Western Star Resources Acquires the Past-Producing Eagle Point Tungsten Mine, Highlighting Historical Production and Untested Exploration Targets

The Eagle Point was advanced during periods of strategic tungsten demand during the 1950s, when the United States Government agreed to codevelop the property under a Defense Minerals Exploration Administration ("DMEA") contract [1]. Historical records report approximately 1,800 tons of ore shipped during the Second World War at a grade of approximately 0.5% WO? [1]

Surface trenching across multiple skarn bodies resulted in historical estimates of approximately 100,000 to 150,000 tons grading approximately 0.5% WO? [1]A. The estimate is historical in nature and should not be relied upon. Recent sampling by the USGS returned grades of up to 27.6% WO? [2], suggesting historical work significantly underestimated the grade potential.

Key Highlights

• 100% interest acquired in the past-producing Eagle Point tungsten project, comprising 24 lode mining claims (GP 1 to GP 24) in the Granite Pass area, Hidalgo County, New Mexico.

• Past Production where approximately 1,800 tons of scheelite-bearing tactite-skarn were mined and shipped from the property.

• U.S. Government examinations estimated approximately 150,000 - 200,000 tons of scheelite-bearing material from surface trenching and outcrop sampling.

• Recent USGS sampling returned high-grade tungsten, headlined by a scheelite-bearing skarn sample assaying 27.6% WO? (219,000 ppm W) and 0.98% Mo, confirming the very high-grade nature of the mineralisation at surface.

• The United States Government entered the DMEA Contract. The planned program was not executed, leaving its principal exploration objectives untested.

• Classic tungsten (scheelite) skarn-tactite deposit style - the same contact-metamorphic setting that hosts many of the world's most significant tungsten deposits.

• Tungsten is a designated United States critical mineral. The United States has no domestic commercial production, with approximately 85% of global supply controlled by China [3]

"Eagle Point is the kind of asset you build a company around. It brings together everything we look for in one place - high-grade tungsten, a documented production history, eight separate skarn bodies exposed at surface, and a tier-one U.S. jurisdiction - yet it has never once been touched by modern exploration," said Blake Morgan, CEO and President of Western Star. "Recent USGS work returned a sample grading more than 27% WO?, with a meaningful molybdenum credit on top, and the deposit was considered prospective enough that the U.S. Government approved and funded an exploration contract over it in the 1950s - one that was never drilled. We're acquiring 24 claims over a system that already produced tungsten and earned Federal backing, in a country with no domestic production and an urgent need to rebuild its supply chain. Assets that check every one of those boxes simply don't come along often, and Eagle Point anchors the U.S. critical-minerals platform we're building."

The makings of a strategic asset at Eagle Point

• Critical Mineral Status: Tungsten is indispensable for defence, aerospace, energy, and advanced manufacturing applications. The United States currently has no domestic commercial tungsten production and is highly dependent on imports, with approximately 85% of global supply controlled by China [3]

• Exploration Upside: Eagle Point has demonstrated high-grade mineralisation at surface and a documented production history, yet remains effectively unexplored using modern geophysical, geochemical and drilling techniques.

• Alignment with United States Policy: Recent United States Government directives prioritise the fast-tracking of domestic tungsten projects, with Federal grants and defence-sector support available for qualifying critical-mineral assets.

Property and Location

The Eagle Point Property comprises 24 unpatented lode mining claims covering the historic Eagle Point tungsten workings and prospective geology in the Granite Pass area on the south-western flank of the Little Hatchet Mountains, Hidalgo County, New Mexico. The Property lies in Section 22, Township 29 South, Range 16 West, at approximately 31.766°N, 108.457°W Figure 1.

There is excellent access to the property with State Highway 81 passing within 4 miles and extensive gravel tracks throughout. It is located 11.5 miles south-west of Hachita, and approximately 100 miles from Silver City. Exploration can be conducted year-round, and there are no known restrictions on operating in the area. BLM manage the surface and mineral rights of the claims, and drilling is permitted under a standard BLM Notice of Intent.

