Mr. Stephen Stares reports

BENTON INCREASES INTEREST IN GREAT BURNT PROJECT AND IDENTIFIES HIGH PRIORITY TARGET

Benton Resources Inc. has received notice from Homeland Nickel Inc. that it will no longer participate in its joint venture with Benton (see news release dated Aug. 17, 2023) on the Great Burnt property which encompasses the South Pond gold-copper deposit and the Great Burnt copper deposit (the GB property) in central Newfoundland.

As a result, and as of Dec. 31, 2025, Homeland had been deemed to incur $2,201,071.93 (or 26.49 per cent) in exploration expenditures while Benton had incurred $6,108,232.33 (or 73.51 per cent). Homeland's interest in the GB property will continue to be diluted as Benton completes further exploration expenditures. Benton is now calculating its updated spend from Jan. 1, 2026, to March 31, 2026, which will further increase its interest in the GB property.

The company is planning an aggressive summer exploration program which will work toward delineating updated resources for both South Pond gold-copper deposit and the Great Burnt copper deposit. In addition, the company will continue to explore its vast land package at GB and GB south projects. This will include an airborne electro magnetic (EM), magnetic survey on the southern half of the project, follow-up prospecting, mapping, trenching and diamond drilling. The company will complete further soil sampling over areas that have seen little historical exploration. With continued successful results, the company will advance compilation, prospecting, mapping, ground geophysics, trenching and diamond drilling project wide. The company remains confident that additional copper and gold zones will be discovered.

On the northern portion of the project, recently received assay results from a small winter soil sampling program have returned very significant gold values in soils grading from trace up to 5.1 grams per tonne Au (gold). This immediate area is also host to multiple bedrock and float samples assaying to 896 ppb (parts per billion) Au and is located 330 metres southwest of float samples discovered in the fall of 2025 that assayed 12.0 g/t Au. The company will continue work in this highly prospective area outside of the known extents of the South Pond deposit.

QP (qualified person)

Stephen House (PGeo), vice-president of exploration for Benton Resources, the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release and prepared or supervised its preparation.

QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) protocols

Core and rock samples, including standards, blanks and duplicates, are submitted to Eastern Analytical Ltd., Springdale, Nfld., for preparation and analysis. All samples were acquired by saw-cut (channels/drill core) with one-half submitted for assay and one-half retained for reference, or hand (rocks) and delivered, by Benton personnel, in sealed bags, to the Springdale lab of Eastern Analytical, which is an accredited assay lab that conforms to the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025. Samples are analyzed using Eastern's Au (fire assay) at 30 grams plus ICP-34 method that delivers a 34-element package utilizing a 200-milligram subsample totally dissolved in four acids and analyzed by ICP-OES analytical technique. Overlimits are analyzed with Eastern's atomic absorption method, using a 0.200 g to 2.00 g of sample, digested with three acids. All reported assays are uncut. Eastern Analytical achieved ISO 17025 accreditation in February, 2014 (for more details on the scope of accreditation visit the CALA website). Grab samples are selective in nature and may not represent the average mineralization of a bedrock exposure.

About Benton Resources Inc.

Benton Resources is a well-financed mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol BEX. Benton has a diversified, highly prospective property portfolio and holds large equity positions in other mining companies that are advancing high-quality assets. Whenever possible, Benton retains net smelter return (NSR) royalties with potential long-term cash flow.

Benton is focused on advancing its high-grade copper-gold Great Burnt project in central Newfoundland, which has a mineral resource estimate of 667,000 tonnes at 3.21 per cent Cu (copper) indicated and 482,000 at 2.35 per cent Cu inferred. The project has an excellent geological setting covering 25 km of strike and boasts six known Cu-Au-Ag zones over 15 km that are all open for expansion. Further potential for discovery is excellent given the extensive number of untested geophysical targets and Cu-Au soil anomalies. Phase 1 and 2 drill programs returned impressive results including 25.42 m of 5.51 per cent Cu, including 9.78 m of 8.31 per cent Cu and 1.00 m of 12.70 per cent Cu. Drilling at the South Pond gold zone, approximately 7.5 km north of the Great Burnt copper-gold zone, has confirmed a robust gold-mineralized system over 2.5 km with results of 74.20 m of 1.43 g/t Au and 43.75 m of 1.62 g/t Au, and is open for expansion in all directions.

We seek Safe Harbor.