ATHENA DISCOVERS NEW HIGH-GRADE GOLD SHOWINGS AND SUBMITS DRILL PERMITS FOR LAIRD LAKE PROJECT IN ONTARIO’S RED LAKE GOLD CAMP New Rigby showing returns up to 20.8 g/t Au from surface sampling
ATHENA DISCOVERS NEW HIGH-GRADE GOLD SHOWINGS AND SUBMITS DRILL PERMITS FOR
LAIRD LAKE PROJECT IN ONTARIO’S RED LAKE GOLD CAMP
New Rigby showing returns up to 20.8 g/t Au from surface sampling
White Rock, BC --- Accesswire --- November 13, 2025 --- Athena Gold Corporation (CSE: ATHA)
(OTCQB: AHNRF) (“Athena” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce final results from its 2025
prospecting program at the flagship Laird Lake gold project, located in Ontario’s world -class Red
Lake Gold District. The latest results suggest a potentially significant surface gold discovery at the
new Rigby showing, returning up to 20.8 g/t gold along a mineralized structure traced for over 40
meters and open in both directions. The discovery was generated through systematic follow -up of
anomalous gold-in-till results reported earlier this year (see press release dated September 4, 2025).
Additional prospecting at the Nemo and Hugo geochemical targets returned anomalous gold in
altered and pyrite -mineralized volcanic outcrops and subcrops, confirming widespread potential
across the property.
“We are pleased to see our continued exploration efforts at Laird bear fruit, with new high-grade gold
occurrences found within only 100m of the road, with prolific headframes in Red Lake in plain sight.
The earlier results from the till program have helped guided us here. With a solid mix of geochemical
and geophysical targets, we’ve begun discussions with several local drill contractors to prepare for
our maiden drill program, expected to take place in early 2026” said Koby Kushner, CEO of Athena.
Zone Total Grab
Samples
Collected
Number of
Samples
>0.1 g/t Au
Number of
Samples
>1.0 g/t Au
Maximum Gold
Value (g/t Au)
Bounty 109 15 9 20.8
Nemo 97 6 0 0.853
Hugo 16 2 0 0.112
Table 1: Surface grab samples taken from zones of geochemical anomalism at Laird Lake.
Rigby Discovery
The Rigby showing is a new surface gold discovery identified by following up anomalous gold-in-till
results completed earlier this year (see news release dated September 4, 2025). Preliminary field
work has successfully traced the mineralization over >40m of strike length and remains open in both
directions. A total of 12 samples were collected from the showing over the traced strike length with
8 samples returning >1 g/t Au, 5 samples returning > 10g/t Au, with a maximum value of 20.8 g/t Au.
The mineralization is hosted within an approximately 1m -wide, sheared mafic volcanic rock with
highly deformed quartz veins . The highest gold values were collected from the quartz -pyrite veins,
however the sheared host rock also contained low grade gold values (up to 0.23 g/t Au). Follow up
work will consist of tracing the mineralization along strike to determine the full extent of
mineralization and potential channel sampling.
Figure 1: Map showing recent sampling locations, including the Rigby discovery, along with geophysical anomalies
(G1-G6), regional geology, and interpreted structures.
Discussion on Drill Program
Athena has submitted a permit to drill the Laird Lake project scheduled to begin in Q1 2026. A
~5,000m program will be designed to test a number of highly compelling geophysical and geological
targets. Athena has completed an in-depth review of historical data and supplemented with new field
observations to reinterpret the controls on mineralization. Athena has identified two main controls
on mineralization at Laird Lake referred to as Generation 1 & 2. Generation 1 is dominantly in an
east-west orientation and generally observed as a replacement-style mineralization characterized by
the presence of pyrite, arsenopyrite and tourmaline . Generation 2 is characterized by a northeast
orientation and locally cutting the first generation . Mineralization is largely hosted within quartz -
pyrite-chalcopyrite veins and able to return high-grade gold values up to 373 g/t Au (see press
release dated December 4, 2024).
The winter drill program will leverage the historical SkyTEM magnetic and electromagnetic (EM)
data. This data has been instrumental in mapping out the various structures which to date host all
the known gold occurrences. The EM data has outlined a series of conductive bodies (targets G1 –
G6) which correspond to a confluence of interpreted structures and repres ents high priority drill
targets. Additionally, these conductive anomalies have the potential to host critical mineral s,
particularly for copper, nickel and/or platinum group elements. As a result, future analytical results
testing these conductors will also assay for these metals in addition to their pathfinders. The
geophysical anomalies are being reprocessed to refine the targets prior to drilling.
QA/QC
All collected field samples were flagged with flagging tape and marked with sample ID, and location
data was collected with a GPS device. Post-field collection, samples were transported to Agat Labs
Thunder Bay for preparation and analysis. All samples were dried to 60°C to reduce loss of volatile
mercury and arsenic, passed through a 2mm sieve and split to 250g. Splits were pulverized to 85%
passing 75 µm. Subsets of 25g underwent Aqua Regia ICP -OES & MS digestion and analysis . 50g
subsets underwent FA – AAS. Overlimit Au samples (>10 g/t) underwent an additional 50g
gravimetric analysis by Fire Assay Fusion.
The technical information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by
Benjamin Kuzmich , P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for Athena Gold Corp oration and the
Qualified Person for exploration at the Laird Lake Project, as defined by NI 43 -101 “Standards of
Disclosure for Mineral Projects”.
About Athena Gold Corporation
Athena Gold is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property
assets. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metal properties of merit
and to conduct additional exploration drilling and stu dies on its projects across North America.
Athena Gold’s Laird Lake project is situated in the Red Lake Gold District of Ontario, covering over
7,000 hectares along more than 10 km of the Balmer -Confederation Assemblage contact, where
recent surface sampli ng results returned up to 373 g/t Au. This underexplored area is road -
accessible, located about 10 km west of West Red Lake Gold’s Madsen mine and 34 km northwest of
Kinross Gold's Great Bear project. Meanwhile, its Excelsior Springs project is located in the prolific
Walker Lane Trend in Nevada, where it is currently under an earn-in option with Mammoth Minerals
Limited (formerly, Firetail Resources Limited) . Excelsior Springs spans over 2,500 hectares and
covers at least three historic mines. Athena Gold also holds a 100% interest in its Oneman Lake Au -
VMS project in Ontario.
For further information about Athena Gold Corporation, please visit www.athenagoldcorp.com.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Koby Kushner
President and Chief Executive Officer, Athena Gold Corporation
For further information, please contact:
Athena Gold Corporation
Koby Kushner, President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: 416-846-6164
Email: [email protected]
CHF Capital Markets
Cathy Hume, CEO
Phone: 416-868-1079 x 251
Email: [email protected]
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively,
"forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US. securities laws. All
statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation,
statements regarding future exploration plans, future results from exploration, and the anticipated
business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although
the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such
expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such
as: "believes", "will", "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "estimates”, “plans", "may", "should",
''potential", "scheduled", or variations of such words and phrases and similar expressions, which, by
their nature, refer to future events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or
achieved. In making the forward -looking statements in this press release, the Company has applied
several material assumptions, including without limitation, that there will be investor interest in future
financings, market fundamentals will result in sustained precious metals demand and prices, the receipt
of any necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals in connection with the future exploration
and development of the Company's projects in a timely manner.
The Company cautions investors that any forward -looking statements by the Company are not
guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward -looking statements. The Company
undertakes no obligation to update any of the forward -looking statements in this press release or
incorporated by reference herein, except as otherwise stated.
Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its regulation services provider accepts
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