Juggernaut Confirms Free Milling Gold on New District Scale Gold Silver Copper Rich Discovery at 100% Controlled Big One Property, Golden Triangle, B.C.

(TheNewswire)

Vancouver, British Columbia TheNewswire - February 23, 2026 Juggernaut Exploration Ltd (JUGR: TSX.V) (OTCPK: JUGRF) (FSE: 4JE) (the "Company" or "Juggernaut") is pleased to report the discovery of high-purity free milling gold within the gold-mineralized veins from the newly discovered district scale gold, silver, copper rich system on the 100% controlled Big One property (the "Property"), Golden Triangle, British Columbia. The petrographic study carried out by the Colorado School of Mines also confirms a magmatic origin for the mineralizing fluids, indicating a potential porphyry source.

Petrography highlights:

• Results from a petrographic study prepared by the Colorado School of Mines confirmed that gold occurs as free milling gold up to 150 microns in size.

• Based on EDS analyses, the composition of the observed gold grains is quite pure, with gold accounting for 80-90 wt% and silver accounting for 10-20 wt%.

• Fluid inclusions with both liquid and gaseous CO bubbles have been observed within the gold-mineralized quartz veins, indicating that fluids are generated at high pressures, confirming a magmatic origin, potentially a porphyry.

• The overall geochemistry of the gold-rich mineralized veins is clean with no occurrence of deleterious elements such as mercury or arsenic.

• Petrographic and metallurgical investigations are ongoing, and additional results will be available after the 2026 inaugural drill program.

Manuele (Lele) Lazzarotto, President and COO of Juggernaut Exploration, states: "The discovery of high-purity free milling gold in an environment characterized by no deleterious materials at Big One surely explains the high gold grades observed in the veins and bodes well for recovery through simple gravity. Double CO2 bubbles trapped as fluid inclusions within the quartz veins, confirming a magmatic source, combined with strong propylitic alteration over a 4 km2 area and geochemical trace element distributions, indicate that the source of this mineralization is a potential porphyry, similar to what we see next door at the multimillion-ounce Galore Creek copper-gold-silver porphyry deposit. From an exploration perspective, this opens the door to another exceptional discovery opportunity for the presence of a large causative mineralizing source at depth. Additional petrographic investigations are underway, and we will also be undertaking metallurgical testing with core material from the inaugural drill program slated to start in May 2026. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Colorado School of Mines as we advance the Big One discovery."

Dan Stuart, CEO of Juggernaut Exploration, states: "These high-grade veins containing high-purity free milling gold encircle the Deeker Creek glacier along the 15 km Highway of Gold Corridor. Clearly, we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg on this mountain of gold. What other surprises remain to be discovered below the surface with the drill bit? Obvious opportunities with scale and grades like those seen on Big One are extremely rare, and we have barely begun to scratch the surface. We strongly believe we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg, and the best is yet to come. The entire team is excited to be the first to drill this extensive high-grade discovery. We look forward to the upcoming fully-funded 10,000 m maiden drill program on Big One, where we will target the low-hanging fruit, the largest and most extensive gold-rich veins seen on surface."

Link to Big One 2026 Video

Big One Gold-Rich District-Scale System Highlights:

• The district-scale Eldorado System covers an area of 22 km that remains wide open where grab samples assayed up to 263.70 g/t AuEq or 8.48 oz/t AuEq (256.60 g/t Au, 546.00 g/t Ag, 0.43 % Cu, 0.41 % Pb and 0.01 % Zn) from 400 mineralized veins that remain open and are up to 10 m wide, hosted in shear zones up to 50 m wide, and are exposed on surface for 500 m with 1 km of vertical relief.

Link to Gold Dome Figure

Link to Whopper Zone Figure

• The Gold Swarm Discovery is a 3 km area of strong gold potential with 100 gold-rich polymetallic veins exposed on surface for 200 m and up to 4.5 m wide with up to 700 m of vertical relief, where grab samples assayed up to 231.81 g/t AuEq or 7.45 oz/t AuEq (226.94 g/t Au, 335.00 g/t Ag, 0.00 % Cu, 4.99 % Pb and 0.01 % Zn) that remains open.

