BTU Expands Dixie East Project with Strategic Block 3 Acquisition Adjacent to Kinross Great Bear Project

June 3, 2026, Vancouver, BC, Canada – BTU METALS CORP. (“BTU” or the “Company”) (BTU:TSX-V BTUMF:OTC) is pleased to announce it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Dixie East Block 3 Project (the “Project” or the “Property”), located approximately 6 kilometres east of the Kinross-owned Great Bear Project in the eastern part of the Red Lake District, Ontario. The newly acquired claim package is directly adjacent to the Kinross and BTU Dixie Halo Project and further augments the Company’s strategic land position in one of Canada’s most active and prospective gold exploration districts. The new acquisition brings the Company’s total Dixie East Project strike coverage to approximately 17 kilometres (Figure 1).

The Dixie East Block 3 claims strengthen the Company’s district-scale exploration footprint surrounding the multi-million-ounce Great Bear gold deposit being advanced toward production by Kinross as well as the easterly extent of their recently announced high-grade Strider gold discovery.

Dixie East Block 3 Acquisition Highlights:

• Strategic Expansion Adjacent to Kinross-Optioned Ground: The Dixie East Block 3 claims are directly contiguous with the Company’s Dixie Halo Project, currently operated by Kinross under an option and Joint Venture agreement and further enhances the Company’s exposure to ongoing exploration success in the broader Great Bear district and increases the Company’s cumulative Dixie East land package to approximately 17 km of strike length.
• Located Along Prospective Regional Structural Corridor: The newly acquired claims occur within the interpreted extension of the same east-trending regional structural corridor associated with gold mineralization at the Great Bear Project, including the LP Fault system.
• Emerging District-Scale Gold Potential: Kinross recently reported high-grade gold drill intercepts west of the new property from the new Strider Zone, including 215.4 g/t gold over 2.1 metres, results that further support the importance of this regional scale gold mineralized structural corridor and that shows the potential of the broader mineralized system to contain high gold values well beyond the current Great Bear known mineralization.¹      
• Cost-Effective Exposure to Discovery Potential: This acquisition expands the Company’s strategic land position proximal to the Great Bear gold discovery through a low-cost transaction structure that increases the Company’s exposure to exploration success as well as future district-scale opportunities.
• Dixie East Properties cover Interpreted Location of Significant Regional Structures: The Company continues to refine the interpreted location of significant regional deep-seated structures known to control gold mineralization throughout the area by assembling and utilizing all available datasets.
• There is no history of gold exploration on the property. Geological interpretation and data review work completed to date has not shown any history of gold exploration on the property which is largely overburden covered. The style of a significant portion of the gold mineralization discovered at the Great Bear Project is quite unique and was in fact even overlooked in drill core that had intersected visible gold mineralization within the Great Bear corridor.
• The Company will commence work on the Block 3 property this summer. The Company is funded and will commence geological work immediately upon approval of the property agreement.

“The acquisition of Block 3 represents another important step in BTU’s strategy of building a district-scale land position east of the Great Bear Project,” stated Paul Wood, Chief Executive Officer of BTU. “With approximately 17 kilometres of cumulative strike coverage now controlled across the Dixie East trend, we believe the project offers significant long-term exploration potential within one of the most prolific new gold discovery areas in Canada. The proximity to Kinross’ Great Bear Project and their recently announced high grade Strider gold discovery further reinforces our conviction in the broader regional structural corridor and its potential to host new areas of significant gold mineralization.”

Figure 1: Dixie East Project Regional Map with Geophysics and Kinross-owned Great Bear Project

Terms of the Transaction

Pursuant to the definitive purchase agreement, the Company will acquire 100% interest in the Block 3 claim group through the issuance of an aggregate total of 800,000 common shares of the Company, a cash payment of $16,000 plus a 1.5% NSR, with the right for BTU to buy back a 0.5% interest at any time for $500,000, to the arm’s length vendors. This transaction is subject to approval from the TSXV.   The shares issued will be subject to normal course trading restrictions. 

Qualified Person

Bruce Durham, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of the Company, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Mr. Durham has verified the technical information disclosed herein through a review of historical exploration records, publicly available information relating to adjacent properties, and regional geological datasets relevant to the Dixie East Project.

About BTU

BTU Metals Corp. is a junior mining exploration company. BTU’s primary assets are the Dixie Halo Project located in Red Lake, Ontario (operated by Kinross) immediately adjacent to the Kinross Great Bear Project and its gold and critical minerals properties in the active Wawa gold district. The Company continues to look to acquire high quality exploration projects to add to its portfolio for the benefit of its stakeholders. The Company has no debt and minimal property obligations. 

References 

1 Kinross News Release – “Kinross reports strong 2026 first-quarter results” Link  NOTE: Results on the Kinross property should not be considered to be representative of results on the Company’s properties.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“Paul Wood”
Paul Wood, CEO, Director
pwood@btumetals.com 

BTU Metals Corp.
Telephone: 1-604-683-3995

Cautionary Statement

Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. The information in this release about future plans and objectives of the Company is forward-looking information. Other forward-looking information includes but is not limited to information concerning: the intentions, plans and future actions of the Company.

Any statements that involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “estimates”, “believes” or “intends” or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results “may” or “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information. 

This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time it was made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, among others: risks relating to the global economic climate; dilution; future capital needs and uncertainty of additional financing; the competitive nature of the industry; currency exchange risks; the need for the Company to manage its planned growth and expansion; the effects of product development; protection of proprietary rights; the effect of government regulation and compliance on the Company and the industry; reliance on key personnel; global economic and financial market deterioration impeding access to capital or increasing the cost of capital; and volatile securities markets impacting security pricing unrelated to operating performance. The Company has also assumed that no significant events occur outside of the normal course of business. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking information other than as required by law.