Mr. Colin Padget reports

FROYO ZONE KEEPS GROWING: FOUNDERS METALS HITS 54.0 M OF 8.45 G/T GOLD

Founders Metals Inc. has released assay results from Upper Antino-Froyo zone drilling at its Antino gold project in southeastern Suriname. Drill hole FR256 returned 54.0 metres of 8.45 grams per tonne gold from 303.0 m, including 24.0 m of 17.42 g/t Au, on a parallel structure approximately 100 m east of the high-grade zone intersected in FR249 (28.0 m of 14.27 g/t Au, announced Aug. 6, 2026).

Colin Padget, president and chief executive officer, commented: "FR256 returned 54.0 metres of 8.45 g/t gold from a second, parallel structure 100 metres east of FR249, where we hit 28.0 metres of 14.27 g/t gold in August. Lower in the same hole, FR256 also extended the FR249 zone downdip. These results reinforce the scale and high-grade potential of the gold system at Upper Antino. Our drilling continues to identify new structures and extend known zones at depth, and the system remains open. We look forward to further defining its extent through our ongoing stepout program for the balance of 2026."

Highlights:

• Second, parallel high-grade structure: 54.0 m of 8.45 g/t Au from 303.0 m (approximately 275 m vertical), including 24.0 m of 17.42 g/t Au (FR256), approximately 100 m across strike to the east of the previously released 28.0 m of 14.27 g/t Au (FR249);
• FR249 zone extended approximately 75 m downdip: 11.0 m of 3.59 g/t Au from 464.0 m (approximately 420 m vertical) (FR256);
• Gold mineralization near surface: 16.5 m of 4.21 g/t Au from 30.6 m (FR264);
• Drilling in progress: 16 holes totalling 5,809 m are reported in this release, and stepout drilling on both structures is planned for the rest of 2026.

Drilling at Upper Antino continues to step out along and across strike, testing for parallel structures and the downdip extent of the gold-bearing shear zones that define the target. FR256 intersected 54.0 m of 8.45 g/t Au from 303.0 m within a second, parallel structure approximately 100 m across strike to the east of the previously reported 28.0 m of 14.27 g/t Au in FR249. Deeper in the same hole, FR256 returned 11.0 m of 3.59 g/t Au from 464.0 m, extending the FR249 zone approximately 75 m downdip. As elsewhere at the Froyo zone, the gold is hosted in steeply dipping, northwest-trending shears, and is associated with quartz-carbonate veining, pervasive sericite alteration and pyrite plus pyrrhotite. FR252, drilled from the same pad as FR256, intersected multiple gold-bearing shears, returning 4.0 m of 10.22 g/t Au from 291.0 m, 14.0 m of 1.41 g/t Au from 319.0 m and 14.0 m of 4.22 g/t Au from 401.0 m.

Shallow drilling has also intersected mineralization updip within the oxide profile: FR264 returned 16.5 m of 4.21 g/t Au from 30.6 m. The Froyo zone remains open along strike and at depth, and the company will complete follow-up drilling over the rest of 2026.

Stock option and restricted share unit grant

The company also announces that, pursuant to its omnibus long-term incentive plan, it has granted a total of 115,000 stock options and 74,725 restricted share units to officers and employees of the company. The options are exercisable at a price of $8.20 per share and expire five years from the date of grant. The options and 43,375 of the RSUs vest over a period of three years, with one-third vesting on each of the first, second and third anniversaries from the date of grant. The remaining 31,350 RSUs vest on the first anniversary of the date of grant.

About Founders Metals Inc.

Founders Metals is a Canadian gold exploration company building a district-scale gold camp in southeastern Suriname. The company owns a 100-per-cent royalty-free interest in the Antino gold project, a 102,360-hectare contiguous land package representing the largest uninterrupted package of highly prospective greenstone belt geology in the Guiana Shield. Founders is executing one of the most active exploration programs in the global junior gold sector and is backed by a strategic investment from Gold Fields Ltd. The company is committed to responsible exploration, strong community engagement and disciplined capital allocation as it advances Suriname's next major gold camp.

Quality assurance and control

Samples were analyzed at Filab Suriname, a Bureau Veritas certified laboratory in Paramaribo, Suriname (a commercial certified laboratory under ISO 9001:2015). Samples are crushed to 75 per cent passing 2.35-millimetre screen, riffle split (700 grams) and pulverized to 85 per cent passing 88 micrometres. Samples were analyzed using a 50-gram fire assay (50-gram aliquot) with an atomic absorption finish. For samples that return assay values over 10.0 grams per tonne, another cut was taken from the original pulp and fire assayed with a gravimetric finish. Founders Metals inserts blanks and certified reference standards in the sample sequence for quality control. External quality assurance/quality control checks are performed at ALS Global Laboratories (geochemistry division) in Lima, Peru (an ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited facility). A secure chain of custody is maintained in transporting and storing of all samples. Drill intervals with visible gold are assayed using metallic screening. Diamond drill core is HQ diameter through oxide intervals and predominantly NQ diameter in deeper drilling. All samples are half core, split using a diamond saw.

Qualified person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael Dufresne, MSc, PGeol, PGeo, an independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

We seek Safe Harbor.