Mr. Trent Mell reports

FIRST COBALT REPORTS 3.9% COBALT IN KERR LAKE AREA

First Cobalt Corp. has released high-grade cobalt assays at the past-producing Juno mine in Cobalt North, to the north of the Drummond mine. Surface sample results from the Juno mine in the Kerr Lake area suggest that a broad hydrothermal system may exist in the area.

Highlights:

• Grab samples at the former Juno mine confirm high-grade cobalt veins including 3.9 per cent, 2.6 per cent and 2.0 per cent cobalt, as well as silver grades up to 4,112 grams per tonne silver.
• Results confirm the presence of high cobalt, low silver mineralization in the area that, along with the nearby Drummond mine, could be targets for early feed material.

Trent Mell, president and chief executive officer, commented: "Juno is another example of a historic high-grade cobalt mine on our land package that could be a target for bulk mining potential or as early feed to a centralized mineral processing facility within the Cobalt camp. We will continue to confirm the grade variability and size of these mines in the 2018 exploration program as the first step to establishing a flow sheet for cobalt production in the Cobalt camp."

Juno assay results

High-grade cobalt (grades over 1 per cent) is contained in sample material along with elevated nickel and, in one sample, high copper, similar to the metal relationship seen at Bellellen mine in Cobalt South. Silver is also consistently elevated with cobalt in the Juno samples. The high copper, nickel or silver grades may be recoverable in this area as additional payable metals. The two samples of high-grade silver reported here likely represent the type of material that was historically mined. High-grade lead samples were also collected containing elevated silver. This Ag-Pb-Zn (silver-lead-zinc) metal association, considered distal to the main mineralization system, was also found at the Frontier mine in Cobalt South during recent drilling. This may suggest a broad hydrothermal system at Juno exists that could be of sufficient size for feed material to a centralized mineral processing facility.

                 ASSAY RESULTS FROM JUNO SAMPLING PROGRAM
 
            Weight      Co     Ag      Ni      Cu         Zn           Pb
Sample        (kg)     (%)  (g/t)     (%)     (%)        (%)          (%)

E6607271     0.863   3.940     73   0.583    1.19      0.065       0.0012
                                                                less than
E6607276     0.721   2.610      8   0.111   0.128      0.006       0.0005
E6607275     1.393   2.000     20   0.136   0.334      0.021        0.002
E6607272     0.769   1.680  4,112   0.114   0.411     0.0166        0.001
E6607277     1.001   1.280     16   0.442   0.083     0.0033       0.0005
E6607270     0.905   0.604     12   0.160   0.095     0.0066        0.003
E6607278     1.042   0.198  3,528   0.044   0.321      0.008       0.0005
E6607274     1.235   0.113     11   0.042   0.003     0.0101        0.040
E6607269     0.729   0.014      4   0.008   0.019     0.0054        0.614
E6607273     1.451   0.007     19   0.007   0.016      0.004        0.980
E6607279     0.860   0.006     21   0.008   0.101      0.009         3.62
E6607268     1.121   0.005     18   0.006   0.737      0.114        0.408
E6607267     0.885   0.005      3   0.010   0.002      0.007         1.08

Several samples of vein material were collected from a muck pile near one of the two Juno shafts.

The dominant vein at Juno is hosted within the Nipissing diabase unit near the contact with the Archean mafic volcanic rocks; a similar setting that occurs at the Keeley mine in Cobalt South.

Kerr Lake area and Juno mine

First Cobalt's Kerr Lake area properties include the past-producing Juno mine, Drummond mine, Kerr Lake mine, Lawson mine and Conisil mine. Juno is located approximately one km from Kerr Lake, which historically produced over 12 million ounces Ag. Operations within the Kerr Lake area ran primarily from 1905 to 1966. Drummond mine muck pile grab samples returned grades of up to 0.65 per cent cobalt, 1.79 per cent copper and 4,990 g/t silver (announced Oct. 26), indicating an extensive cobalt mineralization system may exist within the volcanic rocks. Cobalt had not previously been an exploration focus in this area, as the most recent historic exploration, done in the 1980s, focused on Cu-Zn-Pb mineralization within the volcanic rocks.

The Juno mine was targeted for surface sampling due to the presence of visible cobalt mineralization in the muck pile material as well as its proximity within the Kerr Lake area mines. Juno mine was historically, as were the majority of mines in the Cobalt camp, a silver mine. Production at the Juno mine occurred between 1918 and 1922 for a total of 46,391 ounces of silver and a reported grade for 1918 to 1920 of 70 ounces per ton. The Juno mine consists of two shafts and one adit, with one shaft reported to just 70 m depth and containing three levels with horizontal workings covering over 150 m.

Follow-up exploration at Juno, as well as other high-grade cobalt mines in the Kerr Lake area, will consist of shallow, close-spaced drilling along the strike length of the known veins to determine grade variability and orientation of the veins. A 3-D geological model of the Kerr Lake area mines extending from the Silverfields mine to the Drummond mine is being constructed based on historic underground mining and drilling. Geophysical data are also being incorporated to generate near-surface drilling targets for follow-up in the 2018 program.

Quality assurance and quality control

First Cobalt has implemented a quality-control program to comply with common industry best practices for sampling and analyses. For this particular program, grab samples were collected to determine metal contents; as such, sampling was not conducted systematically nor should be considered representative of the muck pile total content. Geochemical data for muck pile samples were received from SGS Minerals Service in Lakefield, Ont., Canada. Quality assurance/quality control for results were evaluated using standards, repeat analyses and blanks. No issues have been noted. SGS has used a sodium-peroxide fusion and ICP (inductively coupled plasma) finish on all samples. High-grade silver samples were analyzed using a gravimetric separation and fire assay finish. Repeat analyses of selected samples within the batch are within 5 per cent relative error. Sample weights are reported to demonstrate the size of material analyzed.

Qualified and competent person statement

Dr. Frank Santaguida, PGeo, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. Dr. Santaguida is also a competent person (as defined in the JORC (Joint Ore Reserves Committee) code, 2012 edition) who is a practising member of the Association of Professional Geologists of Ontario. Dr. Santaguida is employed on a full-time basis as vice-president, exploration, for First Cobalt. He has sufficient experience that is relevant to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a competent person as defined in the JORC code.

About First Cobalt Corp.

First Cobalt's objective is to create the largest pure-play cobalt exploration and development company in the world. Upon completion of the mergers with Cobalt One Ltd. and CobalTech Mining Inc., First Cobalt will control over 10,000 hectares of prospective land and 50 historic mining operations in the Cobalt camp in Ontario, Canada, as well as a mill and a permitted refinery facility.

We seek Safe Harbor.