First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. press release

First Atlantic Begins Pit Excavation at the RPM Zone, Exposing Bedrock North of Current Drilling and Opening New Potential at Pipestone XL, as the Year-Round Exploration Access Road Connects the RPM Zone to Alloy Max and Super Gulp, Drilled Awaruite Discoveries Spanning Approximately 14 Kilometres of the Pipestone Ophiolite Complex

2026-10-29

TSXV - TSX Venture Exchange · Nickel · Chromium · Cobalt · Iron · Hydrogen · Copper · Gold · Silver · Canada · Project Development

GRAND FALLS-WINDSOR, Newfoundland and Labrador, Oct. 29, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: FAN) (OTCQB: FANCF) (FSE: P210) (“First Atlantic” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that permitted pit excavation has begun at the RPM Zone of the Company’s wholly owned Pipestone XL Nickel-Cobalt (Ni-Fe-Co) Alloy Project in central Newfoundland, where construction of the year-round exploration access road advances past Alloy Max toward the Super Gulp Zone. When completed, the road will connect four drilled awaruite discoveries (RPM, Alloy Max South, Alloy Max North and Super Gulp) spanning approximately 14 kilometres of the 30-kilometre Pipestone Ophiolite Complex and link through to Highway 1 and Grand Falls-Windsor, while opening the way to about 16 kilometres of undrilled ground between Super Gulp and the historical Atlantic Lake Zone. Because overburden at Pipestone XL is very shallow, the Company can dig trenches to bedrock along the route as the road is built and sample the exposed rock directly for visibly disseminated awaruite. This technique guided drilling at Alloy Max North and Alloy Max South.

Ongoing excavation of the permitted pit at the RPM Zone, located north of existing drilling, is supplying the overburden and decomposed bedrock used to build the exploration access road, which will ultimately provide ground access along the full 30-kilometre trend. As the pit is dug out, the bedrock beneath is being exposed and will be sampled and tested for awaruite. The pit sits in an area of intermediate magnetic intensity rather than at a peak anomaly on the airborne total magnetic intensity (TMI) survey. This matters because TMI at Pipestone XL mainly maps magnetite formed during serpentinization, not awaruite itself, so the highest values mark the most magnetite-rich rock rather than necessarily the most awaruite. The setting matches Alloy Max, where ground with an intermediate TMI response is returning strong visibly disseminated awaruite. Together these results support the Company’s evolving targeting model, which now treats the intermediate response as prospective and adds area and volume to the ground that can host mineralization.

West of the RPM Zone, a new exploration access road of approximately 2 kilometres is being developed from the camp down the west side of Pipestone Pond, where surface rock samples collected by Company geologists returned positive Davis Tube Recovery (DTR) magnetically recoverable nickel. This targeted ground lies down-dip of the drilled zone, has never been drilled and is a permitted drill target. The Company intends to follow up on additional targets west and north of the RPM Zone as they are identified through mapping, trenching and surface sampling.

First Atlantic has raised approximately $13.4 million since September 2026 through three no-warrant, non-brokered private placements priced at up to $0.83 per share. The Company intends to use the proceeds to fund the remainder of its 2026 and 2027 drilling and exploration programs. These include drilling across the RPM Zone, Alloy Max South, Alloy Max North and Super Gulp with holes oriented to the east; construction of the exploration access road; and trenching and bedrock sampling, in each case only to the extent the expenditures are Qualifying Expenditures. The Company believes that completing exploration access along the full 30-kilometre trend supports its long-term objective to develop Pipestone XL as a large-scale, multi-pit nickel-cobalt mining district. Awaruite, a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy, has the potential to be concentrated and processed without conventional smelting, which the Company believes could help address the midstream smelting bottleneck that limits future nickel and cobalt supply.

First Atlantic welcomes direct calls from shareholders and prospective investors. Rob Guzman, Investor Relations, is available at +1-844-592-6337to answer questions about this news release or the Company, or by email at rob@fanickel.com.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

1.Exploration Access Road to Connect the RPM Zone to Alloy Max and Super Gulp, Drilled Awaruite Discoveries Spanning Approximately 14 km of the Pipestone Ophiolite Complex:When completed, the year-round exploration access road will connect the RPM Zone to Alloy Max and Super Gulp, drilled awaruite discoveries spanning approximately 14 kilometres of the 30-kilometre Pipestone Ophiolite Complex, four zones in all: RPM, Alloy Max South, Alloy Max North and Super Gulp. Construction is currently advancing north of Alloy Max toward Super Gulp.

2.Permitted Pit Excavation North of Existing Drilling at the RPM Zone:Permitted pit excavation north of AN-25-13, the furthest north hole at the RPM Zone, is removing overburden and decomposed bedrock for construction of the exploration access road. The exposed bedrock, in ground with an intermediate magnetic response on the airborne survey, will be sampled and tested for awaruite.

