Mr. Tom Meredith reports

WEST RED LAKE GOLD INTERSECTS 10.34 G/T AU OVER 8.0M, 68.46 G/T AU OVER 1.1M AND 13.21 G/T AU OVER 5.5M AT ROWAN MINE

West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd. has released initial drill results from its previously announced phase 1 exploration program from its 100-per-cent-owned Rowan property, located in the prolific Red Lake gold district of Northwestern Ontario, Canada (see news release of April 19, 2023). The company has received assay results from 10 of the 16 holes completed so far.

Highlights:

• Ninety per cent of holes for which assays have been received show intervals grading greater than five grams per tonne gold -- highlighted intervals outlined in the attached table.
• The high-grade mineralized vein zones encountered at the Rowan mine are in line with expectations on gold grade, confirm the geologic model and help to bolster the existing high-grade (9.2 grams per tonne gold) 827,462-ounce inferred mineral resource at the Rowan mine.
• Mineralized zones encountered at Red Summit NE have confirmed the company's thesis on the geologic model and potential controls on mineralization in this area.
• Hole RLG-23-134 intersected 8.0 metres at 10.34 grams per tonne gold, from 71 m to 79 m, including 0.5 m at 107.99 g/t Au, from 71.7 m to 72.2 m; one m at 9.68 g/t Au, from 76 m to 77 m; and 1.3 m at 8.25 g/t Au from 77.7 m to 79 m.
• Hole RLG-23-131 intersected 1.1 m at 68.46 g/t Au, from 88 m to 89.1 m.
• Hole RLG-23-132 intersected 5.5 m at 13.21 g/t Au, from 67.5 m to 73 m, including 0.5 m at 137.22 g/t Au, from 70.5 m to 71 m, and 1.81 m at 29.04 g/t Au, from 166.19 m to 168 m, including 0.5 m at 104.53 g/t Au, from 166.19 m to 166.69 m.
• Hole RLG-23-139 intersected 1.1 m at 48.04 g/t Au, from 21.4 m to 22.5 m.

A total of 14 diamond drill holes totalling 2,314 m have been completed so far in 2023 at the Rowan mine area and 780 m in two drill holes testing targets in the Red Summit NE area. Fire and metallic screen assays have been returned for 10 out of 16 holes completed during phase 1 drilling at the Rowan mine and Red Summit NE target areas, with six holes still pending assays and quality assurance/quality control from the Rowan mine area.

Tom Meredith, chief executive officer, stated: "This impressive first round of assays from the phase 1 drilling program at the Rowan property confirmed and expectations based on the numerous accounts of mineralization observed in drill core by our geologic team. The high-grade nature of gold mineralization at the Rowan mine continues to impress and will undoubtedly make for an exciting drilling program as we continue to advance this high-priority asset in 2023. We look forward to continuing our efforts at Rowan while delivering a steady stream of high-grade drill results to the market for months to come. While Rowan is going to remain the focus of near-term drilling our team is seeing a lot of potential at the mostly untested Red Summit target area, and we look forward to returning to this area for additional drilling later in the season."

An additional 4,000 m of diamond drilling planned for the phase 1 program is currently continuing and expected to be completed on target by June 30, 2023. The focus of this drilling will be on infill and expansion within high-grade mineralized zones at the Rowan mine resource area. It is the company's belief that potential synergies could exist between high-grade resources at the Rowan mine area and Madsen. Early indications suggest that the gold mineralization at Rowan could be mostly amenable to gravity separation, though additional metallurgical test work will be required to determine whether that is the case.

Upon completion of phase 1, the company will lead directly into its phase 2 program, which will include an additional 10,000 m of drilling to further build on phase 1 exploration work, as well as test newly developed targets over the remaining and highly prospective 3,100-hectare Rowan property.

Discussion

The Rowan mine target consists of six subparallel, near-vertical, east-west-trending veins that are currently defined over a strike length of approximately 1.1 kilometres -- mineralization remains open along strike and at depth. The orientation of the veins at the Rowan mine tend to follow the direction of D2 deformation, which is oriented in an east-west direction over this part of the property. Individual mineralized vein zones usually average 1.0 to 1.5 m in thickness, with an overall thickness of the Rowan vein corridor at around 115 m. Gold mineralization is typically localized within quartz-carbonate veins hosted within and along the footwall margin of a porphyritic felsic intrusive, with increased grades often associated with the presence of visible gold and base metal sulphides (for example, galena and sphalerite). High-grade dilation zones or ore chutes along the Rowan vein trend have been recognized as important controls for localizing thicker and higher-grade zones of gold mineralization. The position and geometry of these dilation zones are well understood at Rowan.

