Mr. Christian Easterday reports

HOT CHILI CLOSES A$40 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENT TO ACCELERATE NEXT LEG OF GROWTH FOR COSTA FUEGO COPPER-GOLD PROJECT, COASTAL CHILE

Hot Chili Ltd. has closed its previously announced placement of shares to institutional, professional and other investors consisting of the issue of 24,242,425 new fully paid ordinary shares at an offer price of $1.65 (Australian) ($1.56 (Canadian)) per share for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $40-million (Australian).

The placement is intended to support Costa Fuego's position as one of the few globally significant copper projects not controlled by major mining companies, with the potential to contribute substantially to new copper supply this decade.

Veritas Securities Ltd., ATB Cormark Capital Markets and Desjardins Capital Markets acted as joint lead managers, and BMO Capital Markets as a co-manager to the placement.

Hot Chili's managing director, Christian Easterday, said: "We are very happy to have our three largest shareholders (Glencore, Blue Spec and GS Group) participate in the private placement, which was oversubscribed and strongly supported by Australian, North American and overseas institutional investors.

"The company is now well funded to lift Costa Fuego's scale and economics through the integration of our third major coastal copper-gold discovery (La Verde) and secure the project's timing for near-term production through the submission of an environmental impact assessment this year.

"We look forward to strong news flow ahead across drilling, corporate and development work streams."

Details of the placement

The placement was completed: (i) under an offer to investors who qualify as institutional, professional and sophisticated investors for the purposes of sections 708(8), (10) and (11) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) for aggregate gross proceeds of $21,796,002 (Australian) from the sale of 13,209,698 shares; and (ii) by way of private placement in reliance on the listed issuer financing exemption from the prospectus requirements available under Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 (Prospectus Exemptions), as amended and supplemented by Coordinated Blanket Order 45-935 (Exemptions from Certain Conditions of the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption), in each of the provinces and territories of Canada, other than Quebec, and other permitted jurisdictions, for aggregate gross proceeds of $17,211,054 (Canadian) ($18,204,000 (Australian)) from the sale of 11,032,727 shares.

The shares under the LIFE offering were also sold in those jurisdictions outside of Australia and Canada provided that no prospectus filing or comparable obligation, continuing reporting requirement, or requisite regulatory or governmental approval arises in such other jurisdictions.

The company paid to the agents a cash commission equal to 6.0 per cent of the gross proceeds of the placement and have issued to the agents 1,212,121 non-transferable and unlisted options in the company. Each broker option is exercisable to acquire one share at a price of $2.145 (Australian) per share on or before the date that is 30 months following Feb. 12, 2026, being the closing date of the placement.

A total of 7,698,365 new shares were issued within the company's 15-per-cent placement capacity under Australian Securities Exchange listing Rule 7.1, and a total of 17,756,181 new shares were issued within the company's additional 10-per-cent placement capacity under ASX listing Rule 7.1A.

The shares issued under the placement are not subject to a hold period in Canada pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. The placement remains subject to the final acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Please refer to the company's announcements of Feb. 2, 2026, and Feb. 4, 2026, for additional details of the placement.

We seek Safe Harbor.