Mr. Sonny Janda reports

DESERT GOLD SIGNS OPTION AGREEMENT ON 297 SQUARE KILOMETRE TIEGBA GOLD PROJECT IN IVORY COAST

Desert Gold Ventures Inc. has entered into an option agreement with Flower Holdings SARLU to acquire a 90-per-cent interest in the Tiegba gold project. Flower is a private company located in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The signing of the Tiegba option agreement marks a major milestone for the company as it expands its project portfolio to become a regionally diversified gold explorer and developer in West Africa.

Tiegba project highlights:

• The Tiegba project is in Ivory Coast, which has one of the most accommodative and investor-friendly mining codes in the region:
  • Politically stable;
  • Fast permitting;
  • Excellent infrastructure;
  • Major discoveries made in recent years with new mines coming on line such as Montage Gold's Kone project;
• Large 297-square-kilometre strategic land package in Tier 1 Birimian orogenic gold belt:
  • Underexplored; less than 20 per cent of the Tiegba licence has been explored, representing significant exploration blue sky;
• Located near multimillion-ounce deposits, including:
  • Agbaou (Allied Gold Corp.);
  • Bonikro/Hire (Allied Gold);
  • Yaoure (Perseus Mining Ltd.);
• Large 4.2-kilometre-by-2.1-kilometre gold-in-soil anomalous trend along key regional structure -- Tehini shear zone:
  • Multiple parallel mineralized trends with values exceeding 900 parts per billion gold, including 89 samples over 50 parts per billion gold, 29 samples between 100 parts per billion and 200 parts per billion gold, and 12 samples over 200 parts per billion gold;
  • Tiegba has never been drill tested despite compelling surface results;
  • Company site visit confirms in situ nature of gold anomalies;
• Coming exploration program aims to quickly define drill targets:
  • Infill and expanded soil grids;
  • Property-wide airborne magnetic and IP (induced polarization) surveys;
  • Targeted trenching, geological mapping and prospecting.

Desert Gold's chief executive officer, Jared Scharf, commented: "The completion of the Tiegba option agreement is a major milestone diversifying the company into a regional West African player. During the spring, our technical team evaluated a dozen projects in the region covering over 1,000 square kilometres. Tiegba ticked all the boxes. We look forward to quickly advancing the obvious and compelling gold prospects on the property into drill-ready targets."

Key terms of the Flower option agreement:

• Desert Gold will pay Flower of total of $450,000 (U.S.) over the term of the agreement, of which $150,000 (U.S.) has been paid upon signing of the agreement, with the remaining balance to be paid in two equal instalments on the first anniversary of the agreement and the final payment being made of the first permit renewal.
• Desert Gold will issue a total of 1.5 million common shares to Flower in three equal instalments, along with the cash payments. Share issuances are subject to TSX Venture Exchange statutory hold periods.
• Upon completion of the cash and share payments to Flower, Desert Gold will have satisfied the terms of the agreement earning a 90-per-cent interest in the Tiegba licence. Flower's 10-per-cent interest will be free carried through mine feasibility. Thereafter, Flower will be subject to standard form pro rata dilution clauses.
• Flower shall retain a 1-per-cent net smelter royalty (NSR) on all ore mined from the Tiegba licence.
• Desert Gold will retain a right of first refusal (ROFR) of any sale of Flower's NSR and/or 10-per-cent minority interest.
• During the option period, Desert Gold will be responsible for maintaining the Tiegba permit in good standing and satisfy any and all obligations required by Ivorian law and will take over operational control of the Tiegba project on closing of the transaction with Flower.

Tiegba project details

The Tiegba project is located approximately 188 kilometres west of the capital city, Abidjan, and covers an area of 296.9 square kilometres within the underexplored Tehini greenstone belt. The Tehini belt extends northward toward Burkina Faso, where it hosts major active gold deposits such as Hounde (5.2 million ounces gold) and Mana (2.3 million ounces gold). Importantly, the northwestern extension of the Tiegba project trends toward the Bonikro Agbaou gold complex and the Yaoure gold mine:

• Agbaou deposit:
  • Proven and probable reserves (9.49 million tonnes at 1.50 grams per tonne; 458,000 ounces);
  • Measured and inferred (9.33 million tonnes at 2.10 grams per tonne; 631,000 ounces);
• Boniko and Hire deposits:
  • Proven and probable reserves (11.98 million tonnes at 1.15 grams per tonne; 444,000 ounces);
  • Measured and inferred (40.21 million tonnes at 1.30 grams per tonne; 1.68 million ounces);
• Yaoure:
  • Proven and probable reserves (35.2 million tonnes at 1.53 grams per tonne; 1.73 million ounces);
  • Measured and inferred (55.6 million tonnes at 1.52 grams per tonne; 2.7 million ounces).

