Mr. Blaine Monaghan reports

EXPLORATION UNDERWAY AT PACIFIC RIDGE'S RDP COPPER-GOLD PROJECT

Exploration is under way at the RDP copper-gold project, located in north-central British Columbia, 40 kilometres west of Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd.'s flagship Kliyul copper-gold project. Antofagasta Minerals SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of Antofagasta PLC, can earn a 75-per-cent interest in RDP by spending $10-million on exploration over eight years and delivering a preliminary economic assessment report (see news release dated Feb. 8, 2022).

The 2023 exploration program will include 1,800 metres of diamond drilling, a 16-line-kilometre induced polarization survey at the Day, Porcupine and Bird targets, rock sampling at the Porcupine target, and soil sampling at the Bird target. The surface sampling and geophysical programs are already under way, and drilling is expected to begin shortly. Drilling will initially focus on the Day target, where drill hole RDP-22-005 intersected 107.2 metres of 1.45 per cent copper equivalent (0.63 per cent copper, 1.10 grams per tonne gold and 2.91 g/t silver) within 497.2 m of 0.68 per cent CuEq (0.37 per cent Cu, 0.40 g/t Au and 1.6 g/t Ag). Pacific Ridge is the operator and is supporting the exploration program from the camp at Kliyul.

"The results from the 2022 drill program at RDP far exceeded our expectations," said Blaine Monaghan, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Ridge. "We intersected 107.2 m of 1.45 per cent copper equivalent at the Day target. Not only was this the best drill result ever returned from RDP, but it was also one of the best porphyry intercepts reported in B.C. last year. The Day target remains open in almost every direction, and we look forward to following up on drill hole RDP-22-005."

Highlights of the 2022 exploration program:

• Hole RDP-22-005 intersected 107.2 m of 1.45 per cent CuEq (0.63 per cent Cu, 1.10 g/t Au and 2.91 g/t Ag) within 497.2 m of 0.68 per cent CuEq (0.37 per cent Cu, 0.40 g/t Au and 1.6 g/t Ag) from surface.
• Hole RDP-22-003 intersected 59.4 m of 1.68 per cent CuEq (0.78 per cent Cu, 1.2 g/t Au and 2.99 g/t Ag) from surface.
• Hole RDP-22-001 intersected 51.5 m of 1.01 per cent CuEq (0.51 per cent Cu, 0.65 g/t Au and 2.59 g/t Ag) from surface.
• The Day zone mineralization remains open to the east, north and west and at depth, and may be associated with a late mineral-bounding fault on its south or southwest side.

About RDP

Located 40 kilometres west of the company's flagship Kliyul project, RDP is greater than 10,000 hectares in size and lies within the Stikine terrane, which is host to numerous significant porphyry deposits in Northern British Columbia, including Kemess, Red Chris, Kerr-Sulphurets and Galore Creek. The eastern margin of Stikine terrane in this part of north-central B.C. has been underexplored historically and has seen increased exploration activity since its coverage in the 2017 Geoscience B.C. search phase 3 airborne magnetic and radiometric survey.

RDP contains several porphyry copper-gold targets (Roy, Day, Porcupine and Bird) that have been explored intermittently since the early 1970s, including prospecting and mapping, various geochemical surveys, ground and airborne geophysical surveys, trenching, and a limited amount of drilling. The project is underlain by lower Hazelton group volcanic and sedimentary rocks (Lower Jurassic) of andesitic and dacitic composition and the Gyr rhyolite porphyry, and by late Triassic to early Jurassic plutonic rocks, including the Fir gabbro and Roy plutonic suite with porphyritic plugs, sills and stocks of monzodiorite composition.

About Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd.

Its goal is to become British Columbia's leading copper-gold exploration company. Pacific Ridge's flagship project is its 100-per-cent-owned Kliyul copper-gold project, located in the Quesnel trough, close to existing infrastructure. In addition to Kliyul, the company's project portfolio includes the RDP copper-gold project (optioned to Antofagasta Minerals), the Chuchi copper-gold project, the Onjo copper-gold project and the Redton copper-gold project, all located in British Columbia. Pacific Ridge would like to acknowledge that its B.C. projects are in the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Gitxsan Nation, McLeod Lake Indian Band, Nak'azdli Whut'en, Takla Nation and Tsay Keh Dene Nation.

The technical information contained within this news release has been reviewed and approved by Gerald G. Carlson, PhD, PEng, executive chairman of Pacific Ridge, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 policy.

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