Mr. Ian Bliss reports

NORTHERN SHIELD INCREASES LAND POSITION TO 420 KM2 COVERING MULTIPLE PORPHYRY COPPER & EPITHERMAL GOLD TARGETS IN NEWFOUNDLAND

Through map staking, option agreements and a property purchase, Northern Shield Resources Inc. has increased its land position from 32 square kilometres to 420 square kilometres pursuant to definitive agreements entered into with arm's-length parties on Feb. 18, 2026. The company's flagship Root & Cellar gold-silver-tellurium-copper property on the Burin peninsula in southeastern Newfoundland forms the core of the land position. Recent work at Root & Cellar suggests a large, diatreme/porphyry-hosted, polymetallic copper-gold-silver-tellurium-molybdenum zone, which was the impetus for the land acquisitions in the Avalon zone of eastern Newfoundland.

The most significant of these new properties is the 212-square-kilometre Fortune property composed of two property options totalling 65 square kilometres, with the rest having been map staked directly by Northern Shield. The Fortune property covers a 40-kilometre trend that is highly prospective for porphyry copper and epithermal gold systems, and includes multiple indications of such systems including four known occurrences:

• Stewart: The Stewart prospect represents the most aerially extensive and continuous zone of exposed alteration on the Burin peninsula, reaching widths of up to 850 metres and extending along strike for upward of four kilometres. It represents an extensive zone of advanced argillic alteration including pyrophyllite, alunite and vuggy quartz, interpreted to be a lithocap to a porphyry Cu-Mo-Au system. The lithocap is anomalous in gold, copper and molybdenum over significant intervals including historical surface trenching results of 0.09 gram per tonne Au over 219 m (B. Dyke, 2008) and a drill intercept of 0.13 g/t Au over 111 m (T. Setterfield, 2016) along with anomalous Cu and Mo.
• Forty Creek: The Forty Creek intermediate sulphidation quartz vein is along strike from Stewart, and hosts gold and silver tellurides with values up to 59 g/t Au and 2,290 g/t Ag (T. Setterfield, 2011) and grab samples with values to 0.16 per cent Cu and 0.1 g/t Au in a nearby silicified pyrophyllite alteration zone.
• Point Rosie: Point Rosie hosts multiple quartz-sericite-pyrite (phyllic) alteration zones consistent with epithermal and porphyry copper systems over a four-kilometre strike length. Copper-gold-silver anomalous quartz veins with values up to 0.67 g/t Au and 0.65 per cent Cu (N. Noel, 2020) have recently been discovered within a 2.5-kilometre gold-in-soil anomaly.
• Feeder Brook: Feeder Brook hosts multiple quartz-sericite-pyrite alteration zones with grab samples values to 0.9 g/t Au (P. Dimmell, 2003). Nearby till samples collected by the Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador are anomalous in porphyry copper pathfinder elements.

Some of the assay certificates for the results mentioned have been reviewed by Northern Shield while others have not, and Northern Shield is relying on third party assessment reports filed with the Newfoundland and Labrador government for the values quoted. None of the samples were collected or assayed by Northern Shield and hence cannot be fully and independently verified by the company.

The company has also acquired three claim groups totalling 136 square kilometres on the Cape St. Mary's peninsula across Placentia Bay from Root & Cellar. The primary target is a porphyry copper system similar to Root & Cellar based on Cu and Mo anomalous till samples reported by the Geological Survey of Newfoundland and Labrador and description of malachite-stained quartz stockwork veining in the government's mineral occurrence database. Some of the tills are also highly anomalous in nickel and cobalt, and, since gabbroic rocks are reported from the area, the claims will also be targeted for magmatic Ni-Cu-Co sulphides.

"We are very excited about these new land positions. We see growing interest in the porphyry copper potential of the Burin peninsula as we uncover more mineralization at the Creston copper target. As such, these new properties cement our first mover status and allow us to use the knowledge we have gained from Root & Cellar to our advantage. We haven't just amalgamated a prospective land position but amalgamated, incentivized and mobilized some of the most experienced and tenacious prospectors in the region. They are our first asset and, collectively, have seen more rocks on the Burin than anybody. I have little doubt that they will have success in finding new mineralization in the spring," said Ian Bliss, president and chief executive officer, Northern Shield.

Definitive agreements

Point Rosie/Feeder Brook

Under the Point Rosie/Feeder Brook option agreement, the company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Seabourne Resources Inc., acquired the right to earn up to an undivided 100-per-cent interest in the Point Rose property located in Newfoundland. By its terms, the company will pay $13,835 in cash and issue 650,000 common shares on signing pursuant to the Point Rosie agreement, and issue up to an aggregate of up to 2.65 million common shares and pay, in aggregate, $153,835 over a four-year period thereafter.

Stewart/Forty Creek

Under the Stewart option agreement, the company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Seabourne, acquired the right to earn up to an undivided 100-per-cent interest in Stewart property located in Newfoundland. By its terms, the company will pay $6,755 in cash and issue 400,000 common shares on signing pursuant to the Stewart agreement, and issue up to an aggregate of up to 2.9 million common shares and pay, in aggregate, $146,775 over a four-year period thereafter.

Kelstone

Under the Kelstone purchase agreement, the company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Seabourne, acquired two mining claims located near Marystown, Nfld., in exchange for $1,500 in aggregate cash consideration and the issuance of 400,000 common shares on signing.

There are no yearly expenditure requirements other than those required for assessment purposes to keep the mining claims in good standing. The properties underlying the definitive agreements are subject to a royalty in the amount of 2.0-per-cent net smelter returns provided that the company shall have, under each respective definitive agreement, the pre-emptive right at any time and from time to time prior to commencement of commercial production to buy down the royalty from 2.0 per cent to 1.0 per cent for $1.5-million.

Closing of transactions underlying the definitive agreements is subject to certain customary conditions, including, without limitation, approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, and all of the securities issued under the definitive agreements will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period in accordance with applicable securities laws.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Christine Vaillancourt, PGeo, Northern Shield's chief geologist and a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects).

About Northern Shield Resources Inc.

Northern Shield is a Canadian-based company, a leader in generating high-quality exploration targets, that views greenfield exploration as an opportunity to find a minable, near-surface deposit at relatively low cost. It implements a model driven exploration approach to reduce the risk associated with early-stage projects for itself, its shareholders and the environment. This approach led it to option the Root & Cellar property from a Newfoundland prospector, which discovered the copper mineralization, and, then to its advancement, to the large gold-silver-tellurium and porphyry copper system that it has become.

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