Mr. Terry Tucker reports

KALO GOLD AWARDED INAUGURAL DIGBEE SUSTAINABILITY RATING OF BBB

Kalo Gold Corp. has been awarded an overall sustainability rating of BBB by Digbee, an independent sustainability disclosure and assessment platform for the mining sector, following the company's inaugural submission dated Sept. 15, 2026. The rating covers both the company at the corporate level and its 100-per-cent-owned Vatu Aurum project in Fiji.

Highlights:

• Overall rating of BBB, with a range of C to AA, awarded on the company's first Digbee assessment;
• Corporate rating of BBB (range CCC to A) and a Vatu Aurum project rating of BBB (range C to AA);
• Independently scored by an accredited Digbee scoring team of two scorers and a team lead, question by question, against standardized criteria on a scale from AAA to D;
• No fatalities, no disabling injuries and no lost-time incidents recorded since exploration activities began in 2010;
• Local employment: During the first eight months of 2026, over 90 per cent of staff were Fiji nationals, with the site team reaching nearly 100 people;
• Local procurement: Approximately 70 per cent of current project procurement is sourced at the local level;
• Certified: Kalo is licensed to display the Digbee ESG (environmental, social and governance) certified emblem for the period from Sept. 15, 2026, to Sept. 14, 2027.

Terry L. Tucker, PGeo, president and chief executive officer, Kalo Gold, stated:

"This was our first Digbee submission and we put forward the record as it actually stands rather than as we would like it to read. An independent team scored the submission question by question against standardized criteria. They were thorough and even-handed, and they engaged seriously with the evidence we put forward. A BBB on a first assessment is a measured starting point and the report gives us a specific list of what to work on. I want to thank Mike Nesbitt, Sala Tueba and Jennifer Sly, who built the record the assessment was based on."

Jamie Strauss, founder and chief executive officer, Digbee, stated:

"Kalo Gold came to this process with a very comprehensive submission and the result reflects that. Kalo has made managing risk part of how it operates, at the stage where it matters most. That's the foundation for social licence, permitting and financing. A BBB at first assessment, for an explorer at this stage, reflects a company disclosing what it does rather than what it would like to be seen doing. That is the behaviour the framework is built to recognize."

The Digbee assessment

Digbee is a sustainability disclosure and scoring framework developed for the mining sector in consultation with mining companies, sustainability specialists and capital providers. Submissions comprise a corporate questionnaire and a questionnaire for each disclosable project, tailored to the stage of the company and the project. Scoring is undertaken by accredited sustainability experts with experience of mining projects comparable to those being assessed. Each scoring team comprises two scorers and a team lead, so that every submission is peer reviewed. Each question is manually reviewed and scored against standardized criteria, and the results are averaged to produce an output score, together with a confidence band that illustrates the range within which the awarded score could move should the risks identified be realized or mitigated.

Kalo's submission was made under the exploration-stage corporate and project frameworks, and was supported by evidence from the company's safety and sustainability program covering governance, health and safety, environmental baseline work, landowner and community engagement, grievance management, local employment, and procurement.

Matters recognized in the assessment

Digbee recorded that the company has a board, management team and advisers with relevant experience in capital markets, technical matters, financial management and operations, and that the leadership team includes a sustainability adviser, with the safety and sustainability committee reporting quarterly to the board under a charter and terms of reference and an 11-point sustainability framework established.

The assessment also recorded that Kalo has built relationships with landowners and communities, with access and compensation agreements in place for all exploration activities; that project-related communications and engagement are conducted in English and in iTaukei, led by the country managing director and supported by dedicated landowner liaisons; and that the company has made documented contributions to community infrastructure in Fiji, including improvements to community water supply systems and community road access.

Health, safety, environmental and community activity is documented through the company's SiteDocs digital system, which Digbee recorded as providing comprehensive information on health, safety and environment, expenditures, training, monitoring, and reporting. At the project level, the highest available rating of AAA was awarded for local representation in the project team and for security and firearms practice, with AA ratings awarded for team and equipment security, stakeholder engagement, local language engagement, cultural preservation, stakeholder inclusion in decision making, water discharge and the commencement of baseline monitoring. At the corporate level, the highest rating awarded was AA, for permitting compliance monitoring.

The record assessed by Digbee is built and maintained on the ground in Fiji. Michael Nesbitt, director and country managing director, leads the company's in-country management and its engagement with landowners and communities. Sala Tueba, health, safety and ecological lead, completes the daily field safety and environmental record. Jennifer Sly, safety and sustainability lead, consolidates that field data into the company's weekly and monthly reporting and administered the company's Digbee submission. The assessment rests on their work.

Matters identified for improvement

Digbee identified three overarching matters. First, while the company has established sustainability-related governance mechanisms, there is an opportunity to integrate sustainability more explicitly and systemically into corporate strategy. Second, integrated risk management has not yet been developed or embedded into activities at the corporate level. Third, the company does not have succession plans for board members or for key management and technical personnel.

At the corporate level, the assessment also recorded that the current board membership does not demonstrate gender diversity, that the company does not have a policy or procedure on board recruitment or evaluation of board capabilities, that a remuneration committee has not been established and the current remuneration program does not incorporate ESG performance related incentives, and that emergency preparedness planning addresses site activities rather than corporate resilience such as business continuity or cybersecurity.

Next steps

The scores are valid for 12 months from Sept. 15, 2026, and the company's next Digbee submission is due on Sept. 15, 2027. Further detail on the assessment, including the score distribution for every question assessed, is set out in the safety and sustainability section of the company's website.

About Kalo Gold Corp.

Kalo Gold is a gold exploration company advancing the 100-per-cent-owned Vatu Aurum project (special prospecting licences 1511 and 1464), a 367-square-kilometre (km) land package on Vanua Levu, Fiji, located in a preserved volcanic back-arc setting. The company's work is focused on a northeast-trending corridor of low-sulphidation epithermal gold targets. Exploration across the corridor -- including at the flagship Aurum Prime area and Wainikoro -- has defined multiple structurally controlled gold targets supported by drilling, trenching, soil geochemistry, structural mapping and airborne geophysics. The company is systematically advancing high-confidence targets toward potential discovery.

Kalo Gold is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (KALO), the OTCID Market (KLGDF) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (9M51).

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