(via TheNewswire)

Vancouver, British Columbia -  March 18, 2026 – TheNewswire – Vault Strategic Mining Corp .  (TSXV:KNOX) (OTC:KNXFF) (FSE:M850) ("VAULT" or the "Company")  announces that it will undertake a strategic review aimed at optimizing its 2026 exploration season at the Letain Nickel Project (" Letain "), while concurrently advancing a broader evaluation of its United States assets as announced on January 20 th , 2026.

As part of this initiative, the Company has engaged Mr. William "Bill" Feyerabend to conduct a strategic review of its recently acquired U.S. historical mining assets, with a mandate to assess their technical merits and prioritize targets to inform and refine 2026 exploration planning.

Quinn Field-Dyte, Chief Executive Officer of Vault Strategic Mining Corp., commented:
"We are very much looking forward to collaborating with Mr. William Feyerabend as we undertake a strategic review of our portfolio of critical and precious mineral assets from across North America. His independent technical perspective and extensive experience will be invaluable as we evaluate our assets and define a clear, disciplined exploration strategy for 2026. This review will help us prioritize targets, allocate capital efficiently, and position the Company for meaningful advancement across our projects."

About the Letain Nickel Project

As Announced on February 12 th , 2025:

Figure 1. Rock Chip Sample Location facing South at 1,840 Meters During Margaret Lake’s Sampling program at Letain - 2021

The Letain Project mineral claims feature disseminated awaruite, a naturally occurring Ni-Fe alloy that is hosted in peridotite and minor dunite. Several peridotite-hosted zones contain fine and coarse Ni-Fe alloy grains. Surface rock chip sampling along a ridge at 1700 to 2,050 meters elevation averaged about 0.25% nickel.

The Letain property covers part of the Cache Creek Terrain separated from the volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Quesnellia Terrain by the Thibert fault to the north and the Kutcho Fault to the west. The King Salmon Fault displaces the transition between the Cache Creek Terrain and the sediments and volcanics of Stikinia Terrain. Geochemical analysis of rock chips returned values ranging from 1700-3800 ppm Ni (Source: historic rock sampling of 144 rock samples collected in 2011, assay method 1E/8FPX 4 acid digestion method, analysis by ICP-ES). SGS ran 10 samples for concentrate (I.e., heavy mineral separation) and arrived at the percentage of magnetic fraction:

Figure 2 – LET-1 (with low magnetic content) was a black dyke and not representative of the overall lithology

Awaruite mineralization occurs in 2 different habits: fine Ni-Fe alloys or larger composite grains. Fine awaruite grains (10-100 µm) are disseminated in the serpentine matrix. Ni-Fe alloys have a highly reflective white/silver colour. Larger composite grains (100-300 µm) are a mixture of Ni-Fe alloys and lesser Ni-Fe sulphides. The area is underlain by a highly differentiated peridotite with numerous porphyritic, sheared and vein-veinlet-breccia textures.

In the south portion of the property, the peridotite is characterized by disseminated magnetite and chromite abundant disseminated and vein-fracture filling apple green-dark green coloured minerals such as picrolite and lizardite. In the north portion of the property the peridotite is massive, black in colour with fewer vein-fracture textures, however the change in texture of the peridotite appears to have little or no effect on the Ni-Cr-Co content which range of 1,700-3,800 ppm Ni, 1,000-3,000 ppm Cr and 100-150 ppm Co. Several peridotite-hosted zones contain fine and coarse Ni-Fe alloy grains (awaruite) that are exposed as bedrock ridges in the east-central portion of the claim group at 1,700-2,050 m elevation. Disseminated fine to coarser grain awaruite was found in serpentinized ultramafic rocks. 

In the north portion of the property the peridotite is massive, black in colour with fewer vein-fracture textures. Samples from the central ridge of the property delineated a 1,100 metre long discontinuous zone of coarse-grained (>100µm) awaruite. The Letain mineral property has geological similarities to the Decar nickel deposit (located 70 km northwest of Ft. St James, B.C.), which contains awaruite mineralization that is characterized as 'magnetically recoverable nickel’ and pyro-metallurgical smelting is not required to produce nickel.

Vault’s Portfolio of Historical U.S. Mining Assets are as follows:

• Mia Silver Project – Idaho, USA  

• Mount Wheeler Historical Tungsten Mine – Nevada, USA  

• Robinson Dyke Historical Gold Mine - Idaho USA  

• Golden Dome Historical Gold Mine – California, USA  

See Press release January 20 th , 2026:

Vault Enters Into Agreement For Option To Acquire Portfolio Of US Historical Mining Assets And Corresponding Historical Databases

 LINK TO PRESS RELEASE: Here.

