KO Gold Inc. announced that New Zealand Petroleum & Minerals has granted the Company its Exploration Permit (EP) over the historic Carrick Goldfield in the Otago Gold District in New Zealand. The Carrick EP has been granted for a 5-year term commencing on May 9, 2024, and is approximately 105 km2 in size. The Company has also commenced exploration activities on its Carrick Range Prospecting Permit located immediately south of the Carrick EP and both permits comprise the "Carrick Gold Project".

In addition, regional exploration and drilling programs are planned for the Company's other permits in the Otago Gold District. Greg Isenor, President and CEO of KO Gold recently completed a four-week visit to New Zealand to meet with the RSC geological team, NZP&M officials, and other key stakeholders. The trip also included visits to KO Gold's prospecting and exploration permits and meetings to plan extensive exploration and drilling programs in the Otago Gold District over the next 12 months.

The Otago Gold District is currently attracting significant attention primarily due to Santana's RAS gold discovery within the RSSZ at Bendigo-Ophir, continued expansion at OceanaGold's Macraes Gold Mine immediately adjacent to KO Gold's Smylers Gold Project, and a recent change to a pro-mining government (National Party led Coalition) in New Zealand. Santana's RAS deposit is expected to advance quickly and may become the next major gold mine in the Otago Gold District. The New Zealand government has also made it a priority to fast-track permit applications and to improve the consenting process to allow exploration, drilling, and mining activities to occur without significant delays.

The new government has also made it their mission to promote the natural resources industry in New Zealand and to support local communities and companies engaged in exploration and mining activities. New Zealand is fast becoming one of the most attractive gold mining jurisdictions in the world and is considered a Tier 1 mining jurisdiction with a long history of mining, fair permitting system, and fiscally responsible government. The Carrick Goldfield is situated on the high slopes of the Carrick Range at altitudes varying from ~500 m to ~1,100 m above sea level within the Otago Schist Belt.

Primary sulfide mineralization is mainly pyrite and arsenopyrite with minor accessory sphalerite, chalcopyrite and possibly galena. Scheelite was noted in a few lodes and small stibnite-bearing lodes were found in the northern sector of the Carrick Range PP. The lodes are generally steeply dipping and tend to strike either north-south or east-west and are not controlled by local bedding or foliation attitudes.

The Carrick EP contains a NE-trending 8 km long by 1 km wide gold mineralized zone. High-grade gold mineralization traditionally coincides with strong gold-arsenic soil geochemistry results and approximately parallels a major regional structure known as the Potters Antiform. This structural corridor hosts both high-angle lode-style gold mineralization and low-angle shear-hosted gold mineralization and is known as the Carrick-Potter Shear Zone (CPSZ).

A total of 98 historical drill holes (7,600 m) have been completed within the Carrick EP since 1980 using RC, rotary air blast (RAB), and diamond drilling techniques. Historical drilling intercepted the CPSZ but only to shallow depths (~100 m) and mainly targeted high angle structures with suboptimal hole orientations to test for potential shear-hosted gold mineralization. Historical drilling intercepted numerous mineralized intercepts grading >1.0 g/t Au over down hole lengths ranging between 3 m and 17 m along a >1.5 km strike length, and mineralization remains open along strike and at depth.

Over 60 shallow workings occur within the CPSZ from historical hard-rock mining from the 1860's to the 1920's that produced over 24,000 ounces of gold with average grades of 30 g/t Au. The high angle gold mineralization has not been as thoroughly drill-tested as the shear-hosted gold mineralization. The extent and grade of primary mineralization below the level of the historical workings remains unknown.

In addition, the plunge of any potential ore shoots and the factors that determine the plunge orientation are not currently known and will be the focus of future drilling by KO Gold on its Carrick Gold Project. Cautionary Statements and Data Verification This news release contains scientific and technical information with respect to adjacent properties to the Company's properties in the Otago Gold District, which the Company has no interest in or rights to explore. Readers are cautioned that information regarding the geology, mineralization, and mineral resources on adjacent properties is not necessarily indicative of the mineralization on the Company's properties.

The Qualified Person (QP) has reviewed the historical scientific and technical information on the Carrick Gold Project from historical reports and scientific papers, but has not yet fully verified the sampling, analytical, and test data underlying this information. Current limitations include getting access to original assay certificates or the general lack of original assay certificates from the historical drilling on the Carrick EP and the need to potentially twin or re-drill a significant portion of the historical drill holes to verify historical gold grades and mineralized widths.