27 March 2025

Katoro Gold PLC

('Katoro' or the 'Company')

Iva Lithium Project Expansion

Eva Lithium Project claims expanded, extending target trend to 5.5 kilometres

Katoro Gold PLC (AIM: KAT), the strategic energy and precious minerals exploration and development company, is pleased to provide an update relating to the Company's critical minerals exploration portfolio in Ontario, Canada.

The Company's 100%-owned Iva Lithium Project has been expanded to include newly interpreted pegmatite targets prospective for the mineralisation of lithium-bearing minerals over a trend extending 5.5 km.

HIGHLIGHTS

·    Iva Lithium Project expanded from 640 hectares (6.4 km²) to 1,130 hectares to encompass an inferred 5.5 km trend of pegmatites prospective for lithium mineralisation;

·    The number of known, historically mapped¹ pegmatites and newly inferred pegmatites interpreted from LiDAR², on the property has doubled;

·    Ontario Geological Survey³ lake sediment assays demonstrate regionally anomalous lithium and caesium results located in close proximity to mapped and inferred pegmatites;

·    Excellent infrastructure provided by the adjacent Trans-Canada Highway, a major power line and nearby rail;

Patrick Cullen, Chief Executive Officer of Katoro, commented:

"Iva is 170 kilometres west along the Trans-Canada Highway from the City of Thunder Bay, where multiple initiatives are underway to develop lithium processing facilities. From a strategic perspective, this is an excellent location to make a lithium discovery at an economic scale and grade.

The geological setting is highly prospective in terms of the local intrusive types and structure, the numerous pegmatites mapped in the 1970s, and supported by elevated anomalous lithium and other elements from lake sediments reported in 2001.

We have been working with newly available LiDAR data from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry which has made it possible to correlate mapped surface features with known pegmatite structures and interpret the presence of many more. The decision to secure the opportunity over the extended trend is clear-cut.

The project lies just three kilometres from the Trans-Canada Highway and it is likely to be one of the first properties in the portfolio that we gain access to as the snow melts. We are excited to get on the ground as soon as is practical and I look forward to communicating progress."

DESCRIPTION & LOCATION

The Iva Lithium Project was originally made up of 30 Single Cell Mining Claims ("claims") covering a total area of 640 hectares (ha). This has now been expanded by staking claims to the east and north for a total of 53 claims with an area of 1,130 ha. The claim boundaries and expanded area are shown below in Figure 1. This expansion was completed to encompass additional mapped¹ and inferred pegmatites (from LiDAR data²).

The project is located in Northwestern Ontario, 170 km west of Thunder Bay and is under 3 km from the TransCanada Highway, close to a major railroad and the electrical grid.

Figure 1. Iva claims , lithium in lake sediments (ppm) data, pegmatite target trend and infrastructure

REGIONAL GEOLOGY

The Iva Project is located in the Quetico subprovince - an area known to be endowed with rare metal and lithium pegmatites⁴. A major subprovince boundary, the Quetico Fault, runs east-west to the north of the project.  Such major terrane boundaries are controlled by deep-seated structures that divide pieces of Archean crust and can focus the locations of fertile peraluminous granites. These types of granites are favourable to the generation of lithium-caesium-tantalum ("LCT") pegmatites, such as the Niobe-Nym Pegmatites⁵ located 17 km west of the Iva Lithium project, which are associated with an intrusion of similar age and petrology⁵. These pegmatites were first identified in the early 1980s through roadside mapping⁶. They contain a significant number of anomalous lithium values, and caesium concentrations that exceed the threshold indicative of strong fractionation in granitic systems⁷.

PROJECT GEOLOGY

The project's mapped geology¹ consists of felsic intrusive rocks and metasedimentary gneisses. This is interpreted as the upper portion of a large intrusive body, where felsic magma interacts with metasedimentary country rocks.

The upper portions of intrusions are often more fractionated, concentrating elements like lithium and potentially forming late-stage economic LCT-style pegmatite mineralisation. Historical mapping¹ at Iva details a tourmaline occurrence, which may indicate a fractionated felsic intrusion and suggest local fractionation. More than 28 mapped pegmatites are present¹ on the property. Additionally, over 40 pegmatites are inferred by analysis of available LiDAR data². Pegmatites identified through both historical mapping and LiDAR analysis appear to be concentrated across a 1.2 km-wide zone extending approximately 5.5 km.

The Ontario Geological Survey has sampled and assayed lake sediments³ in and around the Iva Lithium Project area for a suite of elements. Lake sediment results from waterbodies close to the inferred pegmatites are anomalous for lithium and caesium, based on regional data of over 3,300 lake sediment samples from the region. Both elements associated with LCT pegmatites. Of note is that values to the east and west of Iva are considerably lower than from the lakes on the Iva Lithium Project; this may be representative of a regionally zoned system, whereby different elements are present in the pegmatite system as the pegmatites crystallise and fractionate away from the parent granite. The regionally anomalous values with in and close to the property suggest that the zoned fractionation of the pegmatites may be lithium-bearing on the Iva Project.

