Athena Gold begins diamond drilling at Excelsior

Mr. Koby Kushner reports DIAMOND DRILLING COMMENCES AT EXCELSIOR GOLD-SILVER PROJECT, NEVADA Athena Gold Corp. has commenced drilling at its 100-per-cent-owned Excelsior Springs project in Nevada. The drilling is fully financed by Mammoth Minerals Ltd. (formerly Firetail Resources Ltd.), 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 (see press releases dated June 2, 2025, and Aug. 22, 2025). As of the date of this press release, Athena owns 32 million ordinary shares of Mammoth Minerals, valued at approximately $5.12-million (Australian). Highlights: First-ever diamond drilling campaign commences at the Excelsior Springs project in Nevada, United States; Second diamond drill rig expected to arrive on site in the near term to expedite the program; Diamond drilling will enable detailed structural measurements to be taken that are integral to understanding the controls on the mineralization at Excelsior -- with reported historical production of 19,200 ounces at 41 grams per tonne gold from the Buster underground mine; Drilling will follow up on significant previous intercepts (refer to Australian Securities Exchange press release dated June 2, 2025), including: 51.8 metres at 4.00 g/t Au from 39.6 m -- 22_01: Including 6.1 m at 16.30 g/t Au from 42.7 m; 33.5 m at 5.35 g/t Au from 41.2 m -- DB23: Including 10.7 m at 15.99 g/t Au from 41.2 m; 32.0 m at 2.45 g/t Au from 44.2 m -- 22_02: Including 6.1 m at 10.00 g/t Au from 45.7 m; 24.4 m at 3.62 g/t Au from 70.1 m -- EX2: Including 9.2 m at 7.99 g/t Au from 79.2 m; Metallurgical testing on the diamond drill core will be undertaken to understand the leaching characteristics to provide a processing pathway and a guide toward metal recoveries; Geotechnical logging will be completed to assist with future development studies; Channel sampling completed recently across the Blue Dick underground mine, which exploited high-grade silver ore; samples submitted for expedited assays; Property-wide magnetics and lidar survey commenced across the Excelsior project. This initial drilling campaign is the first diamond drilling ever undertaken at Excelsior. Previous drilling was completed using reverse circulation (RC) drilling. The important differential is that the level of geological information obtained from diamond drilling will assist greatly with interpretation of the geology and provide the company with a greatly enhanced ability to understand the controls on the high-grade mineralization. Quality assurance/quality control The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed by Benjamin Kuzmich, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Athena Gold and the qualified person for exploration at the Excelsior Lake 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 Oct. 6, 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 g/t 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). Excelsior Springs spans over 2,500 hectares and covers at least three historic mines. Athena also holds a 100-per-cent interest in its Oneman Lake gold-VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) project in Ontario. We seek Safe Harbor.