Lahontan Drills High Grade Oxide Gold from the Surface at West Santa Fe: 37m Grading 3.11 g/t Au Eq Including 11m Grading 5.75 g/t Au Eq TORONTO, Feb. 24, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lahontan Gold Corp. (TSXV:LG, OTCQB:LGCXF, FSE:Y2F) (the "Company" or "Lahontan") is pleased to announce the final analytical results from our 2025 maiden drilling program at the Company’s satellite West Santa Fe project, located only 13 km from Lahontan’s flagship asset, the Santa Fe Mine project, in Nevada’s prolific Walker Lane. The assay results are from the final reverse-circulation rotary (“RC”) drill are summarized below: WSF25-04R: 36.6 metres (0.0 – 36.6m) grading 3.11 g/t Au Eq including 10.7 metres (1.5 – 12.2m) grading 5.75 g/t Au Eq from the surface, all oxide. The drill hole emphasizes the high gold and silver grades associated with the South Zone at West Santa Fe. Also included in the intercept is a second high grade zone: 12.2m (22.9 – 35.1m) grading 3.67 g/t Au Eq.Individual intercepts range up to 12.04 g/t Au Eq (1.52m, 27.43 – 28.96m, 4.48 g/t Au, 648 g/t Ag).The grade and geometry of these intercepts correlate well with adjacent historic drill holes, further validating the historic drill hole database (please see cross section below). Notes: Au Eq equals Au (g/t) + ((Ag g/t/60)*0.70). Silver grade for calculating Au Eq is adjusted to consider estimated metallurgical recovery reported by Kappes Cassiday (1982). True thickness of the intercepts is estimated to be 75-90% of the drilled interval. Numbers may not total precisely due to rounding. Historic drilling, coupled with the 2025 Lahontan RC drilling, defines a gold and silver mineralized zone with a surface expression of 500 by 350 metres with a true thickness from 35 to over 60 metres. With oxide mineralization starting at the surface, there is good potential to exploit this system utilizing low-cost open pit mining and heap-leach processing. Kimberly Ann, Lahontan Executive Chair, President, CEO, and Founder commented: “The robust assay results from WSF25-04R confirm the high-grade core of the South Zone as defined by historic drilling and underground mine workings. We are continuing to model the West Santa Fe system to better understand the geology and geometry of gold and silver mineralization. The geologic team is also fine-tuning a follow-up RC drilling campaign to commence in Spring. Previous field work, including geologic mapping, rock-chip sampling, and airborne magnetic surveys, confirms that the hydrothermal system at West Santa Fe extends at least 1,000 metres east of the main zone of gold and silver mineralization defined by Lahontan and historic drilling (please Lahontan Gold press release dated June 18, 2024). This possible extension of the main mineralized zone, plus untested down-dip extensions of gold and silver mineralization, will be the key targets of the Spring drilling campaign. West Santa Fe continues to be an exciting new exploration target for the Company, one with excellent potential to add important shallow, oxide gold and silver resource ounces to Lahontan’s mineral resource ledger.” Cross section through drill hole WSF25-04R, West Santa Fe project, Nevada. The results from this drill hole are very similar to historic drilling, in both the grade of gold mineralization and the geometry of the system. Mineralization remains open down-dip to the north-northwest. Note the outcropping nature of the oxidized gold and silver mineralization. Drill hole location map for WSF25-04R, West Santa Fe Project, Nevada. The surface projection of known mineralization, based on historic drilling, is shown in red, an area of 350 by 500 metres, is now confirmed by Lahontan drilling. Photo of RC drill cutting from drill hole WSF25-04R, West Santa Fe project, Nevada. The high-grade gold and silver mineralized zones are characterized by thoroughly oxidized limestone. Silicification accompanied by quartz veining is seen in the highest-grade areas (see inset photo above). Gold and silver mineralization at West Santa Fe is hosted by Triassic age limestone of the Pamlico Formation. The balance of this rock unit is siliceous volcanic and volcaniclastic rock, a strong chemical contrast to the highly reactive carbonate rock, thus mineralization is strongly controlled by stratigraphy. On a detailed scale, higher gold and silver grades are associated with abundant goethite, hematite, and silver halides such as cerargyrite and embolite. While silicification and quartz veining are important hydrothermal alteration features, abundant calcite veining usually accompanies the mineralized intervals. Brian J. Maher, Lahontan Vice President – Exploration and Founder commented: “The maiden RC drilling campaign at West Santa Fe has been very successful. The geologic setting and mineralogy observed in outcrop and drill holes help explain the good gold and silver recoveries reported previously (Kappes Cassiday, 1982): Thoroughly oxidized horizons accompanied by silver halides.