• Initial six drill holes along the Moosehead Eastern and Western trends confirm the high-grade nature of the vein structures, with five of six holes intersecting 5.6 - 51.2 g/t Au
• Regional Geophysical Target yields significant new zone with intervals of gold mineralization along a 77 meter down hole length
• Episode 6 of Pirate Gold Treasure Hunters now airing: https://youtu.be/PB5bb8rB72s

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador--(Newsfile Corp. - February 27, 2026) - Pirate Gold Corp. (TSXV: YARR) (OTCQB: SICNF) ("Pirate Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce high-grade gold results from the Moosehead Zone and the discovery of a new gold zone at its Treasure Island Project in central Newfoundland. The Treasure Island project covers over 90 km of strike along the Valentine Lake Fault Zone in Canada's newest gold district.

Moosehead Drilling Highlights:

Table 1 - Assay Highlights from Moosehead Zone
*Downhole intervals reported, true widths estimated to be 80-90% of reported intervals

Regional Geophysical Drillhole Highlights:

Table 2 - Assay Highlights from Regional Geophysical Targets
*Downhole intervals reported, true widths are unknown at this time

"This is a great start for the first eight drill holes of the program and it's good to see gold in the box this early. Hole PGC-25-006 is important, as it suggests Moosehead may be part of a broader mineralized system rather than an isolated zone. We are still in the early stages, but the combination of high-grade intercepts and new zone discovery gives us real confidence in the scale potential at Treasure Island. In exploration, sometimes you intersect broad zones and sometimes you intersect narrow high-grade veins that point you toward something much larger. Both are important, and these first holes confirm we have a gold-bearing system and a structural model that is working. We are excited about what the coming weeks and months of drilling may deliver," said Denis Laviolette, Executive Chairman & CEO.

Greg Matheson, VP Exploration, added:

"Step-out drilling along the Moosehead Eastern and Western trends has yielded strong high-grade assay results as we continue to expand the footprint of these sub-parallel structures. Five of the first six holes reported from Moosehead intersected high-grade gold, confirming both the strength and continuity of the system. These intercepts remain relatively shallow for an orogenic gold environment, and we see significant room for growth along both fault structures. The announcement last week of a newly discovered vein linking the Eastern and Western trends is important and adds a new element to the potential for additional new zones as the drilling continues.

"While much of the drilling to date has focused on expanding the known Moosehead trends, we believe the broader opportunity lies in testing near-surface geophysical targets across the property. We're truly excited by the success in drill hole PGC-25-006 and plan to not only further define this new zone but continue the hunt for additional new discoveries. With more than 50 kilometres of comparable geology and structural setting across Treasure Island North, we believe we are only beginning to unlock the district-scale potential of this system."

Fig. 1 - Moosehead Zone Location Map

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Drilling Program:

PGC-25-001,002 targeted a previously untested segment of the Moosehead Eastern trend fault, both holes intersected the structural zone at shallow depths and reported high gold assay grades from stylolitic veins including 20.47g/t Au over 0.35m in PGC-25-001 and 42.48g/t Au over 0.45m in PGC-25-002.

PGC-25-003,004,005,007 targeted the depth extension of the Moosehead Western trend and all four holes intersected the fault system at shallow depths from 45 to 80m vertically. Drill hole PGC-25-004 reported 2.84g/t Au over 5.10m including high grades from a stylolitic vein including 24.80g/t Au over 0.45m. The deepest hole testing the Western Trend PGC-25-007 intersected 4.79g/t Au over 5.85m including high grade results from a stylolitic vein assaying 51.20g/t Au over 0.5m.

PGC-25-006 targeted a disruption in the magnetic signature of a mafic dyke believed to represent a fault structure or hydrothermal alteration. The drill hole successfully intersected intermittent zones of high sulphide mineralization associated with quartz veining within and surrounding the mafic dyke from 14m to 120m downhole. Six intervals of mineralization assayed above 1g/t Au including a broader interval of 1.14g/t Au over 8.10m including higher grades of
4.20g/ Au over 0.75m. This represents a new discovery and remains wide open as additional follow up drilling is underway.

Fig. 2 - Map Showing the Moosehead Mineralized Zones, Structural Corridor, Interpreted Faults and Regional Geophysical Drill Targets

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Table 3 - Drill Hole Information for PGC-25-001 through PCG-25-008

Table 4 - Significant Assays Intervals from PGC-25-001 through PCG-25-008

Pirate Gold Treasure Hunters Season 1 Episode 6

Episode 6 of Pirate Gold Treasure Hunters breaks down the first eight drill holes of the 2026 campaign and what they mean for the growing Treasure Island story. The episode features:

• Initial assays from eight holes, including six at Moosehead, with five of six returning high-grade gold along the Eastern and Western trends
• Confirmation that high-grade mineralization is concentrated within stylolitic veins inside broader 3-5 metre structural arrays, refining the Company's evolving 3D geological model
• A regional discovery hole (PGC-25-006) drilled 500 metres southwest of Moosehead, intersecting multiple gold intervals across a ~75 metre downhole corridor
• Ongoing shallow expansion drilling at Moosehead, including planned systematic testing of a ~300 metre structural gap between known mineralized zones
• Advancement of additional district-scale targets across 50-60 kilometres of prospective strike length, including newly permitted areas at Stony Lake

Cannot view this video? Visit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PB5bb8rB72s

Qualified Person

Greg Matheson, P.Geo., VP Exploration for Pirate Gold, a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.

About Pirate Gold Corp.

Pirate Gold Corp. is led by an experienced management team and is the dominant explorer along the Valentine Lake Fault Zone in Newfoundland, Canada's newest gold district. The Company's primary focus is its 100% owned district-scale Treasure Island Gold Project, along with a portfolio of gold projects, including the district-scale Fleur de Lys Project.

QAQC Statement

Diamond drill holes are HQ size and are processed at the Company's secure core logging facility in Grand Falls-Windsor, NL by qualified geologists and technicians. Drill core samples are sawn in half and submitted to ALS Canada Ltd. ("ALS"), Thunder Bay, ON for gold determination by PhotonAssay™ method and Vancouver, BC for multi-element analysis.

Drill core samples analyzed at ALS are submitted under prep codes LOG-21, CRU-31 and SPL-32a. ALS performs Au-PA02 analysis on all samples. Any sample received with an Au-PA02 value greater than 0.8 ppm undergoes Au-PA02e. Results of Au-PA02e use a weighted average for final assay determination.

The Company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals, including blanks, reference materials and field duplicates to monitor the performance of the laboratory. Additionally, Pirate Gold Corp conducts check assays at a third-party facility which is independent of ALS Canada Ltd.

Acknowledgment

Pirate Gold acknowledges the financial support of the Junior Exploration Assistance Program, Department of Natural Resources, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that are based on expectations, estimates, assumptions, geological theories, and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this news release about any information herein that is not a historical fact may be "forward-looking statements." Actual results may differ materially. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (which may, but not always, include phrases such as "anticipates", "plans", "scheduled", "believed" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) including statements regarding the Company's plans with respect to the Company's projects and the timing related thereto, the merits of the Company's projects, the Company's objectives, plans and strategies, and other matters are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements and are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause results to vary include delays in obtaining necessary approvals, changes in the market for the Company's securities, results of exploration, loss of title to properties, delays in obtaining permits or access to mineral properties, including as a result of adverse weather, fire or flood, changes to the Tax Act, rejection of expenditures as Qualifying Expenditures, and factors included in the documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities by Pirate Gold Corp. Pirate Gold Corp. will not update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, except as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/285609