller mine: antimony occurrence; Palmetto mine: past Ag producer; Nevada prospect: gold occurrence; California prospect: gold occurrence; Paymaster prospect: gold-silver-copper occurrence; Helpmeet claim: copper-barite occurrence; Reliance prospect: copper occurrence; Aja iron: iron occurrence. Extensive ground disturbances including shafts, pits and costeans mapped from lidar (light detection and ranging) imagery with numerous occurrences located outside of those identified from the MRDS database; Prospecting activities have commenced across additional tenure including mapping and rock chip sampling, with priority target areas being MRDS occurrences and large groupings of ground disturbances with no open file coverage of the target description; High-resolution magnetics completed across the entire project area -- results awaited: Geological interpretation based on available coverages has commenced utilizing a holistic mineral systems interpretation approach -- potential causative intrusion system delineated, with mineralized occurrences preferentially located on the margin of an interpreted Caldera. The expanded landholding contains multiple mineral occurrences warranting further investigation and ground disturbances identified by lidar which are actively undergoing field-based evaluation. Mineral occurrences have been identified using the MRDS database (Mineral Resources Data System) operated by the U.S. Geological Survey. These records describe metallic and industrial commodity deposits, mines, prospects and occurrences in the United States. A heli-supported magnetics and radiometric survey have also been completed across the wider mineral claim area, along with high-resolution lidar and photogrammetry. The results of the magnetics survey are pending and expected in the coming weeks. Qualified persons statement The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Benjamin Kuzmich, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Athena Gold, and the qualified person for exploration at the Excelsior Springs project, as defined by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Readers are cautioned that historical records referred to in this press release have been examined but not verified by a qualified person. Further work is required to verify that historical records referred to in this press release are accurate. Information contained in this press release was taken from Mammoth Minerals' recent press release dated Nov. 11, 2025. About Athena Gold Corp. Athena is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit and to conduct additional exploration drilling and studies on its projects across North America. Athena's Laird Lake project is situated in the Red Lake gold district of Ontario, covering over 7,000 hectares along more than 10 kilometres of the Balmer-Confederation assemblage contact, where recent surface sampling results returned up to 373 grams per tonne Au. This underexplored area is road accessible, located about 10 km west of West Red Lake Gold's Madsen mine and 34 km northwest of Kinross Gold's Great Bear project. Meanwhile, its Excelsior Springs project is located in the prolific Walker Lane trend in Nevada, where it is currently under an earn-in option with Mammoth Minerals (formerly, Firetail Resources). The Excelsior Springs project spans over 2,500 hectares and covers at least three historic mines. Athena also holds 100-per-cent interest in its Oneman Lake Au-VMS (gold-volcanogenic massive sulphide) project in Ontario. We seek Safe Harbor.