Highlights: Momentum builds—higher-grade results and a growing footprint

• Cleary higher-grade: GS2546 delivered 11.54 g/t Au over 29.5 m and 2.99 g/t Au over 31.1 m.
• Tamarack breakout: Step-outs expand the system to the east with clear upside.
• Drill acceleration: Five rigs active now; one more mobilizing.
• Upcoming catalysts: Assays pending on 16 holes, plus ongoing metallurgy work and ongoing drill results from the 2026 drill program.

VANCOUVER, BC , April 1, 2026 /CNW/ - Freegold Ventures Limited ("Freegold") (TSX: FVL) (OTCQX: FGOVF) reports new Golden Summit drill results, highlighted by standout higher-than-average grade intercepts at Cleary and continued expansion in the emerging Tamarack area.

"Golden Summit is delivering the kind of higher-grade growth we've been targeting," said Kristina Walcott, President and CEO. "Cleary continues to return strong higher-grade intervals, Tamarack is rapidly emerging as a meaningful eastern extension, and with up to six rigs operating soon and assays pending, we expect sustained catalysts as we advance toward the PFS."

Golden Summit hosts broad mineralized envelopes with multiple above-average grade corridors, and the 2026 drill program is designed to improve the continuity of higher-grade mineralization. To date, the corridors can be traced continuously from the Cleary Road Cut Shear in the northeast to the current drilling extent to the southwest, over 1.5 km, with corridor widths of 100–300 m. The Tamarack discovery may extend for an additional 500 m to the east, with mineralization consistent in style, morphology, and orientation with the main deposit.

Higher-grade results accelerate as Tamarack opens a new eastern corridor
The latest drilling reinforces Golden Summit's higher-grade growth story, with multi-gram gold intersected across Dolphin–Cleary and into Tamarack as the 2026 program targets thicker mineralized corridors that appear to improve at depth.

At depth, the main targets can be traced ~300 m below surface and show improved continuity, broader intervals, and higher grades.

Six rigs soon on site: Currently, five rigs are operating, with a sixth being mobilized. Freegold is ramping up its 2026 program to speed up target testing and follow-up across priority areas. By the end of April, six rigs are scheduled to be running. This expanded drill capacity will expedite and advance the planned drilling program to provide additional infill, geotechnical, and metallurgical material in support of the pre-feasibility study ("PFS").

Cleary Area – Strong to the south

Hole GS2546 – Four Higher Grade Intervals
Drilling in the Cleary area continues to unlock higher-grade potential to the south. Hole GS2546 returned two good intervals from 121-200m, then encountered 216.4 m at 2.44 g/t Au from 255.1 to 471.5 m (end-of-hole) with six well mineralized intervals, including four higher grade intercepts, further strengthening confidence in the continuity of higher-grade mineralization within the current resource area. The deepest higher-grade zone was encountered at 429.8m, the predicted target depth, and returned 11.54 g/t Au over 29.5 m, but was lost before the full extent of the zone could be tested; the hole was originally targeted to 700 m. The overall continuity of mineralization is demonstrated on Section 479650E.

Noteworthy intercepts include:

• 2.99 g/t Au over 31.1 m
• 11.54 g/t Au over 29.5 m, containing three notably high-grade intervals

Tamarack Discovery Continues to Grow
During the 2025 program, 4 holes (GS2536, GS2540, GS2545, and GS2551) were drilled in the Tamarack Zone, marking a significant advancement in expanding the eastern boundaries of Golden Summit's mineralized area. Drill hole GS2536 (reported January 15^th,) intersected 1.28 g/t gold over 49.2m. Hole GS2540 (reported February 18^th) intersected 1.54 g/t Au over 44 m within a broader interval of 1.17 g/t Au over 111.9 m. Reported below are Holes GS2545 and GS2551, both of which hit multiple higher-grade intervals. Notably, GS2551, the more mineralized of the two, was terminated prematurely while in mineralization due to challenging drilling conditions. Additional drilling is planned for the Tamarack area during the 2026 program.

GS2545 – Mineralized Intervals from 104m to 593m Downhole.
This is the deepest hole drilled to date at Tamarack. It intersected intrusive-hosted mineralization at the bottom of the hole, suggesting that Tamarack may represent an eastern extension of the Dolphin stock. Ongoing interpretive work continues to evaluate the possibility that a single, larger mineralized system associated with the Dolphin intrusion may extend beneath the entire property.

Highlights include:

• 1.69 g/t Au over 25.2 m from 224 m downhole
• 24.12 g/t Au over 6.6 m from 511 m downhole, including 236 g/t Au over 0.6 m

GS2551 Five Higher-Grade Intervals Ending in Mineralization
This drill hole, collared 90 m to the NW of GS2545, is the fourth of a four-hole fence across the newly discovered Tamarack Zone. It intersected multiple intervals of higher-grade mineralization beginning closer to surface with 1.28 g/t starting at 57.8 m downhole, bottoming in mineralization. The hole was terminated due to difficult drilling conditions.

