Mr. Caleb Stroup reports

HEADWATER GOLD ANNOUNCES COMPLETION OF DRILLING CAMPAIGNS AT THE LODESTAR AND TJ PROJECTS, NEVADA

Headwater Gold Inc. has completed drill programs at the Lodestar and TJ projects located in Nevada, United States. Lodestar drilling was 100-per-cent financed by Newmont Corp. (New York Stock Exchange: NEM, Australian Securities Exchange: NEM, PNGX: NEM) through an earn-in agreement announced on May 9, 2023. TJ drilling was 100-per-cent financed by OceanaGold Corp. pursuant to the earn-in agreement announced on Oct. 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 chief executive officer 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 data set 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 stepout 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 kilometres 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-per-cent undivided interest in the Lodestar project from a private vendor, subject to retained royalties and Newmont's option to acquire up to 75 per cent of the project following certain expenditures and delivery of a prefeasibility 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 an approximately 300-metre southern stepout 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 hangingwall 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 greater-than-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 kilometres 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 Jan. 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-per-cent undivided interest in the TJ project, subject to retained royalties and subject to OceanaGold's option to acquire up to 65 per cent of the project following certain expenditures and preparation of a prefeasibility study within a designated time frame.

About Headwater Gold Inc.

Headwater Gold is a technically driven mineral exploration company focused on exploring for and discovering high-grade precious metal deposits in the Western United States. 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.

Qualified person

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dr. Gregory Dering, PGeo (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.

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