Significant Expansion Of Laird Lake & Excelsior Springs Projects

WHITE ROCK, BC – Athena Gold Corporation reported on the significant expansion of its flagship Laird Lake gold project in Ontario’s prolific Red Lake Gold District, alongside an update on its Excelsior Springs project in Esmeralda County, Nevada. Athena has expanded its Laird Lake project by approximately 24% through the acquisition of an additional 995 hectares via map staking, increasing the total land package to approximately 5,155 hectares. The new claims were staked in response to encouraging initial results from the 2025 field season, which highlighted favourable trending structures trending westwards.
The Company has received initial results from its recently completed till sampling program at Laird Lake, initiated in May 2025, which involved the collection of 2,048 till and QAQC samples. The program, designed to identify gold-in-till anomalies and refine high-priority drill targets, utilized a grid spacing of 100 m x 100 m within the Balmer and Confederation assemblages and 200 m x 200 m in surrounding felsic intrusive bodies. The Company is encouraged by the initial results and anticipates providing a comprehensive update to the market once the full suite of assays has been received and analyzed, expected in late summer 2025. The results are expected to inform follow-up fieldwork and help define drill targets for a planned winter drilling program.
Excelsior Springs project in Nevada, has been significantly expanded through the staking of an additional 115 unpatented mining claims, increasing its size more than 50% to over 2,500 hectares. The new claims were targeted based on mapping that indicated the presence of Tertiary felsic intrusive rocks and cover multiple undocumented small-scale workings. The new claims are 100% owned by Athena and included in the option agreement.