Trident Intersects 5.73 g/t Au over 15.0m including 9.35 g/t Au over 7.0m and 15.05 g/t Au over 2.0m Below Historical Mining Infrastructure at the Contact Lake Gold Project in Northern Saskatchewan Vancouver, BC, Jan. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trident Resources Corp. (TSXV: ROCK) (OTCQB: TRDTF) (“Trident” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the results of the remaining six (6) diamond drill holes from the 19-hole 2025 drill program at the Contact Lake Project. These are the final holes to be reported from the 2025 fall program and were designed to test for the down-dip extension of gold mineralization below the historically defined Main Zone of the Bakos Shear Zone, the main host to gold mineralization. Based on the very successful results of the 2025 drill program (6,838m drilled in 19 holes), a fully-funded 10,000m winter 2026 drill program at Contact Lake is underway. Trident’s Regional Project Location Map:https://www.tridentresourcescorp.com/projects/contact-lake-gold-project/#&gid=1&pid=1 Highlights: - The final six holes from Trident’s inaugural drill program at Contact Lake all intersected substantial gold mineralization within, above and below the Bakos Shear zone – the main host of gold at Contact Lake. These holes targeted gold mineralization in areas below the historical mining infrastructure, which highlights the tremendous depth-potential of the orogenic gold system present at Contact Lake. - Hole CL25017 returned 5.73 g/t gold (Au) over 15.0m from 472.0m including 9.35 g/t Au over 7.0m from 480.0m and 15.05 g/t Au over 2.0m from 481.0m. - Hole CL25016 returned 2.62 g/t Au over 37.44m from 465.6m including 5.70 g/t gold over 9.0m from 469.8m and 11.53 g/t Au over 2.3m from 476.5m. - A 2026 winter phase of drilling consisting of approximately 10,000 metres in up to 40 drill holes with two drill rigs has commenced. Jon Wiesblatt, CEO of Trident Resources, commented: “These results are very important for Trident as they clearly demonstrate the potential to significantly expand gold mineralization at depth, well below the historical mine workings developed by Cameco in the 1990’s. These first few deeper holes illustrate the discovery potential beneath the old infrastructure and reinforce our belief that Contact Lake is a large, robust orogenic gold system with the capacity to evolve into a world-class, high-grade deposit, similar to those at other major greenstone gold camps in Canada. Advancing exploration at depth will remain a key priority for the Company, and these results provide strong validation for the follow-up drilling planned in our ongoing programs at the project.” Summary of Drilling: The final six holes were mainly focused on discovering gold mineralization below the existing underground infrastructure in order to prove the depth potential of the orogenic shear-hosted mineralization present at Contact Lake. These types of gold systems commonly persist to great depths, such as SSR’s Seabee Gold Operation, located 85km northeast of Contact Lake, where underground mining operations occurred up to 1.3km below surface. Contact Lake was shut down in 1998 when the gold price was close to USD $300/oz and the limit of mining reached 340 metres vertical depth. Trident believes the Contact Lake gold system has excellent potential to extend well below the limits of the historical mining where there has been effectively no drill testing. Contact Lake Gold Property Map:http://www.tridentresourcescorp.com/_resources/maps/contact-lake-property-map.jpg Analytical results from the 2025 drill program show that high-grade gold is present at shallow depths as well as deeper down. The 2026 winter drill program at Contact Lake will seek to extend recently discovered and historically identified gold zones along strike to the northeast in the BK3 Zone where historically defined resources were left unmined due to the low gold price. Trident will continue to explore and drill test in a systematic manner as the team looks to expand on and discover additional high-grade gold zones. Contact Lake Drill Collar Location Map:https://www.tridentresourcescorp.com/_resources/images/Contact-Lake-Gold-Property-20260114.png Detailed Description of the Drill Holes: Hole CL25014 (338º azimuth and -62º dip) was collared 414m southeast of the mine portal entrance in an area of sparse historical drilling to target the potential down-dip and lateral extension of gold mineralization in the Main Zone at a vertical depth of 330m, near the lower limits of the mine infrastructure in that area. Two distinct higher-grade zones of mineralization were encountered in the footwall of the Bakos Shear including 5.03 g/t Au over 5.0m (484.0-489.0m down-hole) and 1.24 g/t Au over 23.0m (507.0-530.0m down-hole) including 2.15 g/t over 10.5m (512.5-523.0m). Lower-grade gold mineralization was encountered in the Bakos Shear between 366-400m down-hole depth with a more coherent zone encountered in weakly sheared granodiorite in the footwal