Orezone Gold Corporation (TSX: ORE) (ASX: ORE) (OTCQX: ORZCF) is pleased to announce the first set of drill results from its recently acquired Casa Berardi gold mine, located in Quebec, Canada.

Selected Drill Highlights¹:

Patrick Downey, President and CEO, commented “We are extremely pleased to release this first set of drill results from Casa Berardi, which clearly demonstrates the mine’s significant and untapped exploration upside. The results are from the near-surface F160 and F134 zones, and serve to support planned pit expansions, and more importantly, further illustrate the down-plunge continuity of high-grade mineralization in each zone. Taken together with historical drill results, these plunging zones of mineralization represent potential future underground mining centers, which are located proximal to existing underground infrastructure.

In addition to ramping-up underground exploration drilling at Casa Berardi, surface drilling of the F160 and F134 zones will remain ongoing. The delineation of F160 Zone at depth is expected to further supplement the Company’s plans to increase underground mining rates by reopening the East Mine, while future step-out drilling down plunge of the F134 Zone has the potential to open a significant new exploration front in the Gap Zone.

Overall, we are incredibly encouraged by these initial drill results at Casa Berardi, and look forward to providing regular exploration updates as we incrementally ramp-up exploration to a sustained 80,000-100,000m/yr.”

F160 Zone

The F160 Zone hosts the operating F160 pit, which is located adjacent to the Casa Berardi process plant. Mineralization is open outside of the current F160 life-of-mine pit, with mineralized lenses plunging both to the east and west at 30-40 degrees. Ongoing drilling within the F160 Zone remains focused on testing the down-plunge continuity of high-grade mineralization, with trade-off studies underway to evaluate an expanded F160 pit and a future transition to underground mining.

Initial 2026 drilling of the F160 Zone returned several significant intercepts, including¹:

Furthermore, as detailed in Figure 2, several notable historical results support the broader continuity of mineralization at depth, which include¹:

F134 Zone

The F134 Zone comprises multiple near-surface lenses of mineralization, plunging to the east at 40-50 degrees. The zone hosts the undeveloped F134 pit, with distal mineralization traced a further 750m down plunge below the current designed pit limits. Ongoing drilling within the F134 Zone remains focused on 1) infill drilling to support an expansion of the F134 pit, and 2) down plunge infill and step-out drilling targeting high-grade veins in support of future underground mining. As drilling continues to ramp-up at Casa Berardi, one of the priority targets moving forward will be the broader delineation of mineralization down plunge of the F134 Zone into the Gap Zone, which has seen limited drilling to date.

Initial 2026 drilling of the F134 Zone returned several significant intercepts, including¹:

As detailed in Figure 3, there are several notable historical results which illustrate the broader continuity of mineralization at depth including¹:

Casa Berardi Exploration Outlook

Exploration drilling at Casa Berardi has recently been reinitiated, with four exploration rigs now turning and a fifth to be added in early June. The Company plans to complete 40,000-60,000m of exploration drilling this year at Casa Berardi, with plans to systematically ramp up to a sustainable 80,000-100,000m/yr moving forward.

The 2026 exploration program commenced with surface drilling at the F160 and F134 zones, with ongoing drilling targeting down-plunge extensions at each zone. These near-surface zones, which are proximal to existing underground infrastructure, represent significant and actionable exploration targets, and have the potential to materially expand the current underground resource (M&I: 4.89Mt at 5.93g/t Au containing 934,000oz, Inferred: 1.91Mt at 7.02g/t Au containing 432,000oz).²

More recently, underground drilling has commenced in the 118N Zone (~800m depth from surface) as a follow-up to several significant historical intercepts on the north side of the Casa Berardi fault. Given that the vast majority of underground mineralization identified to date at Casa Berardi is located on the south side of the fault, this exploration upside to the north has significant potential implications in-terms of future resource and production growth moving forward. We see supporting evidence for this thesis in the open pits, where mineralization along secondary and tertiary structures to the north of the Casa Berardi fault has locally been traced beneath the pits to depth of ~350m from surface.

Selected 118N Zone historical intercepts:

269.78g/t Au over 1.0m (CBP-1440)
14.34g/t Au over 2.6m (CBW-1018)
11.53g/t Au over 3.0m (CBW-1440)

As exploration drilling continues to ramp-up at Casa Berardi, future targets include the down-plunge delineation of the well-established WMCP and Principal ore shoots at depth. In support of this drilling, the Company has mobilized an underground mining contractor to site, which in addition to increasing mine development rates, will be utilized to establish the requisite drill stations for this targeting.

Figure 1 – Casa Berardi Long Section (Looking North)

Figure 2 – F160 (Looking North)

Figure 3 – F134 (Looking North)

Table 1 – Drill Results Table

ABOUT OREZONE GOLD CORPORATION

Orezone Gold is an emerging intermediate gold producer with operations in Canada and West Africa. Its Casa Berardi and Bomboré gold mines host significant mineral endowments, growth opportunities, and exploration upside. The recently acquired Casa Berardi mine in Quebec has produced over 3.2Moz of gold to date while the Bomboré mine was constructed and brought into production by Orezone in late 2022.

Orezone is led by an experienced management team committed to safe, sustainable, and responsible mining practices, with a focus on delivering long-term value for all stakeholders.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Patrick Downey
President and Chief Executive Officer

Amanda Mallough
Vice President, Investor Relations

Tel: 1 778 945 8977
info@orezone.com / www.orezone.com

For further information please contact Orezone at +1 (778) 945‑8977 or visit the Company’s website at www.orezone.com.

The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the information contained in this news release.

This announcement was authorized for release by Patrick Downey, Director, President & CEO.

Qualified Persons

Mr. Alexandre Nickerson, P. Eng., Geology Superintendent of Orezone Quebec Inc. has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this press release. Mr. Nickerson is a “Qualified” Person” under NI 43-101 and is not independent of Orezone within the meaning of NI 43-101. To the best of Mr. Nickerson’s knowledge, information, and belief, there is no new material scientific or technical information that would make this disclosure inaccurate or misleading.

Competent Persons

In accordance with ASX Listing Rule 5.12, the information in this announcement relating to the Casa Berardi Mine is confirmed as an accurate representation of the available data for the project by Alexandre Nickerson, P.Eng, an employee of Orezone Quebec Inc., is a member of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec and has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration, and to the activity being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person, as defined in the JORC Code. Mr. Nickerson has over 7 years’ experience and is a full-time employee as Geology Superintendent for Orezone Quebec Inc. Mr. Nickerson consents to the inclusion in this announcement of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which they appear.