RIB North Discovery & the Re-Rating Potential for ATHA Energy's Angilak Project

• The maiden RIB North drillhole (RIBN-DD-001) delivers Angilak's best uranium intercept to date, validating the Mineralized RIB Corridor (MRC) and strengthening the project's potential for Athabasca-style grades.
• The discovery enhances exploration torque across ATHA Energy's 7-million-acre portfolio, reinforcing optionality across the Lassonde Curve and improving the company's strategic leverage.
• Athabasca-analog basement-hosted mineralization suggests potential for low-cost, high-margin uranium development, aligning with Tier-1 uranium district characteristics.
• Near-term catalysts including remaining 2025 assays, updated geophysical interpretation, and 2026 drill planning provide sustained visibility for equity markets and institutional investors.
• Jurisdictional strength across Nunavut and the Athabasca Basin supports premium risk-adjusted returns relative to global uranium explorers.

Why the RIB North Discovery Matters Now

The uranium exploration sector has experienced significant revaluation as global reactor construction accelerates and supply-side constraints tighten. Discoveries capable of demonstrating Athabasca-style mineralization outside the Basin carry significant investment signaling effects, particularly when they validate large-scale structural systems with district-level potential.

ATHA Energy's RIB North discovery represents such an inflection point. The maiden drillhole returned 13.6 meters grading 0.53% U₃O₈, including 1.1 meters at 4.81% U₃O₈ and a peak half-meter interval at 8.16% U₃O₈, the highest-grade uranium intercept in Angilak's history. The results validate the Mineralized RIB Corridor (MRC) as a priority target for resource expansion and confirm the geological thesis guiding exploration.

The significance extends beyond a single high-grade intersection. Chief Executive Officer Troy Boisjoli contextualized the exploration achievement:

"This is our fourth discovery in one single drill program within that Angikuni Basin. We discovered mineralization at KU, at RIB East, at RIB West, and now RIB North. RIB in particular now has conductive corridors that are mineralized over 12 kilometers, and we have not missed yet."

This systematic success demonstrates the predictability of the geological model and ATHA Energy's technical capabilities.

Macro Factors Reshaping Uranium Exploration Economics

The importance of high-grade discoveries has intensified as the sector faces constrained supply. Recent production guidance adjustments from major suppliers, including Kazatomprom's revisions through 2024-2025, combined with enrichment capacity constraints, have elevated the strategic value of new discoveries in stable jurisdictions. Basement-hosted, high-grade uranium mineralization supports lower development capital expenditures per pound and higher operating margins, offering faster paths to cash flow and stronger returns in volatile price environments.

Portfolio-level optionality becomes particularly valuable when capital availability tightens. ATHA Energy's land position exceeds 7 million acres across three major uranium districts: Nunavut's Angikuni Basin, Saskatchewan's Athabasca Basin, and Newfoundland and Labrador's Central Mineral Belt. This structure provides a hedge against single-asset risk while allowing dynamic capital allocation based on technical results and market conditions.

The RIB North Discovery: Technical Analysis & Investment Implications

The RIB North maiden drillhole delivered 34.7 meters of composite mineralization, with grades materially exceeding the conceptual exploration target at Lac 50 (0.37% to 0.48% U₃O₈). Grades above 0.50% U₃O₈ support higher-margin underground development scenarios, particularly when mineralization demonstrates continuity along strike and down-dip.

Athabasca-analog basement intersections raise confidence in repeatability along strike. The discovery spans both the Thelon sandstone and the unconformity contact, indicating a vertically extensive system with potential for stacked mineralized zones.

Chief Executive Officer Troy Boisjoli provided comparative context:

"I've spent a lot of years exploring for uranium across the Athabasca Basin. This is an Athabasca-style intersection both in terms of thickness and grade that we're seeing in the Angikuni Basin. The discovery hole at Arrow had very similar grades, very similar thicknesses to what we're seeing in the discovery hole at RIB North."

The reference to NexGen Energy's Arrow discovery underscores RIB North's significance within the broader uranium exploration landscape.

Validation of the Mineralized RIB Corridor

The MRC is a 12-kilometer structural trend hosting multiple conductive zones identified through electromagnetic surveys. During the 2025 Angilak Exploration Program, all target drill tested along the MRC successfully intersected uranium mineralization, demonstrating the geological model's robustness and reducing exploration risk.

The 3D electromagnetic inversion used to prioritize RIB North aligned closely with drill results, validating the targeting methodology. The corridor remains open along strike and down-dip, with several high-priority targets awaiting drill testing.

