Mr. Cameron Tymstra reports

TARGA ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR DRILL CAMPAIGN AT OPINACA GOLD DISCOVERY

Targa Exploration Corp. plans for a summer drill campaign on its Opinaca gold project located in the James Bay region of Quebec.

Highlights

• 4,500- to 5,000-metre diamond drill program designed to follow-up on last year's grassroot discovery;
• 2025 standout drill intercept of 13.88 grams per tonne Au (gold) over 3.65 metres in hole 25OPDD007 in the Western zone;
• Seven priority holes (2,900 m) to test the strike continuity of the western zone;
• Two priority holes (800 m) to test the as-yet undrilled eastern soil and HMC anomaly;
• Up to 1,300 m in four to five follow-up holes.

"Since announcing our grass-roots gold discovery at Opinaca back in January, we have spent the past six months planning for and anticipating this follow-up drill program," commented Targa chief executive officer Cameron Tymstra. "Work restrictions and road closures related to high forest fire risk in the region earlier this summer have been lifted, and we anticipate favourable working conditions for the back half of the summer. Last year we confirmed the presence of a significant mineralized gold system at Opinaca, hitting gold in seven out of eight drill holes. Our strategy this year is to build on that discovery success by shortening the gap between drill fences to better understand the continuity and controls on gold mineralization and stepping out to continue adding to the extent of this system. We are also excited to be drilling at the eastern gold anomaly previously identified from till sampling but still untested with the drill rig with the hope of adding a second center of mineralization at Opinaca."

2026 Opinaca drill program

The program, consisting of up to 5,000 m in 12 to 15 holes, each 350 to 400 m in length, has been designed to test the along-strike continuity of broad zones of gold mineralization discovered during the maiden 2025 drill program (see Jan. 21, 2026, news release), which initially targeted bedrock below a large gold-in-soil and HMC (heavy mineral concentrate) gold grain anomaly measuring over seven kilometres in length (see Aug. 29, 2024, news release). The presence of bedrock gold mineralization intersected in the 2025 program across a strike length of four kilometres is testament to the efficacy of soil and HMC sampling at Opinaca, in conjunction with high resolution airborne magnetics, to prioritize drill targets.

Ryan Weston, vice-president of exploration with Targa, stated: "We're thrilled to be kicking off just our second drill campaign at Opinaca. Last year's results surprised even our team with an 88-per-cent success rate with seven of eight holes returning significant gold mineralization. That was a surprising achievement for a first-pass program targeting soil anomalies.

"Opinaca is still in its early stages, but we believe these initial intersections demonstrate the potential for more to come. As we refine our understanding of the mineralizing controls and leverage learnings from surrounding deposits, we're confident Opinaca has the potential to host a significant gold system."

The project is located immediately south of the boundary between the Opinaca and LaGrande geological subprovinces. This subprovince boundary represents an important first order structure for regional gold endowment as evidenced by the location of the Eleanore gold mine, Cheechoo, Sakami and Eastmain gold deposits. Until the discovery of the Eleanore deposit in the early 2000s by Virgina Gold, the region was largely overlooked for its gold potential due in large part to the perception that metamorphosed metasedimentary terranes were less prospective gold environments. With the discovery and development at Eleanore, recent exploration in the region has resulted in several gold discoveries, Targa's Opinaca project being the latest.

Gold mineralization encountered to date at Opinaca is hosted in metamorphosed greywacke and cross-cutting tonalite and to a lesser extent pegmatitic and mafic dikes, and often displays a strong correlation with arsenic and tungsten, which is evident in both drill core and soil geochemistry. Drilled intersections from the 2025 program include both narrow high-grade gold, including 13.88 g/t Au over 3.65 m in hole 25OPDD007, and broad zones of low-grade mineralization (0.17 gram per tonne Au over 70.55 m in 25OPDD004) intersected over a four km long trend.

Drill holes for the 2026 program will target up-ice till anomalies coincident with interpreted magnetic structures believed to control bedrock gold mineralization. Seven holes (2,900 m) are being prioritized in the Western target across five km of the targeted trend with the goal of extending the known mineralization along strike. In the Eastern target, which has never been drilled, two holes (800 m) are being prioritized with the goal of discovering a bedrock source to the pronounced soil anomaly. A single HMC sample collected here in 2024 returned 98 gold grains (normalized to sample weight), of which over 95 per cent were pristine in shape, suggesting a proximal bedrock source. A further 1,300 m of drilling for the 2026 summer program is being reserved for follow-up of the most promising intersections.

Kenorland Minerals will act as project operator on the drill program, as it has for the previous three successful exploration seasons at Opinaca, and brings a wealth of operational and technical experience in the region. Drilling is expected to start in the second half of August once the geological team and drill crews are in place and is expected to take four to five weeks to complete with drill assays anticipated in the fall.

Technical disclosure

The disclosure of scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Cedric Mayer, MSc, PGeo (OGQ No. 02385), senior project geologist with Kenorland Minerals, who is a qualified person for the Opinaca project on behalf of Targa Exploration, within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

The mineral resources and reserves discussed for Eleonore, Cheechoo, Sakami and Eastmain are not located on the Opinaca project. The company has not verified this information and it is not being treated as current mineral resources or reserves of the company. The information is provided for geological context only.

Assay intervals in this press release are reported as core lengths and are not necessarily representative of true widths.

About Targa Exploration Corp.

Targa Exploration is a Canadian exploration company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of gold mineral properties with headquarters in Vancouver, B.C. The company's focus is on early stage projects in premier mining jurisdictions with strong potential for making Tier 1 grassroots precious metals discoveries. Targa's flagship asset is its Opinaca gold project in Quebec where widespread gold mineralization was recently discovered during a maiden drill campaign in 2025. The company has also recently acquired options to earn up to 80-per-cent equity interests in the Venidero and El Zanjon gold-silver projects in Santa Cruz, Argentina, and is actively drilling at El Zanjon.

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