(via TheNewswire)

Vancouver, British Columbia - TheNewswire - February 23, 2026: Headwater Gold Inc. (CSE: HWG) (OTCQX: HWAUF) (the "Company" or "Headwater") is pleased to announce the completion of drill programs at the Lodestar and TJ projects located in Nevada, United States.  Lodestar drilling was 100% funded by Newmont Corporation (“Newmont”) (NYSE: NEM, ASX: NEM, PNGX: NEM) through an earn-in agreement announced on May 9, 2023.  TJ drilling was 100% funded by OceanaGold Corporation (“OceanaGold”) (TSX: OGC , OTCQX: OCANF ) pursuant to the earn-in agreement announced on October 15, 2025.

Highlights:

• Lodestar Drilling: Approximately 2,950 metres were completed over four core holes and five reverse circulation holes.  All holes drilled in the Zodiac Sinter target area intersected the modeled structural target or adjacent pervasive hydrothermal alteration.  

• TJ Drilling: Approximately 1,350 metres of core drilling were completed over five holes in two target areas. Drilling was suspended due to the onset of inclement winter weather. All holes encountered hydrothermal breccias and veining within pervasive epithermal alteration.  

• All drill samples from both programs have been submitted for laboratory analysis. Final assay results are expected over the coming weeks.  

Caleb Stroup, President and CEO of the Company, states: “We are pleased to have successfully completed both the Lodestar and TJ drill programs which began in Q4 2025. At Lodestar, we intersected the targeted structures and associated hydrothermal alteration and at TJ we confirmed the scale and continuity of epithermal veining along the East Sinter fault system. While assays are pending, the geological observations from both programs are encouraging. We look forward to receiving and interpreting the analytical results and will outline follow-up plans once the full dataset has been evaluated.”

About the 2025 Lodestar Drill Program:

Headwater completed approximately 2,950 metres of drilling in four core holes and five reverse circulation (“RC”) holes at the Lodestar project.  The core drilling focused on the Zodiac Fault, a northwest-striking structure hosted in Miocene volcanic rocks exposed over a 550-metre strike length, with silica sinter and intensely altered hydrothermal breccias at surface.  The RC drill was used for exploratory drilling on multiple satellite targets defined by geologic mapping and geophysics and step-out drilling along the Zodiac Fault.  Exploratory holes confirmed a 600 metre by 700 metre zone of pervasive illite-pyrite-silica epithermal alteration within Miocene volcanic rocks extending north and east from the Zodiac Fault zone.  This hydrothermal alteration zone is open to north, south and east, where widely-spaced RC drilling intersected this alteration in each hole, as shallow as 30 metres from surface and covered by pediment gravels or younger Miocene andesite lava flows. Alteration studies and geochemical analysis of these drill holes will be used as vectors to influence potential follow-up drill targeting within this large alteration footprint.

About the Lodestar Project:

The Lodestar project is located in the Aurora Mining District in the Walker Lane belt, west-central Nevada, approximately 10 km north of Headwater’s Spring Peak project (also subject to an earn-in agreement with Newmont) and adjacent to Hecla Mining Company’s past-producing Aurora mine complex, which hosts existing infrastructure including a 600 ton per day mill, several production water wells and high-voltage three-phase power. The project features a prominent silicified and brecciated ridgeline capped by a silica sinter, similar to the sinter overlying the Disco Zone at Spring Peak, where Headwater has previously intersected high-grade gold mineralization, including 15.92 g/t Au over 2.38 m and 10.43 g/t Au over 2.01 m. Historic shallow drilling at Lodestar encountered anomalous gold but did not test deeper feeder structures, leaving exploration potential largely untested. Headwater holds an option to acquire a 100% undivided interest in the Lodestar project from a private vendor, subject to retained royalties and Newmont’s option to acquire up to 75% of the project following certain expenditures and delivery of a Pre-Feasibility Study within a designated time frame.

About the 2025 TJ Drill Program:

Headwater completed approximately 1,350 metres of core drilling over five holes at TJ prior to the winter shutdown.

The East Sinter fault, identified in the Company’s first pass RC program in 2024, was the highest priority and was intersected in three of the four holes designed to test the target. The last hole of the program, designed as a ~300 metre southern step-out along the East Sinter fault, was paused due to inclement weather prior to reaching target depth and cased for future re-entry.

