Hercules Metals Corp. (TSX-V: BIG) (OTCQB: BADEF) is pleased to announce that a 200 m step-out drill hole HER-26-01 has extended mineralization west of the Southern Flats discovery hole HER-25-25 (see PR dated May 26, 2026). The Southern Flats zone represents the second copper porphyry centre discovered at the Company’s Hercules Project in western Idaho since 2023, when the Leviathan copper porphyry system was initially discovered.

HER-26-01 encountered transitional phyllic to outer potassic alteration, hosting a unique style of porphyry copper mineralization grading:

• 287 m of 0.58% CuEq (0.43% Cu, 158 ppm Mo, 4.0 g/t Ag, 0.03 g/t Au)
• incl. 66 m of 0.80% CuEq (0.61% Cu, 89 ppm Mo, 11.3 g/t Ag, 0.04 g/t Au)

Unlike at the Leviathan centre, porphyry intrusions in HER-26-01 appear steeply dipping to subvertical. The hole ended in a lower grade late-stage porphyry intrusion interpreted to be steeply dipping.

Both Southern Flats and Leviathan are interpreted to have been emplaced along a major regional fault structure. MT geophysics shows potential for the same copper porphyry mineralization to continue further along the same structure, into the largely untested Pegasus target.

Geological mapping and drilling indicate that Southern Flats may be located within a “down-dropped” fault block, resulting in increased cover thickness. However, 3D modelling also indicates that cover thickness decreases again to the south, and mineralization may occur closer to surface within the Pegasus Zone.

Ongoing drilling has two rigs focused on the high-priority Leviathan copper porphyry system at 200 m drill spacing. Leviathan’s mineralization has currently been traced to over 1.35 km in strike, up to 750 m in width, and approximately 500 m vertical extent. Mineralization remains open to the north, south, and at depth. Assays are now pending for drill hole HER-26-04, while two in-progress drill holes, HER-26-05 and HER-26-06, are expanding Leviathan to the south, infilling a large 1-kilometer gap in drilling between Leviathan and Southern Flats.

An extensive higher-grade copper hypogene enrichment blanket, containing secondary bornite, occurs within the shallowest portions of the Leviathan system. Drilling will continue to prioritize expansion of this high-priority target at Leviathan.

Figure 1: Drill plan showing MT conductivity and IP chargeability targets defining four key zones across the Hercules Property. Warmer colours are more conductive. As part of the current program, drill holes HER-26-04, 26-05, and 26-06 are extending Leviathan to the south and filling a large gap toward newly discovered mineralization in holes HER-25-25 and HER-26-01. 

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Figure 2: Cross-section (±250 m, looking north) showing Southern Flats holes HER-25-25 (see PR dated May 26, 2026) and HER-26-01 (this release). Interpreted geology and alteration shown for context. Select samples for silver, lead and zinc in the Jurassic cover were taken from a depth of 611.12 m and continued to the end of the hole, as indicated in the figure above.

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Figure 3: Long-section, facing east, showing the Leviathan copper porphyry system and overlying epithermal silver mineralization, with the new Southern Flats discovery and the largely untested Pegasus target along strike to the south. The section is approximately coincident with the major regional structure along which MT conductivity anomalies are associated with copper porphyry mineralization. The unconformity in red represents the boundary between underlying copper porphyry mineralization and an overlying epithermal silver system.

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Chris Paul, SVP Exploration for Hercules Metals commented, “Modern systematic exploration has led to two significant porphyry copper discoveries at Hercules since 2023, and, importantly, has provided us with a repeatable methodology for identifying and vectoring toward new porphyry centres across the district. Our approach begins with district-scale MT surveys at progressively tighter-spacing, followed by deep-penetrating IP surveys to refine discrete targets and, ultimately drill, vectoring toward the centres of new porphyry systems using well-established alteration zoning patterns within the Hercules Project porphyry district.

