Mr. Thomas Ullrich reports

ASTON BAY AND AMERICAN WEST METALS THICK HIGH-GRADE COPPER IN DEEP DRILLING AT THE STORM PROJECT, NUNAVUT, CANADA

Aston Bay Holdings Ltd. has provided an update on drilling activities at the Storm copper project on Somerset Island, Nunavut. The exploration program is being conducted by American West Metals Ltd., which is the operator of the project. Aston Bay and American West have formed a 20/80 unincorporated joint venture in respect of the Storm project property, with Aston Bay maintaining a free carried interest until a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study.

Highlights:

• Large copper system at depth confirmed by assays with up to 3.7 per cent copper;
• Drilling highlights: deep diamond drilling has discovered Cyclone-style copper mineralization at depth and confirmed the prospectivity of the Central Graben area;
• Drill hole ST24-01 has intersected:
  • 10 metres of 1.2 per cent copper from 311 metres downhole, including:
    • Three metres of 2.2 per cent copper from 315 metres downhole, including:
      • 0.5 metre of 3.7 per cent copper from 315.5 metres downhole;
• The drilling confirms the large lateral extent of the Storm copper system at depth and highlights the potential of the deep copper horizon to host large-scale stratigraphic-hosted high-grade copper deposits;
• Assays for a second deep diamond drill hole ST24-02 -- drilled approximately 1,500 metres south of ST24-01 and which intersected 99.2 metres of visual copper sulphide -- are expected in the coming week;
• Visual estimates of mineral abundance should never be considered a proxy or substitute for laboratory analyses where concentrations or grades are the factor of principal economic interest; laboratory assays are required to determine the presence and grade of any contained mineralization within the reported visual intersections of copper sulphides; portable XRF (X-ray fluorescence) is used as an aid in the determination of mineral type and abundance during the geological logging process.

Thomas Ullrich, chief executive officer of Aston Bay, commented: "The first deep drill hole of the year adds another success to the 2024 exploration program at Storm. The style of copper mineralization intercepted and its stratigraphic location is similar to Cyclone -- this may be the fault-offset southern portion of the deposit and could add to a potential future resource.

"In addition to extensions to known mineralization, this discovery highlights the discovery potential of the deeper stratigraphic levels in the Central Graben area, an expanse of over 10 square kilometres. Every deep drill hole has hit copper mineralization at approximately the same depth, and we continue to improve our geophysical modelling to hit thicker and higher-grade intercepts in this very large and prospective horizon.

"The value of these deeper discoveries is not limited to the potential value of the copper alone. The geophysical signature of exploration success that we obtain from these drill holes will be fed back into the model to further refine our targeting for even better copper intercepts at depth."

Deep copper system prospectivity confirmed

Diamond drill hole ST24-01 was designed to test the stratigraphy of the Central Graben and the potential for new zones of copper mineralization within the deep copper horizon that was discovered during 2023 (see Sept. 26, 2023, Aston Bay news release).

The horizon intersected by ST24-01 is the same interpreted mineralized stratigraphic horizon that hosts the Cyclone deposit at shallow levels north of the North Graben fault. Significantly, the drill hole intersected copper mineralization at the same depth as encountered in every other widely spaced drill hole within the large Central Graben. The consistency of copper mineralization in this horizon highlights the laterally extensive and likely stacked nature of the deep copper system, which now covers an area of over 10 square kilometres.

The intercepts in ST24-01 further support the potential of Storm to host large-scale stratigraphic and structurally hosted high-grade copper deposits similar to those in the Central African Copperbelt.

Drill hole ST24-01 details

ST24-01 was drilled to a downhole depth of 385m and intersected a 22-metre-thick zone of breccia-style and vein-style copper mineralization containing two subzones of stronger mineralization.

The upper two-metre-thick subzone contains veinlets of chalcocite hosted within a moderately fractured zone from 302.5 metres downhole.

The strongest zone of mineralization was intersected between 311 metres and 321 metres downhole, displaying the typical sediment-hosted copper mineralogical profile with a high-grade core of native copper and chalcocite with peripheral chalcopyrite and other less copper-rich sulphide minerals (see attached table).

The copper mineralization is hosted near the top of a thick sequence of fractured dolomudstone of the Allen Bay formation. The Allen Bay is the main host of the copper mineralization within the Storm area, and the stratigraphic position near the top of the formation also hosts Cyclone, the largest deposit discovered to date.

Mineralization encountered in ST24-01 could represent the southern continuation of Cyclone within the downthrown Central Graben block, demonstrating the discovery potential for additional large and high-grade deposits. Further, the intersection of copper mineralization at the same stratigraphic position in every widely spaced deep hole drilled to date highlights the prospectivity of the entire 10-square-kilometre Central Graben. This large and relatively unexplored area is a key target for follow-up drilling.

Qualified person

Michael Dufresne, MSc, PGeol, PGeo, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

About the Storm copper project and Seal zinc-silver project, Nunavut

The Nunavut property consists of 173 contiguous mining claims covering an area of approximately 219,257 hectares on Somerset Island, Nunavut, Canada. The Storm project comprises both the Storm copper project, a high-grade sediment-hosted copper discovery (intersections including 110 metres of 2.5 per cent copper from surface and 56.3 metres of 3.1 per cent copper from 12.2 metres) as well as the Seal zinc deposit (intersections including 14.4 metres of 10.6 per cent zinc and 28.7 grams per tonne silver from 51.8 metres and 22.3 metres of 23.0 per cent zinc and 5.1 grams per tonne silver from 101.5 metres). Additionally, there are numerous underexplored and undrilled targets within the 120-kilometre strike length of the mineralized trend, including the Tornado copper prospect, where 10 grab samples yielded greater than 1 per cent copper up to 32 per cent copper in gossans. The Nunavut property is now the subject of an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture with American West.