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Figure 1: Location of the Eagle Point Tungsten Project, Hidalgo County, New Mexico

Regional Geological Setting

The Little Hatchet Mountains form part of the Basin and Range province of south-western New Mexico (Figure 2) and expose a sequence of Palaeozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks, dominantly limestone, intruded by Laramide-age granitic to granodioritic plutons. These intrusions developed extensive contact-metamorphic aureoles where they invaded carbonate host rocks, producing the garnet-rich skarn ("tactite") zones that host tungsten mineralisation throughout the district. The region forms part of a broader belt of Laramide magmatic-hydrothermal mineral systems in south-western New Mexico and south-eastern Arizona that includes significant tungsten, molybdenum and porphyry-style occurrences.

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Figure 2: Regional geological setting of the Eagle Point Property, Little Hatchet mining district, Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Figure from Clinkscales et al (2017)

Local Geology

At the Property scale, mineralisation is developed along the contact between a tongue of crystalline limestone and granite to granodiorite. The limestone strikes broadly east-west to north-east and dips moderately to steeply (approximately 60-70°) to the south. Replacement of the limestone by garnet-dominant tactite is irregular and forms a series of lenticular, pod-like skarn bodies distributed over approximately 1,500 to 2,000 feet of strike along the northern limestone-granite contact. Individual tactite bodies range from a few feet to as much as 140 feet in length and from a few inches up to about 30 feet in width. Post-mineral porphyry and andesitic dikes cut the sequence. The limestone tongue is bounded and underlain by granite at relatively shallow depth, a key control on the geometry of mineralisation. The northern portion of the Property captures more of this prospective granite-limestone contact, as well as nine test pits that offer promising exploration potential.

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Figure 3: Local geology and historical workings at the Eagle Point Property.

Mineralisation Style and Deposit Type

Eagle Point is a contact-metamorphic tungsten skarn (tactite-replacement) deposit. Tungsten occurs as scheelite, developed as both fine disseminations and coarser crystals within andradite-rich garnet tactite, and is concentrated where the tactite is finer-grained and has been fractured or sheared. The scheelite is molybdenian (carrying molybdenum in the scheelite-powellite series), imparting a characteristic golden-yellow fluorescence under ultraviolet light. Associated minerals include pyrite, magnetite, calcite and epidote.

Molybdenum is regarded as a potential economic co-product of the Property. Modern USGS sampling returned molybdenum up to approximately 0.98% (9,820 ppm Mo) in the highest-grade tungsten sample, with several further skarn samples returning elevated molybdenum, consistent with the molybdenian character of the scheelite and the presence of molybdenum mineralisation within the system.

Recent USGS Sampling

Recent sampling at Eagle Point by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), reported via New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) data [2], returned high-grade tungsten from the skarn outcrops and dumps. A peak composite outcrop sample (LH705) graded 27.6% WO? (219,000 ppm W), with multiple additional skarn samples returning anomalous to high-grade tungsten and elevated molybdenum. Results are summarised below.

¹ WO? calculated from elemental tungsten (W) using a conversion factor of 1.2611. The samples reported above are selective grab, dump-select and composite outcrop samples collected by the USGS / NMBGMR. Data source: USGS / NMBGMR (see reference)

Historical Work, Production and Government Support

The Property has a long history of examination, with a documented record of discovery, production, repeated Federal study and Government-backed exploration spanning nearly two decades.

The Eagle Point project was discovered in 1940 by prospector J. H. Winslow while prospecting with an ultraviolet lamp, and the early claims were staked in 1941. Over the following sixteen years the Property was examined repeatedly by U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) geologists and engineers. These reviews were completed in 1941, 1942, 1943, 1951, 1955 and 1957 and the property was the subject of four separate Federal exploration-assistance applications (dockets DMA-1475, DMA-1476X, DMEA-3276 and DMEA-3701).

Federal examiners were encouraged by what they saw. Following his 1942 sampling, USBM engineer James E. Bell reported that the results "gave reason to expect that bodies of ore of mineable grade could be found," noting the contact "is very extensive and the local bodies could aggregate a considerable tonnage" [4]. A decade later, mining engineer James I. Moore concluded that "a grade of 0.5% WO? can be maintained from the Eagle Point mine," that mining could be by low-cost open pit, and that the mine "could maintain a production of 100 tons daily or more" - recommending it as a "principal producer" for a regional tungsten mill [5].

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Figure 4: Figure modified from DMEA docket 1476X showing the extent of historical workings that have not changed significantly in the last 50 years.

