RC drilling underway at Excelsior Springs; Permits pending at Laird Lake

White Rock, BC — Accesswire — February 5, 2026 — Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA) (OTCQB: AHNRF) (“Athena” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide an exploration update from its Excelsior Springs Project in Nevada and its Laird Lake Project in Ontario. Mammoth Minerals Limited (ASX: M79) (formerly Firetail Resources Limited) has been aggressively exploring Excelsior, per its option agreement to earn an 80% 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 August 22, 2025). Recently, Mammoth reported significant announcements from its ongoing exploration campaign (refer to Mammoth Minerals press release dated February 5, 2026). As of today, Athena remains a significant (>5%) shareholder of Mammoth Minerals Limited.

Highlights from Mammoth Minerals (Excelsior Springs Project, Nevada)

• New assays from Mammoth’s maiden diamond drilling program completed late last year returned shallow high-grade gold intercepts at the Buster Trend:
  • 6.32m @ 2.10 g/t Au from 26m (MEXDD007), including:
    • 1.0m @ 6.40 g/t Au from 27m
  • 14.0m @ 0.99 g/t Au from 28.5m (MEXDD003), including:
    • 2.0m @ 4.54 g/t Au from 40.5m
  • 0.71m @ 15.76 g/t Au from 74.3m (MEXDD011)
• These intercepts build on previously reported results at the Buster Trend, including:
  • 14.4m @ 4.33 g/t Au from 117m (MEXDD004), including:
    • 3.1m @ 19.10 g/t Au from 119.36m; and
    • 0.95m @ 15.98 g/t Au from 124.5m
  • 25.5m @ 1.05 g/t Au from 35.45m (MEXDD001), including:
    • 0.55m @ 26.7 g/t Au
• Detailed logging of diamond core may be indicative of a large-scale “Carlin-style” mineral system across the Buster Trend (Figure 1):
  • Host lithology, geochemistry, and observed mineralization consistent with sediment-hosted type Carlin system.
  • This interpretation materially changes the understanding of the potential scale of the gold system, repositioning exploration strategy to target Carlin-type gold mineralization.
  • RC drilling has now commenced across the Buster Trend targeting Carlin-style gold, with the rig achieving over 140m per shift; assay results expected in approximately four weeks.
• The silver-rich polymetallic Blue Dick Zone has been further expanded, extending the known mineralized trend to over 3.5 km, with evidence for multiple untested parallel trends supported by newly staked tenure and extensive historical workings mapped from LiDAR, following up on previously reported rock chip results:
  • 5,980 g/t Ag, 7.65 g/t Au, 0.66% Sb, 0.55% Cu, 3.85% Pb (C110873)
  • 4,160 g/t Ag, 4.7 g/t Au, 0.36% Sb, 0.61% Cu (C110877)
  • 78 g/t Ag, 10.25 g/t Au, 1.58% Pb, 2.41% Zn (C110892)