Hercules Silver Property Additional Drill Holes Above Recent Discovery

TORONTO - Hercules Silver Corp. announced that while it awaits assays for the next deep drill hole (HER-23-08), in the interim reported on the silver-lead-zinc results from the next two shallow drill holes in sequence, HER-23-06 and HER-23-07, which were drilled above the recently-announced porphyry copper discovery at its Hercules Silver Property located in western Idaho. These results continue to showcase strong silver mineralization, bolstered by critical metals credits in the near surface, which overlie the blind porphyry copper system at depth.

Accounting for the lower-grade silver (3-30 g/t Ag) that surrounds the headline intercepts, drill hole HER-23-06 returned 96.3 g/t Ag, 0.26 % Zn and 3.9% Mn, occurring as carbonate, over the entire 58.83 m length of the hole, and HER-23-07 returned 80.8 g/t Ag, 0.30% Zn, and 1.9% Mn over the entire 105.46 m length of the hole.

The Company's ongoing 6,000-meter drill program was initially designed to confirm and expand upon near-surface silver mineralization, in addition to testing a blind IP-chargeability anomaly below the limit of historical drilling. The latter has resulted in the discovery of a major blind copper porphyry system in the first ever deep drill hole on the Property, HER-23-05, which intersected 185 m grading 0.84% Cu, 111 ppm Mo and 2.6 g/t Ag.

The Company is also pleased to announce it has received preliminary 3D point cloud data from Dias Geophysical on its ongoing 4km by 4km super IP survey, designed to cover a >3,000-acre target area, to more than twice the depth of the 2022 survey. Only the raw data has been received to date, which has not yet undergone 3D inversion modelling, but early signs show encouragement for expanding the 2022 anomaly.

The field work is almost complete, following which the Company anticipates approximately six weeks for processing of the large 3D dataset, meaning final 3D inversions will likely be available for release around Christmas of this year. 1) HER-23-06 and HER-23-07 were drilled topographically above the recently-reported porphyry copper intercept in HER-23-05, demonstrating significant silver-lead-zinc-manganese carbonate mineralization in the near-surface environment. 2) Low-grade silver (3-30 g/t Ag) surrounds the headline intercepts, demonstrating the potential for a large bulk tonnage target above the recent porphyry copper discovery. 3) 5m-long composite channel samples returned grades of up to 500 g/t Ag from bedrock exposed by drill pad construction. 4) Preliminary 2023 IP data is beginning to outline anomalous chargeability extending from the 2022 survey.

Chris Paul, CEO and Director, said, "We are pleased that near-surface drilling at the Frogpond Zone continues to demonstrate favorable silver grades above our recently announced porphyry copper discovery in HER-23-05. What began as a primary drilling target for this season has now evolved into just the upper levels of a much larger system, and the presence of critical minerals adds further encouragement from a permitting standpoint in the US. We are excited by the preliminary IP results and look forward to receiving the final 3D inversion models around Christmas of this year."

Shallow drilling at the Frogpond Zone in 2023 has been directed towards expanding historical silver mineralization along an interpreted northwest-southeast trend in the near-surface environment. Extensive shattering along both steep shear zones and low-angle thrust faults appears to have created the structural pathways along which the mineralization was focused.

A potential critical minerals component is emerging within the near-surface silver environment, made possible through the implementation of modern multi-element analyses which were not performed historically. Zinc, manganese and antimony are included in the USGS' "List of Critical Minerals" and occur in conjunction with the silver mineralization at Hercules. Importantly, the manganese is prevalent in carbonate form as rhodochrosite and manganiferous calcite, which is potentially attractive both from a metallurgical standpoint, and for its suitability in battery metals processing. While it is too early to ascertain the potential significance of these metals within the system as a whole, their presence is positive from a future permitting standpoint. Projects in the United States which can demonstrate a critical minerals component tend to be viewed favorably by political and regulatory regimes, as the country moves towards securing a robust and secure domestic supply.

Bedrock exposed during drill pad construction for HER-23-06 was found to contain significant silver mineralization, as determined by a portable pXRF analyzer. The Company elected to channel sample the exposed bedrock along the perimeter of the pad at 1.5-meter intervals to gain additional information on the 3D geometry of the silver mineralization. The analytical results support the interpreted northwest-southeast trend to the mineralization. Of the 10 samples taken, 5 graded upwards of 100 g/t Ag, up to a maximum of 500 g/t Ag.