The Southern Flats discovery provides a proof of concept which can now be applied at other high-priority targets on the Property, including Hook and Pegasus. The first reconnaissance drill hole at the Hook target has already intersected key alteration and geological features consistent with the periphery of a porphyry system. With the anomaly beginning 100 meters from surface, Hook has emerged as our new highest-priority exploration target outside of Leviathan.

To date, systematic exploration has only been applied to approximately 20% of our 100,000-acre land position, leaving substantially more opportunities to continue identifying additional porphyry centres across the broader 73 km Olympus copper belt while drilling at Leviathan continues to aggressively expand our flagship discovery on 200 meter centres.”

Table 1: Highlight Intervals

Table 2: Drill Collar Location

Olympus Option Payment

The Company has completed its second C$2.0 million anniversary payment to Barrick Mining Corporation under the option agreement (see PR dated August 18, 2025). This is the second of four payments made by Hercules to complete the ownership of a 73 km belt of claims known as the “Olympus Project.” Upon the final $2 million payment in 2028, the Company will own over 100,000 acres in America’s newest copper porphyry belt. At the Company’s election, the payment was made entirely in cash rather than common shares.

Sample Analysis and QAQC

All drill core samples were prepped at MSA Labs in Elko, Nevada and analyzed at MSA Labs in Langley, British Columbia, an ISO 17025 and ISO 9001 certified laboratory. Samples were dried and crushed to 2 mm, from which a 250 g sub-sample split was then pulverized to 85% passing a 75 micron sieve. Following preparation, assays were determined by the IMS-230 method. A 0.25 g aliquot of the prepared pulp was digested in a 4-acid solution consisting of hydrochloric, nitric, perchloric and hydrofluoric acids. 4-acid is a near total digest and only the most highly resistant minerals are not dissolved. The resulting solution was analyzed via ICP-MS and ICP-ES for 48 elements and was corrected for inter-element spectral interferences. Lower detection limits for this procedure are 0.01 ppm for silver, 0.5 ppm for lead, 2 ppm for zinc, and 0.2 ppm for copper. Mercury is not reported due to volatilization in reaction with hydrofluoric acid and gold is not reported due to the small, 0.25 g aliquot size being insufficient to overcome the nugget effect.

Samples with initial results beyond the upper detection limit of the IMS-230 method were analyzed by procedures ICF-6Ag, ICF-6Cu, ICF-6Pb and ICF-6Zn. The thresholds are 100 ppm for silver, and >1% for copper, lead and zinc.

A 50 g split from the crushed and pulverized samples are composited into larger 500 g composite samples (consisting of ten continuous samples) and analyzed for gold utilizing CPA-Au1 photon assay method. Certain material gold results from the composite samples are then selected for re-analysis, by individual sample, as a 30 g fire assay (FAS-111 Method). Gold assays below detection limit are treated as zero values for composite calculations.

MSA Labs employs internal quality control standards, duplicates and blank samples at set frequencies.

Blind certified reference materials (CRMs) and blank samples were systematically inserted by the Company into the sample stream and analyzed as part of the Company’s quality assurance/quality control protocol.

For further details regarding holes HER-25-25, HER-26-02 and HER 26-03 including applicable scientific and technical information and cautionary statements, see PR’s dated May 26, 2026, June 16, 2026 and September 14, 2026, respectively.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information in this press release has been reviewed, verified and approved for disclosure by Dillon Hume, P.Geo. and Vice President, Exploration for the Company. Mr. Hume is a “Qualified Person” for Hercules Metals within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Hercules Metals Corp.

Hercules Metals Corp. (TSX-V: BIG) (OTCQB: BADEF) is an exploration Company focused on developing America’s newest porphyry copper district, in Idaho.

The 100% owned Hercules Project, located northwest of Cambridge, hosts the Leviathan porphyry copper system, one of the most important new discoveries in the country to date. The Company is well positioned for growth through continued drilling, supported by a strategic investment from Barrick Mining Corporation.

With the potential for significant scale, the Company’s management and board of directors aims to deliver value to shareholders through proven discovery success.