Near Surface Infill-Drilling to Assess Open Pit Production Intersects 45.38 g/t Au over 3.13 m core length, including 141.00 g/t Au over 0.88 m

TORONTO, June 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSXV: RPX, OTCQB: RDEXF) ("Red Pine” or the "Company”) is pleased to announce further results from the ongoing drilling program at the Wawa Gold Project, Ontario. Near surface drilling completed since May 2025 was conducted as part of the Company's assessment of the open pit potential. (See PR dated May 8, 2025).

Highlights of the Open-Pit Evaluation Drilling

• 45.38 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) over 3.13 metres (m) core length, including 141.00 g/t Au over 0.88 m in hole SD-25-559
• Previous intersections from the same area include:
  • 14.51 g/t Au over 4.81 m, including 90.40 g/t Au over 0.67 m in hole SD-25-552
  • 109.00 g/t gold over 0.86 g/t Au in historical hole U0590L3 from un-sampled historical core
  • 176.00 g/t Au over 0.78 m in hole SD-16-45 that is located on strike from hole SD-25-559;
• Near-surface intersection of 1.86 g/t Au over 19.09 m including 4.28 g/t Au over 4.88 m in hole SD-25-544

Michael Michaud, President and CEO of Red Pine commented: "We are excited about the recent drilling results that highlight local areas of high-grade gold mineralization within the deposit. These high grades occur within broader zones of near-surface mineralization that will be used to assess the potential for open pit production. These near surface high grade results give us greater confidence in our path forward.

"We expect to complete the drill testing of the starter pits in early July after which the Company will begin the update of the 2024 Mineral Resource Estimate ("2024 MRE”), with the objective of concurrently working towards a preliminary economic assessment ("PEA”), anticipated for completion in H1 2026.”

Ongoing Drilling Program

Red Pine has currently completed approximately 90% of the fully funded 25,000 m program that commenced in November 2024. Prior to May of this year, drilling was completed to test targets down plunge of the Jubilee Shear to the south and to a lesser extent along the north portion of the Jubilee Shear. Drilling since May has been focused on testing the Jubilee Shear in the Jubilee Mine area that also has potential for starter open-pits (Figures 1 and 2).

Drilling has also continued in several other areas of the Jubilee Shear including:

• 3.80 g/t Au over 4.04 m, including 11.20 g/t Au over 1.00 m in the Hornblende Shear located 200 m west of the Jubilee Shear in hole SD-25-548, which is approximately 75 m away from a previous intersection of 11.00 g/t gold over 0.73 m
• Drilling at depth continues to expand mineralization over 5.00 g/t Au and returned 9.54 g/t Au over 1.03 m in the Jubilee Shear in SD-25-540

Quality Assurance/Quality Control ("QA/QC”) Measures

Individual drill core samples are labelled and split in half along a pre-marked cutting line using a diamond saw. A consistent half-core sample is then placed in an individual plastic sample bag that is sealed. The remaining half-core samples are kept at the core storage facility of the Company located on the Wawa Gold project. Quarter-core duplicates are taken from certain samples to define the variability of gold distribution. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags sealed with security seals to be transported using a commercial carrier for analysis to Actlabs in Ancaster, Ontario. NQ core assays were obtained by 50-gram fire-assaying-AA finish or by 1-kilogram screen fire assay. The 1-kilogram screen assay method is selected for samples anticipated to contain coarse gold and when the fire-assay-AA finish return results greater or equal to 2.25 g/t Au. The residual coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage for a minimum 90-day period if further work or verification is needed.

As part of its QA/QC program, Red Pine inserts external gold standards (low- to high-grade) and blanks every 20 samples and routinely insert blanks immediately after samples with visible gold. Quarter core duplicates are routinely inserted to evaluate the natural variability of gold mineralization. Assay certificates are sent to at least three members of the senior management team, and they are directly accessible from the WebLIMS portal of Actlabs. Approximately 5% of the pulps and coarse rejects analyzed at Actlabs are sent to Agat Laboratories in Thunder Bay for umpire testing.