NEXT STEPS

The Company is currently in discussion with service providers, including reputable firms based in nearby Thunder Bay, to support the forthcoming exploration on the Company's critical mineral portfolio. Contracts to complete mapping and geological sampling are expected to be awarded shortly and fieldwork expected to commence as early as end of April or mid-May depending on prevailing temperatures and snow melt.

REFERENCES

1.    Pirie, J., 1978,  Crooked Pine Lake, Rainy River District, M2405, 2000 Series Map.

2.    Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, accessed 24 March 2025, Forest Resources Inventory leaf-on LiDAR, Ontario GeoHub <https://geohub.lio.gov.on.ca/>.

3.    Dyer, R.D., 1999,  Lake Sediment and Water Geochemistry Data from the Atikokan-Lumby Lake Area, Northwestern Ontario, MRD043.

4.    Campbell, D.A., Jonsson, J.R.B., Bautista, S.Y., Dorland, G., Pettigrew, T.K., Ferguson, S.A., 2023, Report of Activities 2022, Resident Geologist Program, Thunder Bay South Regional Resident Geologist Report: Thunder Bay South District, OFR6401.

5.    Ontario Geological Survey, 2011, 1:250 000 Scale Bedrock Geology of Ontario, RD126-REV1, <https://www.geologyontario.mines.gov.on.ca/publication/MRD126-REV1>.

6.    Breaks FW., Selway J.B., Tindle A.G., 2003, Fertile Peraluminous Granites and Related Rare-Element Mineralization in Pegmatites, Superior Province, Northwest and Northeast Ontario: Operation Treasure Hunt, Open File Report 6099

7.    Černy, P. and Meintzer, R.E. 1988. Fertile granites in the Archean and Proterozoic fields of rare-element pegmatites: crustal environment, geochemistry and petrogenetic relationships; in Recent advances in the geology of granite-related mineral deposits, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Special Publication 39, p.170-206

QUALIFIED PERSON STATEMENT

The technical information contained in this disclosure has been reviewed and approved by Mr Nick O'Reilly (MSc, DIC, MIMMM QMR, MAusIMM, FGS), who is a qualified geologist and acts as the Qualified Person under the AIM Rules - Note for Mining and Oil & Gas Companies. Mr O'Reilly is a principal consultant working for Mining Analyst Consulting Ltd which is providing independent technical review to Katoro Gold PLC.

GLOSSARY

Archean - or Archaean, describes the geological period from 4,000 million years ago to 2,500 million years ago.

Critical mineral - while there is no universally accepted definition of a critical mineral, it is commonly agreed that critical minerals have specific industrial, technological or strategic applications for which there are few viable substitutes. These minerals are economically important and can be subject to supply risk.

Felsic intrusion - is an intrusion of igneous rock that is predominantly composed of felsic minerals, such as quartz, feldspar, and muscovite.

Fertile peraluminous granite - is a silica-rich, aluminium-saturated intrusive rock with more aluminium than other granites, and often enriched and associated with mineralisation that includes rare-metal, tin-tungsten deposits and lithium-bearing pegmatites.

LiDAR - Light Detection and Ranging is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) commonly used to generate precise, three-dimensional information of the elevation of the Earth's surface.

Lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatites - are highly fractionated granitic rocks enriched in rare metals, forming important sources of lithium (spodumene), caesium (pollucite), and tantalum (tantalite). Such pegmatites are the principal source of lithium and comprise a compositionally defined subset of granitic pegmatites.

Metasedimentary gneiss - also known as a paragneiss, is a type of high-grade metamorphic rock that originates from a pre-existing sedimentary rock.

Pegmatite - an igneous rock with a very coarse, irregular texture that forms during the final stage of a magma's crystallisation.

ppm - a concentration in parts per million

Subprovince - to a subdivision of a larger geological province, characterized by distinct geological features and history. These features can include rock types, structural trends, and tectonic settings.

Terrane boundary - is a geologic fault or suture zone that separates distinct crustal blocks or terranes with different geologic histories, often marking past tectonic collisions and ancient mountain belts. They act as major weaknesses in the earth's crust which allows for the movement of magma from deep within the earth.

This announcement contains inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) no. 596/2014.

**ENDS**

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Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont Cornish") is the Company's Nominated Adviser and is authorised and regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's responsibilities as the Company's Nominated Adviser, including a responsibility to advise and guide the Company on its responsibilities under the AIM Rules for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for and will not be responsible to any other persons for providing protections afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for advising them in relation to the proposed arrangements described in this announcement or any matter referred to in it.