3.Additional Permits Received for Trenching, Test Pitting and Crossings Along the Road:In addition to its excavation permits, the Company has received separate permits for trenching and test pitting along the exploration access road. These allow shallow trenches to expose bedrock for direct sampling as construction advances, together with individual permits for the bridge and culvert crossings on both segments.

4.Intermediate Magnetic Response Adds Area and Volume to Prospective Ground:Airborne total magnetic intensity (TMI) at Pipestone XL mainly maps magnetite formed during serpentinization, not awaruite itself. At Alloy Max, ground with an intermediate TMI response has returned strong visibly disseminated awaruite, which the Company had expected to be confined to the most strongly magnetic rock. The Company’s targeting model now treats intermediate-response ground as prospective at the RPM Zone and Alloy Max.

5.Permitted Drill Target West of Pipestone Pond at the RPM Zone:Surface DTR samples collected west of Pipestone Pond returned magnetically recoverable nickel grades comparable to those found within the drilled limits of the RPM Zone. The area has never been drilled, and a new section of exploration access road, approximately 2 kilometres long, is being built south of the camp to bring a drill to it.

6.$13.4 Million Raised Since September at Up to $0.83 Per Share to Fund 2026 and 2027 Work:Three no-warrant, non-brokered flow-through private placements since September 2026 have raised approximately $13.4 million. The Company intends to use the proceeds to fund the remainder of its 2026 and 2027 exploration programs, including drilling, the exploration access road, trenching and bedrock sampling, and metallurgical test work across the trend.

7.Year-Round Ground Access to Replace Helicopter and Seasonal Limits:Once completed, the exploration access road is expected to give drill rigs, heavier equipment and crews ground access through seasonal weather, including to areas such as Super Gulp that were previously reachable only by helicopter. Year-round access is expected to support faster drilling, more personnel in camp and larger-scale sampling.

8.Road Access Enabled Every Drilled Discovery at Pipestone XL:Road access to the RPM Zone enabled the RPM discovery and its rapid drilling program, and road access was equally instrumental in the 2026 Alloy Max North and Alloy Max South discoveries. Approximately 16 km of undrilled ground lies between Super Gulp and Atlantic Lake along the route north.

EXPLORATION ACCESS ROAD ALONG THE 30-KILOMETRE PIPESTONE XL TREND

First Atlantic is developing the exploration access road in two stages along the 30-kilometre nickel trend of the Pipestone Ophiolite Complex, with construction currently advancing north of Alloy Max toward the Super Gulp Zone. Exploration access has been instrumental in each of the Company's drilled discoveries at Pipestone XL. Connecting multiple drilled zones by year-round road access supports the Company's objective of developing Pipestone XL as a multi-pit nickel-cobalt mining district.

Initial stage, connecting the drilled discoveries:The initial stage will connect the RPM Zone to Alloy Max and Super Gulp, the Company's drilled awaruite discoveries, which lie within approximately 14 kilometres of each other at the southern end of the trend. Second stage, 16 kilometres of undrilled ground:The second stage is designed to extend the road north beyond Super Gulp through approximately 16 kilometres of undrilled ground to the historic Atlantic Lake Zone. The Company believes this will allow it to explore that part of the trend systematically for additional awaruite zones. Full 30-kilometre trend:Together, the two stages are designed to provide ground access along the entire 30-kilometre trend. Before First Atlantic began exploring the Project, road access reached only Atlantic Lake, at the far north, and the southern half of the complex remained largely underexplored. Discovery record:Ground access to the RPM Zone enabled its first large-scale drilling, and completion of the drill access trail to Alloy Max in 2026 led to the Alloy Max North and Alloy Max South discoveries. Year-round drilling:Year-round ground access is expected to increase the pace of drilling, with drill rigs, heavier equipment and crews working through every season, and to allow the Company to bring in a larger, more powerful drill capable of drilling deeper and through faulted ground. Construction Equipment on site:Three excavators, two dump trucks and a bulldozer are on site, excavating fill at the permitted pit north of the RPM Zone and hauling it north along the route, and the Company intends to add equipment as construction advances. Exploration during construction:With trenching and test-pitting permits in hand and overburden in places only a few metres thick, shallow trenches dug as the road advances expose bedrock that is sampled directly for visibly disseminated awaruite, building an inventory of priority drill targets along the route._ _

Figure 1: Map of the Pipestone XL Project showing the exploration access road route, under development, from the RPM Zone north through Alloy Max and Super Gulp toward the Atlantic Lake Zone; the new section along the west side of Pipestone Pond, and the connection toward Grand Falls-Windsor.

