Ms. Misty Urbatsch reports

CORE NICKEL COMPLETES $2.5 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENT FINANCINGS

Core Nickel Corp. has closed its two non-brokered private placements previously announced on Sept. 23, 2024, as increased on Sept. 23, 2024 (with respect to the sale of flow-through units), and Oct. 10, 2024 (with respect to the sale of non-flow-through units). Under the FT unit offering, the company has issued 7.5 million FT units at a price of 30 cents per FT unit for gross proceeds of $2.25-million. Under the NFT unit offering, the company has issued 1.44 million NFT units at a price of 17.5 cents per NFT unit for gross proceeds of $252,000.

Certain directors of the company (the insiders) participated in the offering, purchasing an aggregate of 66,000 units. Participation by the insiders is considered a related party transaction pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 -- Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. The company is exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal valuation and minority shareholder approval in connection with insiders' participation in reliance of sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, on the basis that the insiders' participation in the financing does not exceed 25 per cent of the fair market value of the company's market capitalization.

All securities issued under the private placements are subject to a hold period expiring Feb. 19, 2025, in accordance with applicable securities laws and the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

The gross proceeds received from the sale of the FT units will be used for exploration programs on the company's projects in the Thompson nickel belt, Manitoba. The net proceeds received from the sale of the NFT units will be used for general working capital.

The company's 100-per-cent-owned Mel deposit project is located only 25 kilometres from Vale's operating Thompson Mill complex. The Mel deposit hosts a historic estimate with an indicated resource of 4.3 million tonnes grading 0.88 per cent nickel and a historic inferred estimate of 1.0 million tonnes grading 0.84 per cent nickel. The Mel deposit has not been drilled since 2011 but is open for expansion both at depth and along strike.

The company also owns 100 per cent of the Halfway Lake project, located only 15 km from the Bucko mill. A preliminary three-hole drill program completed by the company in early 2024 intersected 91 metres grading 0.37 per cent nickel with localized 1.0 m intersections grading over 1.0 per cent nickel in drill hole HFW-002, from a vertical depth of approximately 120 metres. The company believes this wide zone of shallow, ultramafic-hosted disseminated nickel-sulphide mineralization indicates potential proximity to a higher-grade massive sulphide zone, which is the typical host of the numerous past-producing and operating mines in the Thompson district.

About Core Nickel Corp.

Core Nickel is a junior nickel exploration company that controls 100 per cent of five properties in the prolific nickel district, the Thompson nickel belt (TNB) in Northern Manitoba, Canada. The five properties consist of approximately 27,000 hectares of land that is proximal to existing infrastructure, such as highways, railways, major hydroelectric transmission lines and operating mills.

Core Nickel has a large contiguous land package in the northern part of the TNB, situated approximately 16 to 20 kilometres from the city of Thompson. Core Nickel's northern TNB projects consist of three properties: Mel, Hunter and Odei River. The Mel property encompasses the Mel deposit, which is characterized by a historical National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate with an indicated resource of 4.3 million tonnes at 0.875 per cent nickel, equating to 82.5 million pounds of contained nickel, and a historical inferred resource estimate of 1.0 million tonnes at 0.839 per cent nickel, equating to 18.7 million pounds of contained nickel (1). The target stratigraphy (Pipe formation) that hosts the Mel deposit and other deposits in the Thompson nickel belt extend onto the Hunter and Odei River properties, and drill hole intersections into the target stratigraphy on the Hunter project have successfully intersected elevated nickel.

The company also holds two properties in the central TNB near Wabowden: Halfway Lake and Resting Lake. Both properties host the target Pipe formation associated with known elevated nickel mineralization and are proximal to existing nickel deposits, mills and other infrastructure.

The qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, for this news release is Caitlin Glew, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Core Nickel, who has reviewed and approved its contents.

Technical disclosure

The historical results contained within this news release have been captured from the Manitoba integrated mining and quarrying system, as available, and may be incomplete or subject to minor location inaccuracies. Management cautions that historical results were collected and reported by past operators, and have not been verified nor confirmed by a qualified person, but form a basis for continuing work on the subject properties.

We seek Safe Harbor.