Market Making Services

Furthermore, the Company is pleased to announce it has, subject to regulatory approval, retained Venture Liquidity Providers Inc. (" VLP ") to initiate its market-making service to provide assistance in maintaining an orderly trading market for the common shares of the company.

The market-making service will be undertaken by VLP through a registered broker, W.D. Latimer Co. Ltd., in compliance with the applicable policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and other applicable laws. For its services, the corporation has agreed to pay VLP $5,000 per month. The agreement may be terminated at any time by the corporation or VLP. The corporation and VLP act at arm's length, and VLP has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in the corporation or its securities. The finances and the shares required for the market-making service are provided by W.D. Latimer. The fee paid by the company to VLP is for services only.

VLP is a specialized consulting firm based in Toronto providing a variety of services focused on TSX-V-listed issuers.

Plutus Invest and Consulting GmbH

Furthermore, the Company announces that, subject to regulatory approval, it has engaged the services of Plutus Invest and Consulting GmbH (" Plutus "), to provide the Company with marketing and communications services for a twelve-month term commencing dated March 9, 2026. The services to be provided under the Agreement include consulting services relating to advertising, marketing, public relations strategies and building advertisement-based investor awareness of the Company through Plutus' network in the European investment markets. The Company has agreed to pay Plutus a media budget of €50,000 up to €250,000 for media purchasing.

Plutus has a business address at Buchtstrasse 13, Bremen 28195, Germany and can be contacted at (email:  contact@plutuinves.de ), or by telephone: (+49 42117540174). Plutus and its principals are arm's length to the Company and Plutus has no present interest, directly or indirectly, in the Company or its securities, though it may acquire securities in the future. Marco Messina is the principal of Plutus and will be responsible for all activities related to the Company.

The Agreement may be terminated by either party at any time. There are no performance factors contained in the Agreement and Plutus will not receive common shares or options to purchase common shares of the Company as compensation. The Agreement and the engagement of Plutus pursuant thereto remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Engagement of Blossom Social Inc.

Vault is pleased to announce, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, it has engaged Blossom Social Inc. (" Blossom "), a leading mobile app platform and social network for investors recognized by Apple as one of the Top 25 Apps for 2025, an Essential Finance App of 2024, and an Essential Social App of 2025. Blossom specializes in investor engagement and hosts a vibrant community of over 650,000 investors who share verified stock portfolios, trades, and investment ideas to help users become better investors.

Under the terms of the agreement (the " Blossom Agreement "), Blossom will develop, and host ‘Learn & Earn’ educational lessons about Vault Strategic on the Blossom mobile app platform.

In consideration of the services, Vault will pay C$15,000 plus applicable taxes. The initial term of the Blossom Agreement concludes upon reaching the maximum total consideration, with the option to continue thereafter on a month-to-month basis. Blossom is located in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada and is an arm’s-length party to the Company. Blossom may be contacted via email at hello@blossomsocial.ca or by phone at +1 (647) 574-2927.

About Vault Strategic Mining Corp.

Vault Strategic Mining Corp. is a North American resource company focused on the acquisition and advancement of strategic and critical mineral projects located in top-tier mining jurisdictions. The Company emphasizes historical and underexplored assets with potential for value creation through modern exploration and disciplined development.

Vault Strategic Mining Corp. trades on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: KNOX), OTC Markets (OTC: KNXFF), and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE: M850).

Qualified Person

Mr. William Feyerabend, CPG, an independent Consulting Geologist and a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the disclosure in this news release for consistency with NI 43-101 reporting requirements.

On behalf of the Board:

Vault Strategic Mining Corp.

" Quinn Field-Dyte "

Chief Executive Officer & Director

Tel: 604.880.2189 | Email: info@vaultstrategic.com

ANY SECURITIES REFERRED TO HEREIN WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 (THE "1933 ACT") AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO A U.S. PERSON IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH REGISTRATION OR AN EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE 1933 ACT.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding KNOX, and the Letain Project, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the completion of the acquisition of the Letain Project, and the ability to obtain regulatory approvals, and other factors. Often, but not always, Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "is expected", "expects", "scheduled", "intends", "contemplates", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes", "estimates" or variations of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of each entity. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, including completion of the acquisition of the Letain Project, may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the Company, including the risk that KNOX may not obtain all requisite approvals for the acquisition, including the approval of the TSXV, risks of the resource industry, failure to obtain any other required regulatory approvals, economic factors, any estimated amounts, timing of the acquisition and requited payments, the equity markets generally and risks associated with growth, exploration and development. Although KNOX has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made KNOX undertaked no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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