The Company intends to fund the exploration access road, drilling and other exploration described in this news release from the approximately $13.4 million raised since September 2026. That amount consists of $6,157,500 closed on September 18, 2026 at $0.75 per flow-through share, $3.77 million closed on September 28, 2026 at $0.75 per flow-through share and $0.785 per charity flow-through share, and $3,492,000.90 closed on October 6, 2026 at $0.83 per flow-through share. Expenditures funded from flow-through proceeds will be funded only to the extent they qualify as Qualifying Expenditures (as defined in the Company's news release of October 6, 2026).

THE RPM ZONE: PIT EXCAVATION NORTH OF EXISTING DRILLING AND A NEW DRILL TARGET AREA WEST OF PIPESTONE POND

Existing drilling has defined the RPM Zone over more than 1.2 kilometres of strike and more than 800 metres of width from 13 holes, all of which intersected visible awaruite and returned positive magnetically recoverable nickel. The zone remains open to the north, south, west and at depth. The Company holds drill permits for ground beyond these limits, both north of the existing drilling and west of Pipestone Pond.

Pit Excavation North of Existing Drilling:North of AN-25-13, the furthest north hole at the RPM Zone, permitted pit excavation is removing overburden and decomposed bedrock for construction of the exploration access road. The Company plans to sample and test the exposed bedrock for awaruite. Target Area West of Pipestone Pond:Surface DTR samples collected west of Pipestone Pond in October 2025 returned magnetically recoverable nickel grades comparable to those found within the drilled limits of the RPM Zone. The area lies down-dip of the drilled zone, has never been drilled and is a permitted drill target. A new section of exploration access road, approximately 2 kilometres long, is being built south of the camp to bring a drill to it. New Potential in Intermediate Magnetic Rock:Drilling at Alloy Max in 2026 showed that rock with an intermediate magnetic response on the airborne survey, not only the strongest magnetic anomalies, is prospective for visibly disseminated awaruite in drill core. Airborne total magnetic intensity (TMI) mainly maps magnetite formed during serpentinization rather than awaruite itself, so this intermediate magnetic rock adds area and volume to the ground that can host mineralization at the RPM Zone and across Pipestone XL. The pit north of drill hole AN-25-13 sits in this type of ground.

Sampling the exposed bedrock north of the existing RPM drilling and drilling the targeted areas west of Pipestone Pond are designed to test the extension of the RPM Zone beyond its current drilled limits.

Figure 2: RPM Zone area map showing surface DTR nickel results and the Exploration Priority 2 area west of Pipestone Pond, with the alignment of the exploration access road being developed down the west side of Pipestone Pond.

Figure 3: Road construction with earthmoving equipment along the exploration access road corridor north of the RPM Zone, Pipestone XL Project (Fall 2026).

Figure 4: Excavator ditching and clearing along the exploration access road at Pipestone XL, with overburden and boulders pushed aside to open drainage across boggy ground (Fall 2026).

Figure 5: Stripping overburden to decomposed bedrock at the permitted pit north of the RPM Zone, which supplies fill for the exploration access road and exposes bedrock that can be sampled (Fall 2026).

Figure 6: Dump truck hauling fill from the permitted pit north of the RPM Zone along the exploration access road, Pipestone XL Project (Fall 2026).

PIPESTONE XL: A DISTRICT-SCALE NICKEL-COBALT ALLOY PROJECT

Pipestone XL is First Atlantic’s wholly owned, district-scale project spanning the entire 30-kilometre Pipestone Ophiolite Complex in central Newfoundland, a belt of ultramafic rock enriched in nickel, cobalt, and chromium. The Project hosts multiple zones of awaruite (Ni₃Fe) mineralization, including RPM, Alloy Max, Super Gulp, Atlantic Lake, and Chrome Pond. The RPM Zone is the most advanced, with drilling having outlined magnetically recoverable awaruite over more than 1.2 kilometres of strike and more than 800 metres of width. Drilling is ongoing at Alloy Max, a second large-scale zone spanning approximately 4 kilometres of strike and up to 1.5 kilometres in width, making it larger than the RPM Zone.

Awaruite at Pipestone XL is the product of serpentinization, which drove sulphur out of the system and left a sulphur-free alloy which carries no acid mine drainage risk and can be concentrated by the Company’s ONSHORE MAX™ process without smelting, roasting, or high-pressure acid leaching. This smelter-free pathway addresses the midstream bottleneck in North America, where the United States has no operating nickel smelters and only two remain in Canada, and supports a vertically integrated supply chain moving directly from mine to downstream battery refining, stainless steel and specialty alloy production. The Company is also evaluating secondary chromium mineralization as a potential co-product, along with low-carbon Engineered Mineral Hydrogen (EMH) in partnership with VEMA Hydrogen1. Investors can learn more about VEMA’s Engineered Mineral Hydrogen at https://www.vema.earth.

