Mr. Darcy Marud reports

WESTERN EXPLORATION ADVANCES DOBY GEORGE PERMITTING

Western Exploration Inc. has completed phase I of the hydrogeologic investigation at its 100-per-cent-owned Doby George gold project, part of the company's Aura project in Elko county, northeastern Nevada, and completed all baseline-study fieldwork. These studies support the company's mine plan of operations (MPO) for the Doby George project, which was submitted to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in August, 2026.

Permitting process and fieldwork at the Doby George project include:

• Baseline studies: All fieldwork for the baseline studies has been completed and reports are being finalized for submission to the USFS. Certain monitoring, modelling and reporting work continues, as summarized in Table 1 below.
• Hydrology: Phase I of the hydrogeologic investigation was completed, which is intended to support future development of the Doby George project. Seven drill holes were completed and packer tested, and piezometers were installed to provide continual groundwater monitoring. The phase I baseline hydrogeologic report is in preparation, and a phase II hydrogeologic investigation is planned for 2027.
• Air quality: Air quality and emissions studies are being finalized for submission to the USFS.
• Geochemistry and metallurgy: Material from the 2026 drill program, which includes infill drilling, is being used for geochemical characterization of mineralized material and waste rock, column leach test work and metallurgical test work. Assay results from the 2026 drill program are pending and will be released as they are received.
• Electrical feasibility: The feasibility study being completed by Raft River Rural Electric Co-operative with respect to the company's grid power, announced in June, 2026, is nearing completion and remains on schedule for mid-December, 2026.

The MPO was submitted to the USFS, the lead permitting agency, in August, 2026. Hydrogeological data are a key input to the company's prefeasibility study (PFS) for the Doby George project and to the USFS review of the MPO.

Darcy Marud, chief executive officer of Western Exploration, commented: "This field season was built around what the permitting process requires. With phase I hydrology complete and the baseline study fieldwork complete and reports being prepared for submittal to the Forest Service, the record supporting our mine plan of operations continues to build, while drilling, geochemical and metallurgical work advance in parallel. We continue to work closely with the Forest Service through the permitting process."

About Western Exploration Inc.

Western Exploration is a Nevada-focused gold and silver developer advancing its 100-per-cent-owned Aura project, located approximately 120 kilometres north of Elko, Nev. The Aura project hosts two primary assets: Doby George, a near-surface oxide heap-leach project that is the subject of the preliminary economic assessment (as defined below); and the Gravel Creek/Wood Gulch corridor, a high-grade gold-silver epithermal system. For more information, please refer to the PEA technical report (as defined below). Western trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol WEX and on the OTCQX market under the symbol WEXPF.

Scientific and technical information

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mark Hawksworth, general manager of Western's Aura project, a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, who is not independent of the company.

The company's 2025 preliminary economic assessment for the Doby George project is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The PEA is more particularly described in the technical report entitled "Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Doby George Deposits and Updated Resource Estimate for the Gravel Creek Gold-Silver Deposits, Aura Gold-Silver Project, Elko County, Nevada," dated Oct. 1, 2025 (with an effective date of June 17, 2025), which was prepared for Western and is available on SEDAR+ under Western's issuer profile.

The PEA was prepared by independent representatives of Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (KCA) and Respec Company LLC, each of whom is a qualified person within the meaning of NI 43-101 and independent of Western for purposes of Section 1.5 of NI 43-101. At the effective date of the PEA, each qualified person certified that, to the best of his knowledge, information and belief, the parts of the PEA for which he was responsible contain all scientific and technical information required to be disclosed to make the PEA not misleading. The affiliation and areas of responsibility for each qualified person involved in preparing the PEA are provided below:

• Travis Manning, PE, of KCA -- processing design and costs, metallurgy, recovery, and cash flow;
• Michael S. Lindholm, CPG, of Respec -- geology, database and mineral resource estimate;
• Kyle Murphy, PE, of Respec -- open-pit design, mine planning, scheduling and costing.

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