The phase 1 drilling completed at the Rowan mine in 2023 has been focused on validating historical data across the inferred resource and also infilling apparent gaps in the analytical data set, which was a product of very selective sampling techniques implemented during previous drilling campaigns. Assay results received from the 2023 phase 1 drilling program continue to confirm our thesis that quartz veining and gold mineralization continue at depth and along strike, with grades consistent with those outlined in the current inferred mineral resource, which remains open in all directions. Drilling at the Rowan mine will continue with an emphasis on infill and expansion of the existing high-grade mineral resource.

The Red Summit NE target is located approximately 250 metres northeast of the past-producing Red Summit mine within a flexure of a major shear zone -- the Pipestone Bay deformation zone. At Red Summit, the mineralization is somewhat similar to Rowan with gold mineralization localized within quartz-carbonate veins hosted along the margin of a porphyritic felsic intrusive. The contact between the felsic intrusive and surrounding mafic volcanic rocks provides a favourable rheologic setting for dilation and emplacement of quartz veining and gold mineralization. The intrusive at Red Summit NE is approximately three times the size of the intrusive adjacent to the historic Red Summit mine, which would suggest the potential for a much larger target at Red Summit NE. Two holes were completed at Red Summit NE during the phase 1 program, which confirmed the geologic thesis -- where a large felsic intrusive body was intercepted with tenor of gold mineralization increasing near the contact between the intrusive and surrounding metavolcanic rocks. The results of this initial work warrant additional drilling in this area.

Quality assurance/quality control

Drilling completed at the Rowan property consists of oriented NQ-sized diamond drill core. All drill holes are systematically logged, photographed and sampled by a trained geologist at West Red Lake Gold Mines' Mount Jamie core processing facility. Minimum allowable sample length is 0.5 m. Maximum allowable sample length is 1.5 m. Standard reference materials and blanks are inserted at a targeted 5-per-cent insertion rate. The drill core is then cut lengthwise utilizing a diamond blade core saw along a line preselected by the geologist. To reduce sampling bias, the same side of drill core is sampled consistently utilizing the orientation line as reference. For those samples containing visible gold (VG), a trained geologist supervises the cutting/bagging of those samples and ensures the core saw blade is cleaned with a dressing stone following the VG sample interval. Bagged samples are then sealed with zip ties and transported by West Red Lake Gold Mines personnel directly to SGS Natural Resources' facility in Red Lake, Ont., for assay.

Samples are then prepped by SGS, which consists of drying at 105 C and crushing to 75 per cent passing two millimetres. A riffle splitter is then utilized to produce a 500-gram course reject for archive. The remainder of the sample is then pulverized to 85 per cent passing 75 microns, from which 50 grams are analyzed by fire assay and an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) finish. Samples returning gold values greater than five g/t Au are reanalyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish on a 50-gram sample. Samples with visible gold are also analyzed by metallic screen analysis (SGS code: GO_FAS50M). For multielement analysis, samples are sent to SGS's facility in Burnaby, B.C., and analyzed by four-acid digest with an atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) finish for 33-element analysis on 0.25-gram sample pulps (SGS code: GE_ICP40Q12). SGS Natural Resources analytical laboratories operate under a quality management system that complies with ISO/IEC 17025.

West Red Lake Gold's Rowan property presently hosts a National Instrument 43-101 inferred mineral resource of 2,790,700 tonnes at an average grade of 9.2 g/t Au containing 827,462 ounces of gold with a cut-off grade of 3.8 g/t Au (NI 43-101 technical report written by John Kita, PEng, dated Dec. 13, 2022, and filed Dec. 30, 2022, on SEDAR). The inferred mineral resource is located in the area of the historic underground Rowan mine site and situated within a 1.8-kilometre strike length portion of the regional-scale Pipestone Bay/St. Paul deformation zone.

The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Will Robinson, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for West Red Lake Gold and the qualified person for exploration at the West Red Lake project, as defined by NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About West Red Lake Gold Mines Ltd.

West Red Lake Gold Mines is a mineral exploration company that is publicly traded and dedicated to creating value for its shareholders by discovering new gold mines in the highly productive Red Lake gold district of Northwestern Ontario, Canada. This district has yielded 30 million ounces of gold from high-grade zones and hosts some of the world's richest gold deposits. On May 18, 2023, the company entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Madsen gold mine and its associated 47-square-kilometre highly prospective land package. West Red Lake Gold Mines also holds an expansive property position spanning 3,100 hectares in the Red Lake district known as the Rowan property, comprising three past-producing gold mines -- Rowan, Mount Jamie and Red Summit -- which are wholly owned by the company. The Rowan property covers a 12-kilometre strike length along the Pipestone Bay/St. Paul deformation zone, and West Red Lake Gold Mines plans to continue exploring this property along strike and to depth aggressively in 2023.

We seek Safe Harbor.