Thick intervals of epithermal veining, fault gouge and silicified fault breccias were encountered in the main structural target area of all three holes that intercepted the East Sinter fault. A silicified hydrothermal breccia body, up to 60 metres thick, was also intercepted in the hanging wall of all holes directed at the East Sinter fault and coincides with the highest epithermal veining intensity and generally the thickest vein widths.

All holes encountered epithermal alteration and veining, confirming that the system extends over at least the >500-metre-long tested extent and remains open along strike. Multiple discrete phases of epithermal alteration are evidenced by several overlapping vein, breccia and intrusive relationships as well as an interpreted series of stacked silica sinters encountered in several drillholes.

About the TJ Project:

The TJ project is located on Bureau of Land Management land in a relatively underexplored area of northeastern Nevada, approximately 25 km southeast of the town of Jackpot. The project area contains indications of a fully preserved epithermal system, including a thick and laterally extensive accumulation of silica sinter. Epithermal alteration is localized along a series of steeply inclined faults that bound a graben filled with Miocene-age sedimentary rocks.

Limited historic exploration on the property included shallow RC drilling that confirmed the presence of a broad zone of high-level epithermal alteration. In 2024, Headwater completed an initial round of scout drilling which confirmed the project has potential for high-grade epithermal vein-style mineralization at depth (see news release dated January 16, 2025). The follow-up 2025 core drilling program tested prospective epithermal structures at depth that were identified during the 2024 program.

Headwater holds an option to acquire a 100% undivided interest in the TJ project, subject to retained royalties and subject to OceanaGold’s option to acquire up to 65% of the project following certain expenditures and preparation of a Pre-Feasibility Study within a designated time frame.

About Headwater Gold

Headwater Gold Inc. (CSE: HWG, OTCQB: HWAUF) is a technically driven mineral exploration company focused on exploring for and discovering high-grade precious metal deposits in the Western USA.  Headwater is actively exploring one of the world’s most well-endowed, mining-friendly jurisdictions, with a goal of making world-class precious metal discoveries.  The Company has a large portfolio of epithermal vein exploration projects and a technical team with diverse experience in capital markets and major mining companies.  Headwater is systematically drill-testing several projects in Nevada and has strategic earn-in agreements with Oceana on its TJ, Jake Creek, and Hot Creek projects as well as Newmont on its Spring Peak and Lodestar projects, in addition to Centerra Gold Inc. on its Crane Creek project in Idaho.  In August 2022 and September 2024, Newmont and Centerra acquired strategic equity interests in the Company, further strengthening Headwater’s exploration capabilities.

For more information about Headwater, please visit the Company's website at www.headwatergold.com .

Headwater is part of the NewQuest Capital Group which is a discovery-driven investment enterprise that builds value through the incubation and financing of mineral projects and companies.  Further information about NewQuest can be found on the company website at www.nqcapitalgroup.com .

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Caleb Stroup

President and CEO

+1 (775) 409-3197

cstroup@headwatergold.com

For further information, please contact:

Brennan Zerb

Investor Relations Manager

+1 (778) 867-5016

bzerb@headwatergold.com

Qualified Person

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Gregory Dering, P.Geo (AIPG CPG-12298), a “Qualified Person” (“QP”) as defined in National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Dr. Dering is not independent by reason of being the Company’s Vice President of Exploration.

References

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release includes certain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding future capital expenditures, exploration activities and the specifications, targets, results, analyses, interpretations, benefits, costs and timing of them, Newmont’s anticipated funding of the earn-in projects and the timing thereof, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by words such as “pro forma”, “plans”, “expects”, “may”, “should”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “potential” or variations of such words including negative variations thereof, and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, including the Company’s exploration plans and the proposed expenditures for exploration work thereon, the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to fund its business activities and plans, the risk that Newmont will not elect to obtain any additional prognostic interest in the earn-in projects in excess of the minimum commitment, the ability of the Company to obtain the required permits, changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations, the Company’s limited operating history, currency fluctuations, title disputes or claims, environmental issues and liabilities, as well as those factors discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Company’s prospectus dated May 26, 2021 and other filings of the Company with the Canadian Securities Authorities, copies of which can be found under the Company’s profile on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements, except as otherwise required by law.

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