The Property is a past producer with historical records indicating approximately 1,800 tons of scheelite material grading ~0.52% WO? was mined and shipped to the U.S. Government's Deming stockpile during 1943-44 before the wartime purchase program was cancelled.

Surface work was extensive and Figure 4 shows eight skarn bodies exposed as an open cut, numerous trenches and bulldozer cuts. The trenches in Figure 5 include 215 feet of trenching completed in 1954 from which Government examiners estimated a historical mineralized system on the order of 170,000 tons, comprising roughly 70,000 tons at 0.40% WO? and ~100,000 tons at 0.25% WO?. That work was considered compelling enough that, in 1955, the U.S. Government drafted and signed a Defense Minerals Exploration Administration exploration contract (Idm-E783, Docket DMEA-3701), agreeing to fund 75% of a program of shaft sinking and diamond drilling on the Property. The contract was never executed, and the planned drilling was never carried out. The company considers this exceptionally promising and a starting point for the company's maiden work programs.

These historical estimates are presented solely as a recap of historical work and are not, and should not be construed as, current mineral resources or mineral reserves. They are historical in nature, were prepared prior to, and do not comply with, NI 43-101, have not been verified or classified by a Qualified Person as current mineral resources or reserves, and the Company is not treating them as current. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources, and the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources or reserves.

Historical drilling was minimal, with only a few shallow holes concentrated in and around the main open cut. Those holes intersected scheelite-bearing garnet tactite at shallow depth, confirming mineralisation but testing only the near-surface portion of a single body. The prospect remains effectively untested at depth and along strike, and has never been evaluated using modern geophysical, geochemical and drilling techniques.

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Figure 5: Sketch showing results from the Eagle Point area, modified after a figure in DMEA docket 3276.

Proposed Work Program

Western Star intends to advance Eagle Point under its systematic exploration approach, consistent with the program being applied across the Company's United States tungsten portfolio in Nevada. The proposed work program comprises:

• A property-wide, high-resolution drone (UAV) magnetic geophysical survey to define the geometry and extent of the skarn-intrusive contact and associated magnetite-bearing tactite, and to generate drill targets.

• Systematic rock-chip and soil geochemical sampling across the full extent of the Property, to characterise the distribution, grade and continuity of tungsten and molybdenum mineralisation and to follow up the high-grade USGS results.

• Field mapping and verification of historical workings, supported by ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence surveying of outcrop and dumps to rapidly identify scheelite.

The results of this work will be used to prioritise targets and to support subsequent drill testing and the drill-permitting process.

Terms of the Acquisition

Under the terms of the acquisition, Western Star has agreed to acquire a 100% interest in the Eagle Point Tungsten Property in consideration for a cash payment of C$150,000 and the issuance of 4,000,000 common shares of the Company to the vendors, payable on closing. In addition, the Company will grant the vendors a 1.5% net smelter returns (NSR) royalty on the Property. The Company may repurchase 1.0% of the NSR for a one-time cash payment of C$1,000,000, reducing the royalty to 0.5%. The closing of the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions, including the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals.

References

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Jasper Mowatt, MIMMM (Membership No. 0486653) and MAusIMM (Membership No. 3178851), a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Western Star Resources

Western Star Resources is a mineral exploration and development company. The company's objective is to increase shareholder value through the development of exploration properties using cost-effective exploration practices, acquiring further exploration properties and seeking partnerships by either joint venture or sale with industry leaders. The company currently owns nine non-surveyed contiguous mineral claims totalling 4,740 hectares, which are located within the Revelstoke mining division of British Columbia. The Western Star property group is located approximately 50 kilometres southeast of Revelstoke, B.C., and roughly 10 kilometres north of the abandoned community of Camborne.

Contact Information:

Blake Morgan,

Director, President and CEO

blake@acvc.vc

www.westernstarresources.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information". In particular references to the acquisition, future work programs or expectations on the quality or results of such work programs are subject to risks associated with operations on the property, exploration activity generally, equipment limitations and availability, as well as other risks that we may not be currently aware of. Accordingly, readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

A The historical estimate is based on historical surface trenching and sampling and is considered a historical estimate within the meaning of NI 43-101. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve, and the Company is not treating the historical estimate as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve. The historical estimate should not be relied upon.