Mr. Marcel Robillard reports

PUMA EXPLORATION AND KINROSS GOLD START THE 2025 DRILLING PROGRAM AT WILLIAMS BROOK

Puma Exploration Inc. has initiated a 3,500-metre drill program on its Lynx gold zone (LGZ), part of the Williams Brook gold project in Northern New Brunswick. This initial 3,500 metres of drilling at the Lynx gold zone is part of the fully financed $2-million exploration program and 5,000-metre drilling program devised in collaboration with Kinross Gold for 2025. The program is designed to follow up on drilling information and results gathered by Puma from 2021 to 2023 and is aimed at intersecting new gold mineralization, delineating lithological contacts and providing more insights on structural patterns. The current drilling plan covers an area of 700 metres by 480 metres by 225 metres.

Puma's president and chief executive officer, Marcel Robillard, commented: "We're excited to see the drill turning again at the Lynx gold zone with our partner Kinross Gold. We anticipate that our 2025 drilling program will not only demonstrate the quality of the deposit at Lynx but also highlight the potential of the entire 40,000 ha project."

Following the initial 3,500-metre program at Lynx, a subsequent 1,500-metre program will target the best prospects on the property, based on the results of the continuing 2025 trenching, stripping, surface channel sampling and the current drilling program.

Lynx gold zone

The Lynx gold zone (LGZ), discovered in 2020 by high-grade surface sampling, was subsequently confirmed to extend to depth by drilling. The high-grade gold mineralization at Lynx is characterized by finely disseminated gold in quartz (veins, veinlets, stockworks, breccias) affected by pervasive supergene alteration. With only 16,123 metres of drilling, the gold mineralized and alteration envelope at the Lynx gold zone currently measures 750 metres along strike, 100 metres in width and 175 metres in depth.

Highlights of drilling programs at the Lynx gold zone

• In 2021, the inaugural 2,300 metres drilling program returned 5.55 grams per tonne gold over 50.15 metres from surface, including two high-grade gold veins with 9.88 g/t gold over 8.60 metres and 46.94 g/t gold over 3.85 metres in hole WB21-02 (see Sept. 15, 2021, news release).
• In 2022, a follow-up 10,348-metre drilling program confirmed near-surface gold zones (0 to 75 metres depth) 200 metres from the initial discovery. Highlights included 34.93 g/t gold over 3.00 metres within a wider zone assaying 6.47 g/t gold over 16.90 metres in hole WB22-25; 22.28 g/t gold over 3.20 metres within a wider gold intercept of 3.97 g/t gold over 22.10 metres in hole WB22-36 and 51.73 g/t gold over 1.85 metres and 10.70 gold over 2.00 metres in hole WB22-66 (see April 28, 2022, June 8, 2022, and Sept. 29, 2022, news releases).
• In 2023, 24 holes (3,475 metres) successfully extended the width and length of the high-grade gold shoots to 250 metres downhole depth and demonstrated the continuity of mineralization over long intervals (see Oct. 19, 2023, Oct. 31, 2023, and Nov. 16, 2023, news releases for the results below).

Qualified person

The scientific and technical content of this press release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by Dominique Gagne, PGeo, vice-president of exploration, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

On-site quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) measures

Drill core samples reported in this release were bagged, sealed and sent to ALS Chemex in Moncton, N.B., where each sample was crushed and pulped before being fire assayed (Au-ICP21). The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage for further work or verification as needed. As part of its QA/QC program, Puma inserted external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to standards, blanks and duplicates. All samples over 10 g/t gold or with abundant visible gold were analyzed with a gravity finish (Au-GRA22). Check assays were routinely performed for samples with visible gold to ascertain the gold content of the mineralization zone.

About the Williams Brook project

The Williams Brook project (40,225 ha), optioned to Kinross Gold Corp. (see Oct. 24, 2024, news release), comprises the Williams Brook, Jonpol and the Portage properties. To earn a 65-per-cent interest in the project, Kinross will finance a minimum of $16.75-million in exploration expenditures over the next five years (including a firm commitment of $2-million with at least 5,000 metres of drilling in the first 18 months (2025 to 2026).

About Puma's assets in New Brunswick

Puma has accumulated an impressive portfolio of prospective gold landholdings strategically located close to roads and infrastructure in Northern New Brunswick, including the Williams Brook project and the new McKenzie gold project. Both are located near the Rocky Brook millstream fault (RBMF), a major regional structure formed during the Appalachian Orogeny and a significant control for gold deposition in the region. Puma's work to date has focused on the Williams Brook property, but prospecting and surface exploration work on its other properties have confirmed their potential for significant gold mineralization.

About Puma Exploration Inc.

Puma Exploration is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on identifying and developing a pipeline of precious metals projects in New Brunswick, near Canada's renowned Bathurst mining camp. Puma has a long history in Northern New Brunswick, having worked on regional projects for over 15 years. Puma's successful exploration methodology, which combines traditional prospecting methods with detailed trenching and cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, has been instrumental in facilitating an understanding of the region's geology and associated mineralized systems. Armed with geophysical surveys, geochemical data and consultants' expertise, Puma has developed a cost-effective exploration tool to discover gold at shallow depths and maximize drilling results.

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