Mr. Mike Spreadborough reports

AIRCORE DRILLING TO COMMENCE AT BALLA BALLA

Novo Resources Corp. expects the imminent start of a maiden aircore drill program at the Balla Balla gold project, designed to test target zones of structural complexity in the Sholl shear zone and associated structures under cover.

Highlights:

• Aircore drilling to test priority targets expected to commence in late-March, weather dependent, at the Balla Balla gold project;
• Drilling is planned to target zones of structural complexity and splay faults proximal to the Sholl shear zone, under generally shallow cover;
• The Sholl shear zone is a fertile, long-lived, crustal-scale feature that trends over 200 kilometres (km) in the northern Pilbara;
• Geological interpretation has identified folded and offset mafic and ultramafic stratigraphy in complex zones around splays off the Sholl shear zone;
• Several prospects are delineated for drill testing, including Ramquarry, Cockerell, Babbage and Beaufort;
• Mapping and sampling campaigns completed at the Tibooburra and John Bull gold projects in North South Wales (NSW).

Balla Balla gold project

Balla Balla is an early-stage exploration project centred on the Sholl shear zone.

Novo executed a determination wide aboriginal heritage protection agreement with the Kariyarra Aboriginal Corporation (KAC), enabling the grant of application E47/4703 in November, 2024. A site avoidance heritage survey has since been completed with KAC and a program of work approved by the regulator (DEMIRS) in Q4 (fourth quarter) 2024, enabling first pass aircore (AC) drilling to be conducted over priority targets.

Novo has identified several prospects over a 10 km trend. These include interpreted fertile structures and important splay faults of the Sholl shear zone that will be targeted in Novo's maiden AC program. The program will test below shallow cover and is ready to commence in late March, 2025, weather dependent.

Historical drilling in the areas suggests cover sequences in the order of 25 metres (m) of vertical depth (maximum). AC drilling is designed to quickly and effectively drill through the unconsolidated cover sequence to the harder basement rocks, while also providing a good end of hole basement rock sample for geological identification and geochemical testing purposes.

The Sholl shear zone is a significant geological feature extending for more than 200 km along the northwestern coast of the Pilbara. It is recognized as a kilometre-wide crustal-scale structure that played an important role during deposition within the De Grey superbasin and is interpreted to have been reactivated, providing potential pathways for volcanism and related gold mineralization.

Mineralization in the Pilbara craton is often associated with shear zones and faulted contacts between different rock units. These structural features create spaces where mineralizing fluids can circulate and deposit gold. The Sholl shear zone, being a major crustal-scale structure, played a significant role in this process as both a fluid conduit and focusing corridor.

Interpretation of regional fault architecture from available data sources also infers that the Loudens fault and similar structures intersect both the mineralized Mallina fault and the Wohler shear in the Mallina basin, and the Sholl shear zone farther north. This setting, in addition to the known Cu (copper) and Cu-Au (copper-gold) fertility associated with the Sholl shear zone in the Karratha district suggests high prospectivity along the Sholl shear. The Mallina basin hosts the 12.7-million-ounce-gold (oz) De Grey Mining Hemi gold deposit.

Balla Balla hosts an area of significant structural complexity proximal to the intersection of the Loudens fault and Sholl shear zone with large, high-density rotated blocks, folded stratigraphy and a varied geology, providing local rheological contrast between different rock units. These ingredients can act to help focus potential mineralized fluid into secondary and tertiary structures, which are being tested by this drill campaign.

Drill targeting is based primarily on geophysical interpretation and historic drilling due to the presence of surface cover across the prospect areas. Several prospects will be targeted in the current program, including:

• Ramquarry -- tests a zone of structural complexity and interpreted fault splays from the Sholl shear zone, in addition to the contact of the interpreted Sherlock intrusion. The northeastern aircore lines at Ramquarry also target an isolated, fault-bound wedge of Mallina sediments that appear to host mafic to ultramafic intrusions. A broad transect of the Sholl shear zone, where it contacts the Mallina formation and Portree suite granite, will also be tested;
• Beaufort -- targets a rotated block of interpreted Sherlock intrusion abutting the Sholl shear zone;
• Babbage -- targets folded magnetic and non-magnetic units interpreted to have rheology contrast and space creation in the hinges of the folds;
• Cockerell -- targets significant structural complexity, including folded units and cross-cutting second order structures splaying from the Loudens fault, with potential competency contrast along trend from Babbage.

Initially, AC drill lines will be conducted at nominal 640 m spacing with hole centres spaced at 50 m. Drill lines are orientated at 140 degrees (drill azimuth) to ensure optimal coverage to test northeast-southwest-striking target structures and the broad stratigraphic trend. Holes will be drilled to blade refusal (to the capacity of the AC drilling rig) to obtain bedrock geological information and a stick of core will be collected for analysis at the end of hole.

Drilling is scheduled to commence late March, 2025, dependent on weather.

NSW exploration program

Field teams have completed mapping and sampling campaigns at the Tibooburra and John Bull gold projects in NSW, improving the geological interpretation and understanding of controls on mineralization.

Assay results are now being received for both NSW projects and, in addition to geological mapping and modelling, will provide final support for drill program design.

RC drilling at both NSW projects is scheduled for Q2 (second quarter) 2025, likely commencing at the Clone prospect (Tibooburra), and postcompletion of the Balla Balla AC drill program.

QP (qualified person) statement

Karen (Kas) De Luca (MAIG) is the qualified person, as defined under National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, responsible for, and having reviewed and approved, the technical information contained in this news release. Mrs. De Luca is Novo's general manager of exploration.

About Novo Resources Corp.

Novo is an Australian-based gold explorer listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and the Toronto Stock Exchange, focused on discovering stand-alone gold projects with more than one million ounces of development potential. Novo is an innovative gold explorer with a significant land package covering approximately 5,500 square kilometres in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, along with the 22 square kilometre Belltopper project in the Bendigo tectonic zone of Victoria, Australia.

Novo's key project area in the Pilbara is the Egina gold camp, where De Grey Mining is farming in to form a joint venture (JV) at the Becher project and surrounding tenements through exploration expenditure of $25-million (Australian) within four years for a 50-per-cent interest. The Becher project has similar geological characteristics as De Grey's 12.7-million-ounce Hemi project. Novo is also advancing gold exploration south of Becher in the Egina gold camp, part of the Croydon JV (Novo, 70 per cent; Creasy Group, 30 per cent). Novo continues to undertake early-stage exploration elsewhere across its Pilbara tenement portfolio.

Novo has also formed a lithium joint venture with SQM in the Pilbara, which provides shareholder exposure to battery metals.

Novo has recently strengthened its high-quality, Australian-based exploration portfolio by adding the TechGen John Bull gold project in the New England Orogen of NSW and the Manhattan Tibooburra gold project in the Albert goldfields in northwestern NSW. Both projects demonstrate prospectivity for significant discovery and resource definition and align with Novo's strategy of identifying and exploring projects with more than one million ounces of gold potential. These high-grade gold projects complement the landholding consolidation that forms the Toolunga project in the Onslow district in Western Australia.

Novo has a significant investment portfolio and a disciplined program in place to identify value accretive opportunities that will build further value for shareholders.

We seek Safe Harbor.