Mr. Chris Paul reports

FINAL PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR UPSIZED PHASE II DRILL PROGRAM AT HERCULES

Hercules Silver Corp. has upsized its previously announced phase II drill program on the Hercules property, located in western Idaho. Following the receipt of approximately $1.3-million in cash from the recent exercise of options and warrants, and the closing of a $5.75-million private placement, the company has elected to increase the size of its upcoming phase II drill program to a minimum of 6,000 metres, allowing for deeper drilling and the testing of additional high-priority targets. The primary goals of the phase II program will be to: (i) extend the best-known historical mineralization at the Hercules adit and Frogpond zones; and (ii) test multiple new targets generated by recent greenfields exploration. A third phase of drilling will follow, once all assay results have been received, interpreted and released to the market. The upcoming phase II drill program is anticipated to commence in the next two weeks.

Management commentary

Chris Paul, chief executive officer and director of the company, noted: "We're very excited to kick off our phase II drilling program and start testing the many highly prospective targets generated over the past 18 months. Our core shack is almost complete, the weather is good and final preparations are now being made for mobilization. The additional funding we've received will allow for a significantly more ambitious phase II campaign as well as a phase III program to continue advancing the highest-priority targets."

Drilling method

The company has selected Timberline Drilling, of Hayden, Idaho, to carry out the phase II program. Timberline will provide a rig capable of oriented core drilling, offering significantly more geological and structural information than previous reverse circulation (RC) drilling methods on the property. Oriented core helps determine the direction that mineralization is trending and increases the probability of tracing mineralized zones with subsequent stepout holes.

To maximize core recovery, Timberline will utilize triple tube barrels to improve on historical recoveries, particularly within the mineralized zones.

The objectives of the program are to:

1. Drill test the various targets outlined in further detail in the following section;
2. Obtain high-quality geological and structural information using oriented drill core;
3. Utilize triple tube barrels for improved core recoveries;
4. Further refine the exploration model;
5. Provide an indication as to the overall target size and vectors within the system.

All of these targets will be drilled from land on which Hercules Silver holds mining rights, including surface drilling rights, as well as a small 20-acre parcel of Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land for which the company holds a drill permit. The system extends onto lands managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS), for which the company is currently in the permitting process, including the Grade Creek zone. Further updates will be made available with respect to permitting progress on other select targets on the property.

A summary of the planned phase II drill holes is presented in the attached table, with additional details for each specific target in the news release.

Silver-lead-zinc targets

Hercules adit/Frogpond zones:

• Testing extensions of the Hercules adit and Frogpond zones along strike and at depth, including vertical structures and high-grade shoots that may have been missed by the vertical historical drilling. Two holes will test for the extension of a mineralized shoot that appears to have been down dropped at the east end of the Frogpond zone and partially intersected by historical drill hole 83-5. Hole 83-5 intersected 25.9 metres of 85 grams per tonne (g/t) silver (Ag), 1.70 per cent lead (Pb) and 2.09 per cent zinc (Zn) from 86.9 to 112.8 metres and remains open at depth and to the east;
• Verifying and potentially extending silver mineralization intersected at depth on the west end of the Frogpond zone. Historical drill hole 83-16, one of the deepest holes drilled on the property, was halted due to caving ground at 420 feet (approximately 128 metres), with the final 7.6 metres grading 214 g/t Ag, 0.13 per cent Pb and 0.17 per cent Zn. Re-entry at the time was unsuccessful and the deep intercept was not further tested.

Haystack zone:

• Testing a surface rock chip anomaly on the west side of the Haystack zone, which is associated with a near-surface vertical chargeability anomaly;
• Testing a separate rock chip anomaly at the east end of the Haystack zone, associated with a similar near-surface vertical chargeability anomaly. A single vertical hole in the area, RDH-7, returned 16.8 metres grading 149 g/t Ag, 0.13 per cent Pb and 0.1 per cent Zn. The planned hole depth is 550 metres to also allow testing of the large-scale chargeability anomaly.

Hinge zone:

• Two holes within the folded hinge area of the Hercules rhyolite, with strong rock chip sample grades and a near-surface chargeability anomaly. The holes will be drilled in opposite directions, to determine the dip of the mineralization. The eastward hole will be extended to 400 metres, to also test the large-scale chargeability anomaly;
• A potential third hole will be drilled into the fold hinge, from a quartz-alunite-dickite-pyrophyllite altered breccia zone located to the west of all historical drilling. This is a unique advanced argillic alteration assemblage, which typically forms a cap over epithermal- and porphyry-type mineralization and is not seen elsewhere on the property. Drilling underneath this advanced argillic breccia may lead to a discovery of new mineralization.

Belmont zone:

• Up to four holes fanned from a single pad at the Belmont zone, to test various mineralized structures associated with high-grade rock chip samples and a 1970 historical drill hole (DDH-6), which intersected 83 g/t Ag and 0.25 per cent Zn over 20 metres from surface and 93 g/t Ag over eight metres deeper in the hole.

Porphyry copper-silver-gold targets:

• A 400-metre hole planned in the eastern part of the Belmont zone to test the southern end of a large-scale chargeability anomaly. Certain mineral systems, including porphyry coppers, are often surrounded by high-chargeability clay-sericite-pyrite halos. The hole is designed to test both the high-chargeability zone as well as potentially higher-temperature parts of the system underneath and/or adjacent to it.

Metheny zone:

• A 550-metre hole planned at the Metheny zone, to test a quartz-feldspar porphyry with dimensions of approximately 850 m by 550 m on surface, associated with strong copper-silver-gold grades and lenses of skarn-type mineralization. The Metheny zone lies east of the limit of the 2022 3-D IP survey, however, the large-scale chargeability anomaly is centred immediately west of -- and likely projects into -- the Metheny zone.

Lightning zone:

• Two 500-metre holes testing a strongly altered hydrothermal breccia pipe, the Lightning breccia, which may be a key indicator of a buried porphyry copper system. The Lightning breccia consists of hydrothermal quartz/silica clasts, brought up from depth within a surrounding matrix that is rich in oxidized sulphide mineralization (goethite). The Lightning breccia is associated with a strong copper-gold-silver (plus-bismuth-tellurium-selenium) geochemical anomaly and has never been drilled. The quartz clasts may represent fragments of a silicified carapace (cap of an intrusion), which were transported upwards during an explosive brecciation event. The pipe may therefore root down into a mineralized porphyry at depth.

Qualified person

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved for disclosure by Donald E. Cameron, MSc, a registered member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration Inc., a QP member of the Mining & Metallurgical Society of America, a professional geologist licensed by the State of Idaho, and an independent qualified person for Hercules within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. To the best of his knowledge, the technical information pertaining to the Hercules silver property, and discussion of it as disclosed in this news release, is neither inaccurate nor misleading.

About Hercules Silver Corp.

Hercules is a junior mining company focused on the exploration and development of the 100-per-cent-owned Hercules silver project, northwest of Cambridge, Idaho.

The Hercules project is a disseminated silver-lead-zinc system with 28,000 metres of historical drilling across 3.5 kilometres of strike. The company is well positioned for growth through the drill bit in 2023, having completed extensive surface exploration in 2022 consisting of soil and rock sampling, geological mapping, IP geophysics, and a nine-hole drill program.

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