Mr. Ross McLellan reports

WESTERN GOLD ANNOUNCES RECEIPT & REVIEW OF HISTORIC EXPLORATION DATA FOR LYON LICENCE APPLICATION, CALEDONIAN GOLD PROJECT

Western Gold Exploration Ltd. has received and reviewed historic mineral exploration data as part of the company's Glen Lyon joint venture (the JV) with Acrux Gold Ltd. to explore for gold, silver and critical minerals as part of the Caledonian gold project in central Scotland (see dated Nov. 25, 2025, press release). Acrux Gold are the new operators of the nearby Cononish gold mine, Scotland's first commercial gold deposit. The data relates to the Lyon area covered by the two Crown Estates Mines royal option agreements (exploration licences) applied for by the JV (see Dec. 3, 2025, press release). Additional data from other JV areas will be released as it is reviewed by the company.

"These historical results validate our team's assessment of the strong potential of the Caledonian gold project, to host significant gold mineralization," commented Harry Dobson, chairman. "Building on our extensive Scottish field experience, the team is now advancing the next phase of work through systematic soil sampling, detailed mapping and geophysical surveys."

Key highlights of the historic mineral exploration data include:

• Multiple high-grade gold-bearing veins identified across the Lyon area.
• Eight hundred twenty-size drainage, float and outcrop samples were collected, including:
  • Float samples grading up to 136.3 grams per tonne Au (gold);
  • Outcrop grab samples up to 62.4 g/t Au;
  • Visible gold recorded in stream pan concentrates.
• Backpack drilling for a total of 87.8 m over 10 holes confirms continuity of gold-bearing structures along strike, supporting the potential for a larger mineralized system. Best intercepts include:
  • 1.0 m at 25.5 g/t Au and 2.1 m at 15.3 g/t Au, from surface (Coire a'Ghabhalach prospect);
  • 1.0 m at 25.46 g/t Au, from surface (Creag Sheileach prospect).
• Historic work was concentrated in the western portion of the Lyon licence application, leaving approximately 150 square kilometres of highly prospective ground underexplored and offering immediate upside potential.

* Note: grab samples are selective by nature and may not be representative of the true grade of the mineralization. Backpack drill samples are best viewed as equivalent to a rock channel sample rather than a drill hole.

Geological overview

The Lyon licence application is situated within the highly prospective Grampian terrane, a key segment of the Caledonian mineral belt that stretches from Northern Britain and Ireland to Scandinavia and North America. This district is already proven for gold, hosting deposits such as Cononish, which sits directly along strike to the Lyon area as well as Cavanacaw and the world-class Curraghinalt deposit (Dalradian Resources; measured, indicated and inferred resources greater than six million ounces Au -- National Instrument 43-101 technical report for the Curraghinalt gold project, Northern Ireland, dated June 22, 2018, by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.).

The reader is cautioned that mineralization on adjacent properties is not necessarily indicative of what can or will be found within any projects upon which the JV may be granted exploration licences.

Rock grab samples

A total of 445 outcrop and 177 float-boulder rock chip samples were collected by Ennex International (EN) and Scotgold Resources (SGZ), with the most extensive fieldwork being conducted in the western portions of the Lyon licence application. Full multielement data are available for the SGZ outcrop samples (n equals 316), with the remaining EN (n equals 306) outcrop and float-boulder samples only assayed for gold, silver, copper, zinc and lead. Where descriptions are available, all high-grade gold bearing samples generally describe sheared or brecciated quartz-sulphide veining dominated by pyrite and lesser base-metal sulphides.

Rock grab highlights include:

• All sampled quartz-veins are enriched in gold above background levels;
• 101 samples graded greater than or equal to one g/t Au;
• 46 samples graded greater than or equal to 10 g/t Au;

Drainage data

A total of 205 drainage samples, including 181 stream sediment (SS) and 24 panned concentrates (PC), were collected by SGZ, EN and the British Geological Survey (BGS). Full multielement data are available for the SGZ and BGS samples, with the remaining EN PC samples only assayed for gold.

Drainage highlights include:

• Visible gold recorded in EN PC samples, with 11 samples greater than or equal to 0.1 g/t Au;
• About 10 per cent of SS samples are highly anomalous in gold (greater than or equal to 0.1 g/t Au).*

* Note: Ionic leach (IL) samples excluded from this calculation.