Chief Executive Officer Troy Boisjoli emphasized the district-scale implications:

"We're seeing grades and thicknesses analogous to the Athabasca Basin-style mineralization, which was our thesis the whole time…. We're seeing mineralization over 12 kilometers of strike length with the holes that we have tested, and we have not missed yet. I've not seen a project like this through my time in the uranium space."

Strategic Value Creation: District-Scale Potential

The RIB North discovery sits within a 31-kilometer structural system extending across the Angilak property, linking the RIB corridor to the Nine Iron target area. The nearest comparable drilling to RIB North is located approximately 1.4 kilometers along strike at RIB East and 1.8 kilometers at RIB West, meaning significant untested scale remains.

The Angilak property has been subject to more than $115 million in exploration expenditures since 1975. The RIB corridor represents a newer focus area where modern geophysical techniques and 3D targeting methodologies have been applied, with the success at RIB North validating this approach.

Interplay with Existing Resources

The Lac 50 deposit hosts a conceptual exploration target of 60.8 to 98.2 million pounds U₃O₈ at 0.37% to 0.48% U₃O₈. RIB North's grades materially exceed the Lac 50 average, raising the possibility of a blended project scenario where high-grade material from the RIB corridor supplements lower-grade tonnage from Lac 50, potentially improving project economics by increasing weighted-average grade and reducing per-pound processing costs.

Portfolio-Level Leverage & Strategic Positioning

ATHA Energy controls the largest cumulative prospective exploration land package in Canada, totaling more than 7 million acres. Within Nunavut, ATHA Energy's 3.1-million-acre land position in the Angikuni and Thelon Basins offers multi-corridor potential beyond RIB North. The basin is underexplored relative to the Athabasca Basin, providing a first-mover advantage for systematic exploration and discovery.

ATHA Energy holds a 10% carried interest in key Athabasca Basin exploration projects operated by NexGen Energy Ltd. and IsoEnergy Ltd., providing exposure to lands near advanced projects including NexGen's Arrow, IsoEnergy's Larocque East, and other strategic assets. These carried interests function as strategic hedges, providing Athabasca Basin exposure while allowing the company to focus operational resources on assets where it maintains full control.

The RIB North discovery strengthens ATHA Energy's early-stage torque by demonstrating repeatable high-grade discovery capability. By maintaining a portfolio that includes early-stage grassroots targets, advanced exploration projects, and carried interests in development-stage assets, ATHA Energy provides investors with diversified exposure to uranium discovery and development across multiple timelines and risk profiles.

Near-Term Catalysts & the 2026 Campaign Setup

ATHA Energy anticipates disclosing all remaining assay results from the 2025 exploration program within the fourth quarter of 2025. The program submitted all mineralized drill core samples to the Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) Geoanalytical Laboratory, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited facility. Additional high-grade results from follow-up drilling could reinforce the initial discovery geometry and expand the target inventory for the 2026 program.

The 3D electromagnetic inversion used to prioritize RIB North successfully predicted the location and orientation of mineralized zones. Expanded datasets from the 2025 program are expected to refine future targeting and identify additional high-priority drill locations within the MRC and surrounding corridors.

The fully funded and initiated 10,000-meter summer 2025 drill program demonstrated disciplined treasury management. The 2025 drilling results, combined with 3D inversion model data, are positioning ATHA Energy for what management describes as a compelling 2026 exploration campaign, with the work plan to be outlined and defined based on all data in hand.

Chief Executive Officer Troy Boisjoli outlined the company's strategic focus:

"The objective here is not exploration for the sake of exploration. It's exploration for discovery's sake, to move projects forward and to be extremely relevant in this cycle… With the scale that we're seeing and the grades that we're seeing within the RIB area, we need assays back, we need the modeling done, and we've got a great option analysis to be able to do to figure out what is the optimal deposit within this project area to advance forward."

Jurisdictional Advantage: Risk-Adjusted Returns in Tier-1 Frameworks

Nunavut has historically offered clear regulatory frameworks and established permitting pathways for uranium exploration and development. The territory is characterized as a friendly mining jurisdiction with a well-developed regulatory process, and the exploration success occurs at a time when the Canadian government is looking to advance mineral resource projects and strengthen infrastructure in the north.

According to the 2025 Fraser Institute Annual Survey of Mining Companies, Saskatchewan ranks seventh globally for mining investment attractiveness, while Newfoundland and Labrador ranks fourth globally. These rankings reflect strong regulatory transparency and permitting efficiency. The Canadian uranium permitting ecosystem is viewed as transparent and ESG-aligned by global institutional funds, providing a competitive advantage relative to uranium jurisdictions where regulatory uncertainty and geopolitical risk premiums may be higher.

