Mr. Christopher Huggins reports

COLLECTIVE METALS ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR INAUGURAL DRILL PROGRAM AT THE ROCAS URANIUM PROJECT

Collective Metals Inc. has finalized plans for the first-ever drill campaign on the Rocas uranium project, located south of the historical Key Lake mine and currently active mill facilities in the eastern Athabasca basin. High-priority uranium target areas have been identified following the verification of anomalous uranium occurrences across the project during the company's 2025 prospecting and mapping program. These results, combined with compelling geophysical anomalies identified in the 2024 high-resolution ground gravity survey and their integration with historic electromagnetic (EM) corridors and fault structures, have refined and strengthened the company's drill targeting strategy.

Highlights:

• Drill plan finalized: Phase I drilling will comprise approximately 1,200 to 1,500 metres planned across six to eight drill holes, targeting shallow, high-grade* basement-hosted uranium mineralization. This will mark the first drill program in the project's history.
• Robust drill targets: Diamond drilling will test target zones defined by anomalous uranium identified during the 2025 prospecting program, as well as geophysical work completed in 2024. Geophysical target zones on the project are located approximately 100 to 200 metres below surface.
• 2025 prospecting and mapping: Preliminary results from the prospecting and mapping program identified anomalous radioactivity readings of up to 33,000 counts per second (cps), along with 10 separate occurrences exceeding 10,000 cps.
• Fully financed: The company will finance 100 per cent of the program to satisfy the year 1 expenditure requirements under the definitive property option agreement dated Sept. 26, 2025, with Standard Uranium (Saskatchewan) Ltd. and Standard Uranium Ltd.
• Key vendors secured: The company has engaged all key contracts for the program and diamond drilling crews will mobilize to the project as early as mid-March to begin preparations.

Christopher Huggins, chief executive officer of the company, commented: "Finalizing our maiden drill program at Rocas marks a major milestone for Collective. With compelling surface results, strong geophysical support and fully funded drilling, we are excited to begin testing shallow basement-hosted uranium targets in one of the world's premier uranium districts."

Rocas exploration overview

The company plans to complete the first-ever drill program on the project in Q1 (first quarter) 2026 to begin testing high-priority zones along the main 7.5-kilometre magnetic low/EM conductive corridor, which hosts several uranium occurrences and has remained untested by drilling to date.

In 2024, the optionors contracted MWH Geo-Surveys (Canada) Ltd. to carry out a high-resolution ground gravity survey over the project. Convolutions Geoscience Corp. subsequently completed the processing, interpretation and modelling of the gravity data. The survey outlined several gravity-low anomalies coincident with historical surface mineralization, lakebed geochemical anomalies and crosscutting fault zones along the known conductive exploration trends on the project.

In September of 2025, the optionors completed a detailed prospecting and mapping program on the project. Historical mineralized outcrop grab samples along approximately 900 metres of strike length, returned values ranging from 587 parts per million (ppm) uranium (U) (SN85073) up to 0.498 weight per cent U3O8 (SN23901) and have never been drill tested. Preliminary results of the prospecting and mapping program identified anomalous radioactivity up to 33,000 cps, as well as 10 separate measurements of greater than 10,000 cps. Geochemical assay results are pending.

Paired with the results from a high-resolution ground gravity survey completed in 2024, this highlights potential alteration halos and identifies high-priority exploration targets along well-defined structural corridors.

Historical airborne EM work conducted in 2017 defined conductive trends on the project, located west of and subparallel to the Key Lake Road shear zone, corresponding with favourable metasedimentary basement lithologies. Multiple parallel conductors, offsets and termination points indicate a widening of the trend and the presence of potential crosscutting structures. Additionally, a 2007 field sampling program identified anomalous lakebed geochemical results that rank above the 95th percentile for U (uranium), Co (cobalt), V (vanadium) and Zn (zinc) along the conductor corridor, including elevated U/Th (uranium/thorium) ratios (4).

The company believes the project is highly prospective for the discovery of shallow, high-grade* basement-hosted uranium mineralization. Positioned proximal to the margin of the Athabasca basin, Rocas boasts shallow drill targets within bedrock under minimal glacial till cover.

Qualified person statement

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Sean Hillacre, PGeo, president and vice-president of exploration of Standard Uranium and a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

Samples collected for analysis were sent to SRC Geoanalytical Laboratories in Saskatoon, Sask., for preparation, processing, and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) or ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy) multielement analysis using total and partial digestion and boron by fusion. Radioactive samples were tested using the ICP1 uranium multielement exploration package plus boron. All samples marked as radioactive upon arrival to the lab were also analyzed using the U3O8 assay (reported in weight per cent). SRC is an ISO/IEC 17025:2005- and Standards Council of Canada-certified analytical laboratory. Blanks, standard reference materials and repeats were inserted into the sample stream at regular intervals in accordance with Standard's quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocols. All samples passed internal QA/QC protocols and the results presented in this release are deemed complete, reliable and repeatable.

Historical data disclosed in this news release relating to sampling results from previous operators are historical in nature. Neither the company nor a qualified person has yet verified this data and therefore investors should not place undue reliance on such data. The company's future exploration work may include verification of the data. The company considers historical results to be relevant as an exploration guide and to assess the mineralization, as well as economic potential of exploration projects. Any historical grab samples disclosed are selected samples and may not represent true underlying mineralization.

Natural gamma radiation from rocks reported in this news release was measured in cps using a hand-held RS-125 superspectrometer and RS-120 superscintillometer. Readers are cautioned that scintillometer readings are not uniformly or directly related to uranium grades of the rock sample measured and should be treated only as a preliminary indication of the presence of radioactive minerals. The RS-125 and RS-120 units supplied by Radiation Solutions Inc. (RSI) have been calibrated on specially designed test pads by RSI. Standard maintains an internal QA/QC procedure for calibration and calculation of drift in radioactivity readings through three test pads containing known concentrations of radioactive minerals. Internal test pad radioactivity readings are known and regularly compared with readings measured by the hand-held scintillometers for QA/QC purposes.

* The company considers uranium mineralization with concentrations greater than 1.0 weight per cent U3O8 to be high grade.

The company considers radioactivity readings greater than 65,535 counts per second (cps) on a hand-held RS-125 superspectrometer to be off-scale.

About Collective Metals Inc.

Collective Metals is a resource exploration company specializing in critical and precious metals exploration in North America.

The company's Rocas project comprises 4,002 hectares, located 75 kilometres southwest of the Key Lake mine and mill facilities along Highway 914, and approximately 72 kilometres south of the present-day margin of the Athabasca basin. The project hosts several uranium showings, including historical mineralized outcrop grab samples along approximately 900 metres of strike length, grading up to 0.5 weight per cent U3O8. Notably, none of the historical uranium occurrences have been drill tested.

We seek Safe Harbor.