Link to Goldswarm Figure

• 41% (219 samples out of 527) collected within the Eldorado System in 2024 and 2025 assayed 1 g/t AuEq; 65% (28 samples out of 43) collected within the Gold Swarm Zone in 2024 and 2025 assayed 1 g/t AuEq.

Link to map with samples > 1 g/t AuEq

• Gold samples up to 256.60 g/t or 8.25 oz/t, silver samples up to 2810 g/t or 90.34 oz/t, and copper samples up to 14.40 % were collected on Big One.

• The polymetallic veins, alteration signature, geochemical pathfinder element signature, and geophysical anomalies strongly indicate the presence of a large common buried gold, silver, copper-rich porphyry feeder source or similar magmatic source or sources at depth responsible for the extensive district-scale high-grade gold, silver, copper veining confirmed on surface.

• Detailed mapping has confirmed that mineralization at Eldorado and Gold Swarm is linked to a Jurassic to Cretaceous transpressional system and intrusive sources, coeval with the magmatic events that formed the nearby multi-million-ounce Galore Creek copper, gold, silver porphyry deposit.

• The district scale system shows widespread porphyry-style propylitic alteration, with the final phase of alteration occurring simultaneously with mineralization, which will help vector towards the potential source of the mineralization seen in the gold-rich shear zones and veins on surface that remain open.

• Mineralized veins and shear zones were emplaced through brittle-ductile deformation during and after the Jurassic period, forming a major structural corridor at Big One defined by northeast, east, and northwest trends, confirming common orientations as well as similar geochemical signatures and textures of the gold-mineralized veins along the 15 km Highway of Gold corridor surrounding the snowcap of Deeker Glacier strongly indicating that the gold-rich mineralization found throughout is all part of one district-scale gold system that remains open.

• The recently received 5-year drill permit, valid until March 31, 2031, will allow the Company to define the extent of the mineralization at depth as well as fully understand the geometry of the system and related drivers of the mineralization in preparation for a future resource.

The Big One property is situated in a region that is well known for hosting precious metal and porphyry deposits, several of which occur near the property including the multiple porphyry systems at Galore Creek, the world's largest known gold reserve at KSM and the polymetallic copper project at Shaft Creek, as well as the Brucejack high-grade epithermal gold deposit, and the structurally controlled high-grade hydrothermal gold-silver zones at Trophy and Sphal Creek. The property geology is favorable to host these types of deposits, as confirmed by the presence of extensive areas of propylitic alteration, untested geophysical anomalies, strong silt, soil, and rock geochemistry, including pathfinder elements directly related to porphyry systems, key structures and textures, porphyry-style mineralization, and high-grade polymetallic veins, that have been discovered on the Big One property.

The Big One property can be accessed year-round via helicopter from the Glenora/Telegraph Creek Road at the Barrington Mine (33 km to the north-northeast) as well as the Galore Creek Road (15 km to the southeast). The Canadian government committed $20 M to extend/improve the Galore Creek Road to within 15 km of the Big One property. The property is 2 km west of the Scud River airstrip used in the early days of Galore Creek.

The Big One property exploration qualifies for the Critical Mineral Exploration Tax Credit (CMETC).

About Juggernaut Exploration Ltd.

Juggernaut Exploration Ltd. is an explorer and generator of precious metals projects in the prolific Golden Triangle of northwestern British Columbia. Its projects are located in globally recognized geological settings and in geopolitically stable jurisdictions, making them amenable to mining in Canada. Juggernaut is a member and active supporter of CASERM, a collaborative venture between the Colorado School of Mines and Virginia Tech. Juggernaut's key strategic cornerstone shareholder is Crescat Capital.

For more information, please contact:

Juggernaut Exploration Ltd.

Dan Stuart

Chief Executive Officer, Director

Tel: (604)-559-8028

www.juggernautexploration.com

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Qualified Person

Rein Turna, P. Geo, is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, for Juggernaut Exploration projects, and supervised the preparation of, and has reviewed and approved, the technical information in this release.