ATHA Energy's multi-jurisdictional portfolio across Nunavut, Saskatchewan, and Newfoundland and Labrador provides exposure to three of the world's most stable and transparent uranium exploration frameworks.

How RIB North Influences ATHA's Long-Term Valuation Framework

High-grade basement-hosted mineralization offers the potential for strong internal rate of return uplift in early mine plans. Projects with grades above 0.50% U₃O₈ typically support underground mining scenarios with lower unit development capital expenditures and higher operating margins relative to lower-grade bulk tonnage projects. The presence of a high-grade core within a broader mineralized envelope suggests potential for selective mining strategies that optimize grade-tonnage trade-offs.

As of September 30, 2025, ATHA Energy's enterprise value was approximately C$278 million, reflecting the company's multi-asset portfolio and exploration momentum. High-grade discoveries typically drive improved valuation multiples relative to peers at similar stages, particularly when discoveries validate large-scale structural systems with district-level potential.

While near-term resource updates have not been announced, management has indicated that the large percentage of the focus from a strategic perspective is about moving projects forward, requiring delineation and infill drilling. The company is conducting an option analysis to determine the optimal deposit within the project area to advance forward, with decisions contingent on receiving all assay results and completing modeling work.

The Investment Thesis for ATHA Energy

• High-grade discovery leverage: RIB North demonstrates Athabasca-analog mineralization outside the Basin, increasing the probability of high-margin development optionality and supporting premium valuation multiples relative to lower-grade uranium explorers.
• District-scale upside: The 12-kilometer MRC and broader 31-kilometer RIB–Nine Iron trend offer multi-corridor growth vectors beyond the maiden discovery hole, with systematic exploration success reducing exploration risk and increasing resource expansion probability.
• Portfolio diversification: ATHA Energy's 7-million-acre land position, the largest cumulative prospective exploration package in Canada, delivers multi-jurisdictional exposure as capital rotates toward uranium assets with scalability and jurisdictional stability.
• Non-dilutive catalysts: Carried interests in NexGen Energy and IsoEnergy provide medium- and long-term optionality without funding risk, allowing ATHA Energy to participate in Athabasca Basin resource expansion while focusing operational capital on priority targets.
• Sustained newsflow: Remaining 2025 assays and the 2026 exploration program position ATHA Energy for multi-quarter catalyst flow, supporting investor engagement and providing visibility on exploration progress and resource growth potential.
• Jurisdictional robustness: Nunavut and the Athabasca Basin remain among the most attractive global uranium exploration destinations based on the 2025 Fraser Institute survey, supporting premium risk-adjusted valuations and providing regulatory transparency aligned with institutional ESG frameworks.

Why RIB North Repositions Angilak on the Uranium Exploration Curve

The RIB North discovery validates both the geological thesis and the exploration model guiding ATHA Energy's strategy across the Angikuni Basin. It demonstrates that the company's multi-disciplinary targeting methodology can deliver high-grade results at scale and that the MRC represents a district-scale system with strong potential for resource expansion.

For institutional investors evaluating uranium exploration exposure, RIB North strengthens ATHA Energy's position in the uranium exploration hierarchy by combining grade, thickness, and jurisdictional stability. The discovery enhances exploration torque across the company's broader portfolio, reinforces optionality at multiple points along the Lassonde Curve, and provides a tangible derisking pathway for future resource calculations.

RIB North is not only a high-grade intercept. It is a structural upgrade to the investment case around Angilak and ATHA Energy, repositioning the company as a leading explorer in one of Canada's most underexplored uranium districts and providing investors with enhanced torque, increased derisking visibility, and stronger portfolio-wide optionality as global uranium markets continue to revalue exploration risk across the supply chain.

TL;DR

ATHA Energy's maiden RIB North drillhole has returned the highest-grade uranium intercept in Angilak's history, 13.6 meters at 0.53% U₃O₈, including 1.1 meters at 4.81% U₃O₈, validating the 12-kilometer Mineralized RIB Corridor in Nunavut's underexplored Angikuni Basin. The discovery demonstrates Athabasca-style basement-hosted mineralization outside Saskatchewan's traditional uranium district, with all 2025 drill targets successfully intersecting mineralization. ATHA Energy controls Canada's largest uranium exploration land package at over 7 million acres across three jurisdictions, plus 10% carried interests in key NexGen and IsoEnergy Athabasca Basin projects. With remaining 2025 assays pending and a 2026 exploration campaign planned, the discovery strengthens the company's district-scale optionality and positions Angilak as a potential high-margin development opportunity in a Tier-1 mining jurisdiction.

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