Figure 7: Map showing multiple target zones across the 30-kilometer nickel trend over total magnetic intensity (TMI) at the Pipestone XL Project highlighting the showing, the 30-kilometre Pipestone Ophiolite Complex and the RPM, Alloy Max, Super Gulp, Atlantic Lake and Chrome Pond Zones.

Pipestone XL is located in an established infrastructure corridor with year-round road access, nearby high-voltage transmission and clean hydroelectric power from the Bay d’Espoir generating station. It is also located approximately 200 kilometres from Gander International Airport and Vale’s Long Harbour nickel processing plant. This positioning aligns with growing U.S. and allied policy focus on critical mineral supply chains, including nickel’s addition to the U.S. critical minerals list in 2022, the January 2026 White House proclamation on processed critical minerals2, the Company’s acceptance into the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium3, and the June 2026 G7 Leaders’ Declaration naming nickel one of two pilot critical minerals for allied investment and offtake4.

Newfoundland and Labrador is consistently recognized as one of the world’s leading mining jurisdictions in the Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies, ranking 7th globally on the Policy Perception Index in the most recent survey, published in February 2026, and placing in the global top 10 for overall investment attractiveness in each of the three prior surveys. Pipestone XL is positioned to become a secure and reliable North American source of nickel and cobalt for the stainless steel, electric vehicle, aerospace, and defense industries.

AWARUITE AT PIPESTONE XL: A SMELTER-FREE NICKEL-COBALT ALLOY (Ni₃Fe)

Awaruite is a naturally occurring, magnetic, sulphur-free nickel-iron-cobalt alloy (Ni₃Fe) containing approximately 77% nickel. Because it already exists in a metallic state, awaruite can be concentrated without smelting, roasting, or high-pressure acid leaching. Mineralogical and electron microprobe analysis at the Company’s RPM Zone has confirmed the awaruite averages 77.62% nickel and 1.69% cobalt, with grades as high as 86.68% nickel and 6.05% cobalt5.

Figure 8: USGS quote on awaruite nickel-iron-cobalt alloy.6

Initial metallurgical test work using the Company’s ONSHORE MAX™ (Magnetic Alloy eXtraction) process upgraded rock samples from the project’s RPM Zone into a high-grade alloy concentrate averaging 67.4% nickel and grading up to 71.9% nickel and 1.76% cobalt7. Low-intensity magnetic separation first produced a magnetic concentrate grading approximately 1.6% nickel, which flotation then upgraded to the final concentrate. By comparison, a typical nickel concentrate grades 10% to 15% nickel, according to the Nickel Institute. This concentrate can move directly to downstream battery chemical refining or the manufacture of specialty alloys and stainless steel.

The absence of sulphur reduces acid mine drainage risk and related permitting challenges, positioning Pipestone XL to supply North American industries including stainless steel, electric vehicles, aerospace, and defence.

INVESTOR INFORMATION

The Company’s common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol “FAN”, on the OTCQB under the symbol “FANCF”, and on several German exchanges, including Frankfurt and Tradegate, under the symbol “P210”. Investors can get updates about First Atlantic by signing up to receive news via email and SMS text at www.fanickel.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

First Atlantic Investor Relations, Robert Guzman. Tel: +1-844-592-6337| Email: rob@fanickel.com

QUALIFIED PERSON

Adrian Smith, P.Geo., a director and the Chief Executive Officer of the Company, is a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. The qualified person is a member in good standing of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador (PEGNL) and is a registered professional geoscientist (P.Geo.). Mr. Smith has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed herein.

ABOUT FIRST ATLANTIC NICKEL & COBALT CORP.

First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. (TSXV: FAN | OTCQB: FANCF | FSE: P210) is a critical mineral exploration company in Newfoundland and Labrador developing the Pipestone XL Nickel-Cobalt (Ni-Fe-Co) Alloy Project. The project spans the entire 30-kilometre Pipestone Ophiolite Complex, where multiple zones, including RPM, Alloy Max, Super Gulp, Atlantic Lake and Chrome Pond, contain awaruite (Ni₃Fe), a naturally occurring magnetic nickel-iron-cobalt alloy of approximately 77% nickel with no sulphur and no sulphides, along with secondary chromium mineralization. Awaruite’s sulphur-free composition removes acid mine drainage risk, while its magnetic properties enable processing through magnetic separation and flotation, eliminating the electricity requirements, emissions and environmental impacts of conventional smelting, roasting or high-pressure acid leaching, while reducing dependence on overseas nickel processing infrastructure.