Mr. John Power reports

ATHENA GOLD COMPLETES SPRING 2023 RC DRILL PROGRAM

Athena Gold Corp. has successfully completed the company's spring 2023 reverse circulation (RC) drill program of nine angle holes (see press release dated June 20, 2023). Total footage was 3,740 feet (1,140 metres) at its Excelsior Springs project, located approximately 45 miles southwest of Goldfield in Esmeralda county, Nevada.

Highlights from 2022 RC drill programs:

• DB-23: Intercepted a 33.5-metre intercept of 5.15 grams per tonne gold and 8.9 g/t silver, including a 16.7-metre intercept of 10.03 g/t Au and 17.3 g/t Ag, and a 10.6-metre intercept of 15.3 g/t Au and 26.5 g/t Ag;
• DH 22-01: Intercepted 6.05 g/t Au and 17.4 g/t Ag over 27.4 metres starting at 39.5 metres, including 10.2 g/t Ag and 30.8 g/t Ag over 10.7 metres. A deeper zone starting at 77.7 metres intercepted 4.97 g/t Au and 14.4 g/t Ag over 13.7 metres;
• DH 22-02: Intercepted 4.49 g/t Au and 27.3 g/t Ag over 15.2 metres starting at 41.1 metres, including 7.29 g/t Au and 44.2 g/t Ag over 9.1 metres. A deeper zone starting at 68.6 metres intercepted 1.20 g/t Au and 7.7 g/t Ag over 7.6 metres.

John Power, president and chief executive officer of Athena, said: "The primary objective of our spring 2023 RC drill program was to determine continuity of the shallow high-grade gold mineralization encountered in 2022; with stepouts both east and west, this will further define the target zone and set the stage for additional drilling.

"We continue to believe Excelsior Springs is emerging as one of the best advanced gold exploration projects in Nevada's Walker Lane trend," Mr. Power added.

Developing additional exploration targets

Athena has identified several robust drill targets at Excelsior Springs and continues to do fieldwork developing additional shallow- and high-grade drill targets. Recent sampling at Contact Gulch is an example of targets being analyzed and developed. Located only 0.5 mile east of the Western Slope zone, Contact Gulch appears to be a surface expression of a limestone cap over siltstone that could contain mineralized material. Prior sampling done while conducting geologic mapping returned anomalous gold and arsenic in rock chip samples. New rock and soil assays are also pending from this area.

All samples were shipped to American Assay Laboratories, an independent laboratory, in Reno, Nev., on July 7, 2023, for analysis. Assay results are expected in Q3 2023.

About flagship Excelsior Springs project

The Excelsior Springs project (the ES project) lies within the prolific Walker Lane tectonic trend, a large northwest-trending region in western Nevada of strike-slip and extensional fault zones. These fault zones are host to numerous gold deposits with strong district and local control of the gold mineralization. The ES project contains numerous prospect pits, trenches, roads, surface sampling sites and 113 drill holes to date within a 300 m by 3,000 m wide (1,000 foot-wide and 10,000-foot-long) east-west extensional zone of shearing and hydrothermal alteration. Underground workings on the two patented claims within the project had unverified, historical production of 597,187 grams of gold (19,200 troy ounces) from 18,000 tonnes averaging 1.2 oz (37.3 grams of gold/tonne).

Walker Lane is experiencing a major resurgence of intense and successful exploration projects. Total gold production within the Walker Lane has amounted to over 20 million ounces (Moz) of gold, including the following deposits at Goldfields (five Moz), Bullfrog (two Moz), Tonopah (two Moz), Borealis (one Moz), Mineral Ridge (1.5 Moz) and Comstock (eight Moz Au, 200 Moz Ag).

Readers are cautioned that the company has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any of the above-mentioned properties, other than the ES project, and that the mineral deposits, and the results of any exploration or mining thereof, on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of potential mineral deposits on the ES project or any potential exploitation thereof.

Gold mineralization discovered at the ES project to date occurs in quartz vein stockworks and silicified zones in hornfels and calc-silicate altered country rock in a district known for porphyry dikes. The best (grades and thicknesses) in the recent past were found in oxidized and altered sediments proximal to porphyry dikes. One thick, high-grade gold intercept encountered near the bottom of drill hole 22-01 is in underlying sulphide-bearing (pyrite and galena), altered sediments. The gold-mineralized stockwork and vein zones at the ES project are shallow and each appears to have a relatively flat plunge, a favourable orientation for open-pit mining.

Most historical exploration at the Excelsior Springs project has focused on a 2.5 km (8,200 feet) long section in the central part of the historic Buster mine zone, where mineralization was mined at or near the surface. Surface mapping in 2021 by Athena and an induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey conducted by Zonge International Inc. identified multiple zones of silicification correlating well with known mineralization. Several of the silicified zones defined by the IP (resistivity highs) surveys have not been tested by drilling and remain targets for future exploration.

Based on the excellent results of Athena's two previous drilling programs, the ES project is at an advanced stage of exploration with significant potential for one or more shallow, open-pittable, oxidized gold deposits along with deeper, higher-grade feeder zones similar to that encountered in drill hole 22-01 (mentioned above). In the opinion of management and its consultants, the ES project is very promising and further exploration has the potential to expand the known high-grade oxide and sulphide gold mineralization and establish several additional gold-mineralized zones.

Quality assurance and quality control

Procedures are being implemented to assure quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) of drill hole assaying at an ISO accredited assay laboratory in Reno. All five-foot drill hole samples are being securely stored for shipment, with chain-of-custody documentation through delivery to the lab. Mineralized commercial reference standards and coarse blank standards are being inserted every 20th sample in sequence to assure acceptable levels of confidence of the drill hole assays. When laboratory reports of the assays are received, QA/QC protocols are immediately augmented to ensure the precision and accuracy of the drill hole assays.

As the project advances, additional QA/QC measures will be implemented, including selected duplicate check assaying on pulps and coarse rejects at a second accredited assay laboratory.

Qualified person

Donald G. Strachan, certified professional geologist (CPG No. 10376 AIPG), is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has reviewed the scientific and technical information that forms the basis of this press release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Strachan is independent of the company and was responsible for the site management and technical aspects of Athena's spring 2022 drill program and the current fall 2022 drill program.

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 the project.

We seek Safe Harbor.