Disclaimer

The reader is cautioned that grab samples are spot samples, which are typically, but not exclusively, constrained to mineralization. Grab samples are selective in nature, collected to determine the presence or absence of mineralization, and are not intended to be representative of the material sampled.

QA/QC Protocol

Grab, channels, chip, and talus samples were collected by foot with helicopter assistance. Prospective areas included, but were not limited to, proximity to MINFile locations, placer-creek occurrences, regional soil anomalies, and potential gossans identified from high-resolution satellite imagery. The rock grab and chip samples were extracted using a rock hammer, or hammer and chisel, to expose fresh surfaces and to liberate a sample of anywhere between 0.5 and 5.0 kilograms. All sample sites were flagged with biodegradable flagging tape and marked with the sample number. All sample sites were recorded using hand-held GPS units (accuracy 3-10 meters) and sample ID, easting, northing, elevation, type of sample (outcrop, subcrop, float, talus, chip, grab, etc.), and a description of the rock were recorded on all-weather paper. Samples are then inserted in a clean plastic bag with a sample tag for transport and shipping to the geochemistry lab. QA/QC samples, including blanks, certified reference materials, and duplicate samples, are inserted regularly into the sample sequence at a rate of 10%.

All samples are transported in rice bags sealed with numbered security tags. The rice bags are transported from the core shacks to the MSALABS facilities in Terrace, BC. MSALABS is certified with both AC89-IAS and ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2017. The core samples undergo preparation via drying, crushing to ~70% of the material passing a 2 mm sieve, and riffle splitting. The sample splits are weighed and transferred into three plastic jars, each containing between 300 g and 500 g of crushed sample material. A 250 g split is pulverized to ensure that at least 85% of the material passes through a 75 µm sieve. The crushed samples are transported to the MSALABS PhotonAssayTM facility in Prince George, where gold concentrations are quantified via photon assay analysis (method CPA-Au1). Samples that result in gold concentrations ≥5 ppm are analyzed to extinction. Photon assay uses high-energy X-rays (photons) to excite atomic nuclei within the jarred samples, inducing the emission of secondary gamma rays, which are measured to quantify gold concentrations. The assays from all jars are combined on a weight-averaged basis. Multielement analyses are carried out at the MSALABS facilities in Surrey, BC, where 250 g of pulverized splits are analyzed via ICF6xx and IMS-230 methods. The IMS-230 method uses 4-acid digestion (a combination of hydrochloric, nitric, perchloric, and hydrofluoric acids) followed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry to quantify concentrations of 48 elements. Samples with over-limit results for Ag, Cu, Pb, and Zn undergo ore-grade analysis via the ICF-6xx method (where ‘xx' denotes the target metal). This method employs 4-acid digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry.

Gold Equivalent (AuEq) metal values are calculated using: Au 4004.43 USD/oz, Ag 48.80 USD/oz, Cu 5.09 USD/lbs, Pb 2026.43 USD/ton and Zn 3054.88 USD/ton on October 31, 2025. There is potential for economic recovery of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc from these occurrences based on other mining and exploration projects in the same Golden Triangle Mining Camp with a similar style of high-grade gold mineralization, where Juggernaut's project is located, such as the Brucejack Mine and the Homestake Ridge Gold Project. Here, AuEq values were calculated using multi-year running averages for metal price, and included provisions for metallurgical recoveries, treatment charges, refining costs, and transportation. Recoveries for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, and Zn on Big One are not known but are assumed to be similar, with 85 % gold recovery, 75 % silver recovery, 75 % copper recovery, 75 % zinc recovery, and 50 % Pb recovery. The quoted reference of metallurgical recoveries is not from Juggernaut's Big One project, and there is no guarantee that such recoveries will ever be achieved, unless detailed metallurgical work, such as in a Feasibility Study, is completed on the Big One project.

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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT

Certain disclosures in this release may constitute forward-looking statements that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties relating to Juggernaut's operations that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements, including its ability to complete the contemplated private placement. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements.

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