Key future objectives

• Boots-on-the-ground exploration is planned to verify historic high-grade outcrops and extend work into the underexplored eastern portion of the licence application, followed by targeted backpack drilling and channel sampling.
• Detailed vein mapping and modern structural analysis will be undertaken to refine the understanding of vein morphology and controls on gold mineralization.
• A regional drainage sampling program will be carried out to confirm historic anomalies and broaden the search area, incorporating PC sampling to provide real-time validation of gold-bearing streams alongside laboratory assays.
• Large-scale soil grids will be deployed across areas with confirmed high-grade gold veining to help define the strike extent and continuity of mineralized structures.
• Airborne and/or ground-based geophysics -- including a potential drone-mounted magnetics survey -- will be used to expand known prospects and identify additional targets or concealed anomalies.

Geology

The Lyon area is underlain by the Dalradian supergroup, a thick package of metasedimentary rocks that were deformed and metamorphosed during the Ordovician Grampian Orogeny. Subsequent late-Caledonian strike-slip tectonism during the Silurian-Devonian created major northeast-southwest fault corridors and drove emplacement of high-K calc-alkaline intrusions -- both key ingredients in forming high-grade gold-silver quartz-sulphide veins throughout the district.

Importantly, age dating from the Cononish deposit indicates gold mineralization occurred around 410 to 406 Ma (million years ago), coincident with a regional shift to transtensional tectonics, a setting known to enhance fluid flow and vein development. This same fertile geological environment underpins the exploration potential of the Lyon licence application.

About Western Gold Exploration Ltd.

The company is a mineral exploration company that is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol WGLD. The company is focused on the exploration of gold, silver and critical mineral in Scotland.

In November, 2025, Western Gold formed the Glen Lyon joint venture with Acrux Gold Ltd. to explore for gold, silver and critical minerals as part of the Caledonian gold project in central Scotland. The JV has applied for two Crown Estates Mines royal option agreements (exploration licences) across the Tyndrum mineral district, specifically the Orchy and Lyon licence areas, which form the Caledonian gold project. The company also operates at the Lorne project, which include both Lagalochan and Ardlochan prospects, and are located in the highly prospective Lorne porphyry district of the wider Caledonian belt.

Review by qualified person, quality control and reports

David Pym (CGeol), a consultant of the company, is the qualified person (as defined by National Instrument 43-101) who supervised, verified, and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this press release on behalf of the company. The results presented in this press release are historical in nature and assay results have not been checked consistently against assay certificates, nor is there significant QA/QC (quality assurance/quality control) information available. Some of the locations have been field checked and verified, but others have not. As such the results are considered to represent the exploration potential of the area and are not considered to be representative.

There is no available record of the analytical methods employed by EN during the 1980s for precious or base metals. Data from the BGS were collected as part of the mineral reconnaissance program and later incorporated into the GBASE database. BGS stream sediment samples were collected from active streams, dried and sieved to produce a fine fraction of less than 150 micrometres. Silver and base metals were analyzed using direct current optical emission spectroscopy (DCOES) with variable detection limits typically in the range of one to 10 parts per million, while gold was analyzed on a limited basis using fire assay of 30-gram dried pulps followed by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS).

SGZ conducted two stream sediment programs in the area, the first between 2010 and 2015 and the second from 2018 to 2020, using distinct analytical techniques. All SGZ stream sediment samples were sieved to 150 to 200 micrometres prior to laboratory preparation. In the first program, gold was analyzed on dried pulps using aqua regia digestion with an ICP-MS finish (Au-TL43, detection limit 0.001 part per million), while silver and base metals were analysed following a four-acid digestion with an ICP-OES finish (ME-MS61). In the second program, samples were analyzed using a partial sodium cyanide leach (ionic-leach) with an ICP-MS finish, yielding a gold detection limit of 0.01 part per billion.

All SGZ rock-chip samples were grab samples and therefore may not be representative. The backpack drill samples were drilled with a small core rig and are best viewed as equivalent to continuous channel samples. The grab and the backpack drill samples were analyzed for gold using fire assay on 30 g pulps with an AAS finish, while silver and base metals were analyzed using aqua regia digestion with an ICP-AES finish. All SGZ samples were analyzed at ALS Global, Ireland. ALS Geochemistry laboratories operate under a single global geochemistry quality manual compliant with ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and utilize a global laboratory information management system (LIMS), ensuring high-quality and reproducible results.

We seek Safe Harbor.