Highlights include:

• 1.28 g/t Au over 6.7 m starting 58 m downhole
• 68.21 g/t Au over 1.4 m from 124 m downhole
• 63.18 g/t Au over 1.6 m within 22.2 g/t Au over 5.5 m from 229 m
• 3.40 g/t Au over 3.1 m from 404 m downhole ending in mineralization

Links Plan Map and Sections –

https://freegoldventures.com/site/assets/files/6287/479650e.pdf
https://freegoldventures.com/site/assets/files/6287/04012026_pm.pdf
https://freegoldventures.com/site/assets/files/6287/tamarack_nwse.pdf

2026 Exploration Program Objectives

• Target – Higher-Grade Corridors: This year's 50,000 metre program will focus on identifying and delineating higher-than-average grade corridors within the broader mineralized zones—work that could support project economics by potentially improving overall resource grade.
• Target – Infill & Expansion: The program also includes geotechnical drilling, additional metallurgical test work, and supporting studies to continue advancing the project. Drilling will target the WOW, Dolphin, and Cleary Hill areas, as well as the recently discovered Tamarack zone.
• District-Scale Potential: Golden Summit's history of gold occurrences, previous placer production, and its current resource base, all within an approximate 10 km x 1.5 km ENE-trending structural corridor, collectively reinforce the project's potential to evolve into a district-scale opportunity within a prolific gold-producing region. This year's program will systematically evaluate the potential of Golden Summit to increase in size. As the season progresses, additional drilling is planned to further expand and refine the resource base in support of continued project advancement.

• News Flow – 16 Additional Holes Pending Assay Results: Drilling concluded in mid-December with 63 holes completed. Cutting, sampling, and analytical work on the remaining drill holes is ongoing, and additional results will be reported following validation. Sixteen holes remain to be reported.

Since 2020, Golden Summit has rapidly grown into one of North America's largest undeveloped gold resources through targeted drilling, model enhancements, and an expanding understanding of mineralization controls.

Pilot-Scale Testing Underway to Support Metallurgical Results: Golden Summit's substantial size and exploration upside support multiple potential development pathways. Building on the 2025 program, the 2026 drill program will continue to focus on tightening drill spacing to support an enhanced resource estimate ahead of the pre-feasibility study (PFS). In addition, geotechnical drilling and supplementary metallurgical test holes are planned.

• Initial pilot-scale testing on a sample representative of the Golden Summit deposit is complete, and a flotation concentrate has been produced from a 1,500 kg sample collected from 12 drill holes.
• Effective Concentration Possible: This concentrate, which is less than 4% of the original material, will undergo additional testing to refine the preferred oxidation or treatment process and determine the most effective processing methods during the PFS.
• Non-Acid-Generating Tailings: Tailings from the flotation-based flowsheet, the same flowsheet as the pilot plant, have been classified as low risk for acid generation due to the removal of sulphur and the presence of significant amounts of calcium carbonate.
• Conventional Process & Range of Oxidation Processes Are Being Tested: So far, the prior oxidation test work has been highly successful, showing that total gold recoveries of over 90% are achievable with BIOX®, POX, and the Albion Process™. The GlassLock Process™ has also been tested, increasing the gold grade in the concentrate and reducing arsenic content, enabling direct-to-smelter sales. While maximizing recovery and NAV remain the priority, the project's substantial resource base may permit a simpler processing flow sheet, which could lower both upfront capital and operating costs. This option will also be considered.

As of July 2025, Golden Summit resources include an Indicated Primary Mineral Resource of 17.2 million ounces at 1.24 g/t Au and an Inferred Primary Mineral Resource of 11.9 million ounces at 1.04 g/t Au, using a 0.5 g/t cut-off grade and a gold price of $2,490. Ongoing cutting, sampling, and analytical work support an updated mineral resource estimate, which will be incorporated into the upcoming PFS.

Analytical Program and QA/QC

HQ Core is logged, photographed and cut in half using a diamond saw, and one-half is placed in sealed bags for preparation and subsequent geochemical analysis by ALS's facilities in Vancouver and Thunder Bay. Core samples were delivered to ALS's facility in Vancouver, Canada, where each sample was crushed to 70% passing a 2 mm (Tyler 9 mesh, U.S. Std. No. 10) screen. In Thunder Bay, a representative ~500 g subsample was obtained by riffle splitting (SPL-32a) and analyzed for gold using ALS method Au-PA01 (Photon Assay) which provides a detection range of 0.03 to 350 ppm. In addition, a subsample was analyzed for multi-element geochemistry using ALS method ME-ICP61 (34-element, four-acid ICP-AES).

The QA/QC program includes laboratory and field standards inserted every ten samples. Blanks are inserted at the start of the submittal, and at least one blank every 25 standards.

Qualified Person and Disclosure
Alvin Jackson, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration and Development for Freegold, is the Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical disclosure in this release.

About Freegold Ventures Limited
Freegold is a TSX-listed company focused on advancing exploration and development-stage gold projects in Alaska.

This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this press release. Any statement that discusses 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 statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release, include, without limitation, statements regarding advancing the Golden Summit Project and other exploration plans and results of any drill programs, statements regarding the timing for and expected completion of a pre-feasibility study, the results of any environmental initiatives or metallurgical testing and any development, or drilling. In making the forward-looking statements contained in this press release, the Company has made certain assumptions. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: availability of financing; delay or failure to receive required permits or regulatory approvals; and general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this press release. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise. See Freegold's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed under Freegold's profile at www.sedarplus.com, for a detailed discussion of the risk factors associated with Freegold's operations.

SOURCE Freegold Ventures Limited

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