Mr. Quinn Field-Dyte reports

VAULT ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC REVIEW OF PORTFOLIO INCLUDING LETAIN NICKEL PROJECT AND RECENTLY ANNOUNCED U.S. HISTORICAL MINING PORTFOLIO

Vault Strategic Mining Corp. will undertake a strategic review aimed at optimizing its 2026 exploration season at the Letain nickel project, while concurrently advancing a broader evaluation of its U.S. assets as announced on Jan. 20, 2026.

As part of this initiative, the company has engaged 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, 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

The Letain project mineral claims feature disseminated awaruite, a naturally occurring nickel-iron 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 1,700 to 2,050 metres elevation averaged about 0.25 per cent 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 the Stikinia terrain. Geochemical analysis of rock chips returned values ranging from 1,700 to 3,800 parts per million nickel (source: historic rock sampling of 144 rock samples collected in 2011, assay method 1E/8FPX four-acid digestion method, analysis by ICP-ES). SGS ran 10 samples for concentrate (that is, heavy mineral separation) and arrived at the percentage of magnetic fraction.

Awaruite mineralization occurs in two different habits: fine Ni-Fe alloys or larger composite grains. Fine awaruite grains (10 to 100 micrometres) are disseminated in the serpentine matrix. Ni-Fe alloys have a highly reflective white/silver colour. Larger composite grains (100 to 300 micrometres) 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 southern 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 northern 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 nickel-chromium-cobalt content, which ranges from 1,700 to 3,800 parts per million Ni, 1,000 to 3,000 ppm Cr and 100 to 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 to 2,050 metres elevation. Disseminated fine-to-coarser-grain awaruite was found in serpentinized ultramafic rocks.

In the northern portion of the property, the peridotite is massive and 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 (greater than 100 micrometres) awaruite. The Letain mineral property has geological similarities to the Decar nickel deposit (located 70 kilometres northwest of Fort 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 is as follows:

• Mia silver project -- Idaho, United States;
• Mount Wheeler historical tungsten mine -- Nevada, United States;
• Robinson Dyke historical gold mine -- Idaho, United States;
• Golden Dome historical gold mine -- California, United States.

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 to provide the company with marketing and communications services for a 12-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's network in the European investment markets. The company has agreed to pay Plutus a media budget of 50,000 euros up to 250,000 euros for media purchasing.

Plutus has a business address at Buchtstrasse 13, Bremen, 28195, Germany, and can be contacted by e-mail at contact@plutuinves.de or by telephone at 49-421-1754-0174). 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 remain subject to the approval of the TSX-V.

Engagement of Blossom Social Inc.

Vault is pleased to announce, subject to the approval of the TSX-V, it has engaged Blossom Social Inc., 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, 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 $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, B.C., Canada, and is an arm's-length party to the company. Blossom may be contacted by e-mail at hello@blossomsocial.ca or by phone at 1-647-574-2927.

About Vault Strategic Mining Corp.

Vault Strategic Mining 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 trades on the TSX-V (symbol: KNOX), the OTC Markets (symbol: KNXFF) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (symbol: M850).

Qualified person

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.

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