Rio2 Starts Two-Phase Drilling at Condestable While Advancing Fenix Gold and Kalzas Tungsten

• A 33,870-metre, two-phase surface drill programme has begun at the Condestable copper mine in Peru, with Phase 1 totalling 16,750 metres.
• A 57,740-hectare drone magnetic survey at Condestable has identified six priority exploration targets.
• Fenix Gold in Chile completed 14,669 metres of drilling in 2026, with 60% of samples assayed.
• An updated mineral resource estimate for Fenix Gold is planned for December 2027.
• The Kalzas Tungsten Project in Yukon has received an exploration permit and completed detailed geological mapping.

Rio2 Limited (TSX:RIO, OTCQX:RIOFF, BVL:RIO) is a Canada-based producer of precious metals and copper. It produces gold at the Fenix Gold mine in Chile, which uses heap leaching, a method that recovers gold by passing a solution through stacked crushed ore. It also produces copper, gold and silver at the Condestable underground mine in Peru, which it acquired recently. Rio2 operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries, Fenix Gold Limitada and Condestable S.A., and applies environmental standards that go beyond those set by regulators. Its management team has experience in both building mines and capital markets.

Condestable: Two-Phase Drilling and Six District Targets

The drill programme follows geological mapping of a 3-kilometre by 1.2-kilometre corridor linking the Condestable, Raúl and Vinchos areas. The mapping improved the correlation between surface and underground geology. Mineralisation occurs in mantos, flat-lying layers 1 to 10 metres thick that follow the rock beds, and in veins up to more than 3 metres wide. Holes are designed to cross both styles at high angles to support resource conversion, the process of upgrading resources into higher-confidence categories.

Drill sections are spaced 80 metres apart. Phase 1 comprises 85 holes from 69 platforms, totalling 16,750 metres, using existing access within the permitted footprint, and began the week of 21 September. Phase 2 comprises 72 holes from 62 platforms, totalling 17,120 metres, and requires 8,622 metres of new access roads and additional environmental authorisation. Permitting is expected to take about six months.

Rio2 also completed a GeoMagDrone survey, in which a drone-mounted sensor measures changes in the earth's magnetic field to map buried rocks and structures. The survey covered 57,740 hectares across 3,522 line-kilometres. It identified a high-intensity magnetic anomaly corresponding to the Condestable-Raúl system at the intersection of two major structural trends, with similar intersections repeating roughly every 3 to 5 kilometres. Combined with geological and geochemical data, the results produced six priority targets: Cerro Pacay, Cerro Perico, Loma de Vinchos, San Marcos, Condestable 10 and Punta Colorada. Each will undergo follow-up prospecting and geological assessment.

Fenix Gold: 14,669 Metres Completed With Results Expected Within Two Months

Rio2 completed 43 holes totalling 14,669 metres of the planned 21,880 metres before suspending the programme due to weather conditions, worker safety and contractor standby costs. The remaining drilling will resume in January 2027 during Chile's summer season.

The programme targets mineralisation beneath the reserve pit, within the resource pit shell and up to 100 metres below it. Each hole begins with reverse-circulation (RC) drilling, a faster method that recovers rock chips, for the first 200 to 250 metres before switching to diamond drilling, which recovers solid rock core. Hole designs were based on a model generated using artificial intelligence to improve the targeting of high-potential zones.

Samples are being analysed at COTECNA Laboratory in Coquimbo, Chile, with 60% assayed so far and full results expected within two months. Rio2 will release the results once all assays are received. Drilling in 2027 will be expanded to test the continuity of mineralisation at depth and laterally, with all results feeding into the updated resource estimate.

Kalzas Tungsten: Mapping and Surveys Completed Ahead of Scout Drilling

Kalzas is 100% owned by Rio2 and lies on the Kalzas Plateau in central Yukon, about 70 kilometres southeast of Mayo and 290 kilometres north of Whitehorse. Rio2 geologists visited the site in May 2026, and an independent NI 43-101 technical report, the Canadian standard for disclosing mineral project information, was completed using historical data.

Detailed mapping confirmed an intrusion-related tungsten system, with mineralisation likely associated with a granite body that promoted the formation of quartz veins and stockworks (dense networks of small veins) hosting the tungsten minerals wolframite and scheelite. These features are consistent with similar tungsten deposits elsewhere in Yukon. An airborne magnetic survey has been completed, with results pending. Rio2 also obtained a Class 1 exploration permit from the Government of Yukon, completed reclamation and initial mapping through consultants Archer Cathro, and continues to engage with the Selkirk First Nation.

Rio2 plans a 2,000-metre scout core drill programme at the start of the 2027 summer field season, with an all-inclusive budget of US$1.5 million. Additional drilling may follow later in the season depending on results. After reviewing the results, Rio2 will decide whether Kalzas remains a core project or is spun out into a separate company funding its own exploration.

Milestones and Next Steps

Phase 1 drilling at Condestable is under way, with Phase 2 to follow once permitting is complete and follow-up work continuing on the six district targets. Fenix Gold assay results are due within two months, drilling resumes in January 2027, and the updated resource estimate is scheduled for December 2027. At Kalzas, airborne survey results are pending ahead of the 2027 scout drilling and the subsequent decision on the project's future.

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