Geology

The Tiegba project is part of the Paleoproterozoic Birimian terranes, which consist of a northeast-trending sequence of volcanic/volcano sedimentary rocks and syntectonic to late tectonic granitoids features characteristic of gold-bearing greenstone belts across West Africa.

The local geology of the Tiegba project exhibits strong similarities to the Bonikro-Agbaou gold district. Notably, calc-alkaline intrusive bodies have been mapped along both the western and eastern margins of the permit area. These intrusions are considered favourable hosts for gold mineralization, particularly along their contacts, within high-strain structural corridors and at the intersection of quartz vein networks. These geological features represent high-priority targets for follow-up exploration.

Historical soil geochemistry data, originally collected by Newcrest Mining Ltd., identified a prominent north-northeast-trending gold-in-soil anomaly approximately 4.2 kilometres in length within the Tiegba project area. Peak gold values exceed 900 parts per billion gold. These levels of soil samples are well above typical background levels for Birimian greenstone belts. These anomalies appear to be spatially associated with the Tehini shear zone, a major regional structure that transects the property. This mineralized corridor has also been proved prospective on adjacent ground to the southwest, currently being advanced by Thor Explorations Ltd. (see Thor's news release dated Sept. 16, 2024).

Desert Gold site visit

As part of Desert Gold's initial due diligence, a site visit was conducted by its technical team in March, 2025, to assess the prospectivity of the Tiegba permit. Field observations confirmed elevated soil anomalies coincident with suboutcropping bedrock and transitional zones containing residual lithological fragments and dispersed quartz float. These features are interpreted as supportive of an in situ mineralized source, with a geochemical anomaly resulting from primary dispersion processes.

Work plans

Despite the presence of well-defined gold-in-soil anomalies, the Tiegba project remains untested by drilling. To date, only a small portion of the property has undergone systematic evaluation (less than 20 per cent). Desert Gold plans to validate the historical soil data through the expansion of soil sampling grids and targeted infill sampling to better define geochemical trends.

Desert Gold intends to conduct a property-wide geophysical survey to improve understanding of the underlying structural architecture. This work will support the effective planning of additional soil sampling, trenching, detailed geological mapping and prospecting activities, all aimed to quickly advance the project toward its first drill program.

SMSZ project preliminary economic assessment (PEA) update

Desert Gold's previously announced SMSZ project PEA is near completion. The company expects to publish initial results in the coming weeks.

Stock option issuance

The company has issued a total of one million incentive stock options to certain directors, employees and consultants of the company. The stock options have an exercise price of eight cents and a duration of five years from the date of issuance.

About Desert Gold Ventures Inc.

Desert Gold Ventures is a gold exploration and development company which controls the 440-square-kilometre SMSZ project in western Mali containing measured and indicated mineral resources of 8.47 million tonnes grading 1.14 grams per tonne gold totalling 310,300 ounces and inferred mineral resources of 20.7 million tonnes grading 1.16 grams per tonne gold totalling 769,200 ounces. For further information, please visit the company's profile on SEDAR+.

Qualified person statement

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Ty Magee, MSc, PGeo, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Magee is an adviser and consultant to Desert Gold Ventures and is considered independent of the company.

Quality assurance/quality control

The historical soil geochemical results referenced herein were originally collected by Newcrest Mining and have not yet been independently verified by Desert Gold. While the data set demonstrates strong coherence with regional structural features and prospective geology, the reliability of the sampling methods, analytical techniques and quality control measures implemented during the historical program is currently unknown and not public. As such, these results should be considered historical in nature. Desert Gold intends to validate the historical data set through a systematic QA/QC program as part of its coming exploration activities. This will include the implementation of industry-standard protocols involving certified reference materials (standards), field duplicates, blank samples and chain-of-custody procedures. These measures will be employed to ensure the accuracy and reproducibility of future sampling results and to establish a compliant geochemical database to guide follow-up work, including trenching, geophysics and potential drilling.

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