Storm discovery and historical work

High-grade copper mineralization was discovered at Storm in the mid-1990s by Cominco geologists conducting regional zinc exploration around their then-producing Polaris lead-zinc mine. A massive chalcocite boulder found in a tributary of the Aston River in 1996 was traced to impressive surface exposures of broken chalcocite mineralization for hundreds of metres of surface strike length at what became named the 2750N, 2200N and 3500N zones. Subsequent seasons of prospecting, geophysics and over 9,000 metres of drilling into the early 2000s confirmed a significant amount of copper mineralization below the surface exposures as well as made the blind discovery of the 4100N zone, a large area of copper mineralization with no surface exposure.

Following the merger of Cominco with Teck in 2001 and the closure of the Polaris mine, the Storm claims were allowed to lapse in 2007. Commander Resources staked the property in 2008 and flew a helicopter-borne VTEM (versatile time-domain electromagnetic) survey in 2011 but conducted no additional drilling. Aston Bay subsequently entered into an earn-in agreement with Commander and consolidated 100-per-cent ownership in 2015. Commander retained a 0.875-per-cent gross overriding royalty in the area of the original Storm claims, which was purchased by Taurus Mining Royalty Fund LP in January, 2024.

In 2016, Aston Bay entered into an earn-in agreement with BHP, which conducted a 2,000-station soil sampling program and drilled 1,951 metres of core in 12 diamond drill holes, yielding up to 16 metres of 3.1 per cent copper. BHP exited the agreement in 2017 and retains no residual interest in the project. Aston Bay conducted a propertywide airborne gravity gradiometry survey in 2017 and drilled 2,913 metres in nine core holes in the Storm area in 2018, yielding a best intercept of 1.5 metres of 4.4 per cent copper and 20.5 metres of 0.6 per cent copper.

Agreement with American West

On March 9, 2021, Aston Bay entered into an option agreement with American West and its wholly owned Canadian subsidiary, Tornado Metals Ltd., pursuant to which American West was granted an option to earn an 80-per-cent undivided interest in the project by spending a minimum of $10-million on qualifying exploration expenditures. The parties amended and restated the option agreement as of Feb. 27, 2023, to facilitate American West directly earning an interest in the project alongside its Canadian subsidiary without any change to the overall commercial agreement between the parties. The expenditures were completed during 2023, and American West exercised the option. American West and Aston Bay have formed an 80/20 unincorporated joint venture.

Under the joint venture, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for financing the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the project will be converted into a 2-per-cent net smelter returns royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10 per cent.

Recent work

American West completed a fixed-loop electromagnetic (FLEM) ground geophysical survey in 2021, which yielded several new subsurface conductive anomalies. A total of 1,534 metres were drilled in 10 diamond drill holes in the 2022 season, yielding several impressive near-surface intercepts, including 41 metres of 4.1 per cent copper as well as 68 metres of sulphide mineralization associated with a deeper conductive anomaly.

In April, 2022, results of beneficiation studies demonstrated that a mineralized intercept grading 4 per cent copper from the 4100N area could be upgraded to a 54-per-cent-copper direct-ship product using standard sorting technology. Further beneficiation and metallurgical studies are continuing.

In April, 2023, American West embarked on a spring delineation drilling program using a helicopter-portable RC (reverse circulation) drill rig as well as conducting gravity and moving-loop electromagnetic (MLEM) ground geophysical programs.

The summer 2023 program conducted further delineation drilling of the near-surface, high-grade copper zones to advance them toward maiden resource estimates in 2024. Deep diamond drilling during 2023 discovered high-grade copper sulphides up to 2.7 per cent copper at approximately 300 metres vertical depth (ST23-02), suggesting the potential for discovery of large-scale copper targets at depth.

Diamond drilling of new high-priority deep MLEM targets, RC delineation drilling for resource development and additional geophysical surveys are now under way in the 2024 program. Metallurgical studies and environmental baseline studies are continuing, with bulk sampling for prefeasibility-level processing planned for summer 2024.

About Aston Bay Holdings Ltd.

Aston Bay is a publicly traded mineral exploration company exploring for high-grade critical metal and precious metal deposits in Nunavut, Canada, and Virginia, United States.

The company is currently exploring the Storm copper property and the Epworth copper-silver-zinc-cobalt Property in Nunavut and the high-grade Buckingham gold vein in central Virginia. The company is also in advanced stages of negotiation on other lands with high-grade critical metal potential in North America

The company and its joint venture partners, American West and its wholly owned subsidiary, Tornado Metals, have formed a 20/80 unincorporated joint venture in respect of the Storm project property, which hosts the Storm copper project and the Seal zinc deposit. Under the unincorporated joint venture, Aston Bay shall have a free carried interest until American West has made a decision to mine upon completion of a bankable feasibility study, meaning American West will be solely responsible for financing the joint venture until such decision is made. After such decision is made, Aston Bay will be diluted in the event it does not elect to contribute its proportionate share and its interest in the Storm project property will be converted into a 2-per-cent net smelter return royalty if its interest is diluted to below 10 per cent.

We seek Safe Harbor.