Blossom Gold Announces Selection of Kappes, Cassiday and Associates as Lead for Rosebud’s Feasibility, the Rosebud Technical Team and Provides an Update on Permitting Activities Supporting a 2029 Start of Construction

TORONTO, Oct. 21, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Blossom Gold Inc. (“Blossom Gold” or the “Company”) (TSX: BGAU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Kappes, Cassiday & Associates (“KCA”) as lead consultant for the Feasibility Study at its Rosebud Open-Pit Project (“Rosebud” or the “Project”) in Pershing County, Nevada. The Feasibility Study is expected to commence in the second quarter of 2027, following the delivery of an updated Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) at the end of the first quarter of 2027. The Company is also pleased to announce progress with permitting activities required for the Project’s Environmental Impact Statement to maintain Blossom Gold’s schedule to advance Rosebud to construction by 2029.

Figure 1: Rosebud Planning Schedule and Expected Timeline to Production

Source: Blossom Gold Inc.

Highlights

• KCA appointed lead Feasibility Study consultant: Reno-based KCA brings more than 50 years of heap leach, metallurgical, engineering and construction experience and is already familiar with Rosebud through its ongoing metallurgical test work on Rosebud metallurgical samples. KCA’s track record includes several major design through construction contacts, including for Agnico Eagle (engineering, procurement and construction management (“EPCM”) the contract for Pinos Altos and EPCM contract for La India), Gammon Lake Resources (EPCM contract for Ocampo) and Pan American Silver (EPCM contract for Dolores), to name a few.
• Full technical team in place for permitting and feasibility: KCA will coordinate feasibility work alongside Northern Lights Mining (resource estimation and mine design), GMining Services (mine geotechnical evaluation and studies), and NewFields MDTS (processing facilities geotechnical evaluation and design). Permitting is coordinated by principal environmental consultant Westland Resources (Federal and State coordination, biological, cultural, tribal engagement) and supported by SRK Consulting (hydrological and geochemical evaluation, studies and monitoring)
• Project Schedule aligned to allow commencement of construction in 2029 with first-production in late-2030, early-2031.
  
  

“We chose KCA to lead the Rosebud Feasibility Study because of KCA’s clear enthusiasm to be the lead for Rosebud’s feasibility and, most importantly, KCA does not build facilities that don’t work,” said Graden Colby, Chief Operating Officer of Blossom Gold. “KCA has a track record of taking feasibility studies through to engineering, procurement and construction, as it did at Pinos Altos and La India for Agnico Eagle and at Ocampo for Gammon Lake. Like Agnico and Gammon, that is exactly the standard we want for Rosebud, an owner-operator approach to feasibility with EPCM execution that leads to successful mines. KCA is familiar and works well with our other technical consultants and we look forward to the effort.”

On Track for Updated MRE in Q1:27 and Initiation of Feasibility/EIS in Q2:27

Drilling continues at Rosebud, 26,555m drilled since April with three core and one RC rig conducting expansion and infill drilling from surface. Rehabilitation of decline #2 is on schedule after Small Mine Development LLC (SMD) successfully worked through the one major fault in both declines, a splay off the South Ridge Fault. Timberline Drilling Inc. of Elko, Nevada has been selected as the underground drilling contractor for Rosebud. Drilling is expected to begin in December following establishment of drill stations. The remaining drill program to support the MRE involves an additional 11,585m of surface and 8,232m of underground drilling through Q1:27, for an expected total of over 46,000m of new NI 43-101 information for the updated resource estimate.

While feasibility will formally kick-off in Q2:27 there is and has been preliminary engineering done in support of the overall permitting process, both the Federal Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and State of Nevada process. Blossom and our consultants have already identified expected water and power requirements, provided planning profiles for ore and waste, established facility layouts and infrastructure corridors. Geotechnical, geochemical and hydrology drilling for the expected open-pit has largely been completed. This work and related studies will feed directly into the feasibility study.

Permitting efforts are on schedule with critical path elements met to date. Annual, required raptor surveys were completed. Rosebud’s initial, humidity cell tests (HCT), considered a long lead element of waste characterization, are underway. Pre-EIS meetings have been held with regulators and interested parties. The Project Area for permitting has been defined and presented to Federal and State regulators. Baseline requirements have been determined and documented. Biological surveys began in September with archeology/culture surveys beginning in October. Blossom’s Tribal, community and government engagement efforts have begun.

Metallurgical testing continues with material going through Rosebud’s assessment process at KCA’s lab, including bottle rolls, columns and additional testing to assess carbon-in-leach, carbon-in-pulp and flotation processing. Column results will begin being reported later in Q4.

“I wish every shareholder could visit site and see what has transpired since we began work in April this year!” said Rick Winters, Chief Executive Officer of Blossom Gold. “There were only two years in Rosebud’s history when there was over 25,000m of drilling, in 1990 under LAC Minerals and 1998 under the Hecla/Newmont JV. With an expected 46,000m of Blossom drilling we are very confident we can meaningfully expand and upgrade our existing NI 43-101 inferred open-pit resource of 70.8Mtons at 0.018opt gold and 0.189opt silver (0.62gAu/t and 6.49gAg/t). Our technical drilling is near completion and all focus is on the next 20,000m of resource expansion and infill drilling. The underground is on track after SMD did a great job getting through the one difficult section of the decline. Timberline Drilling will be generating deposit infill information before you know it. Much is underway and the project is on schedule, but what shareholders should expect is a lot of news flow. Drill results as we execute our surface and underground programs and catch-up on approximately 5,000m of resource core yet to be logged. Metallurgical news with column results beginning in December and continuing there after as well as important project execution updates. With our OTCQX Best Markets listing we will work hard to get the story and value proposition out to a new set of investors that could not participate before. Improving liquidity will benefit all shareholders as we advance Rosebud and pursue our discovery at Kamma.”

About Kappes Cassiday & Associates (KCA)

Based in Reno, Nevada, and providing metallurgical services to the mining industry since 1972, KCA is widely recognized as one of the pioneering firms in precious metals heap leaching. The firm offers an integrated service spanning laboratory test work, feasibility-level engineering, process plant design and construction management, and has evaluated and designed heap-leach projects throughout Nevada, the Americas and internationally. KCA has designed and built more than 70 process plants in over 30 countries.

About Blossom Gold Inc.

Blossom Gold is a Canadian-based precious metals exploration and development company that trades on the TSX under the symbol BGAU and the OTCQX under the symbol BGAUF. Blossom Gold acquired the Rosebud Project in connection with the TSX-listing and will be focused on the exploration and development of the project. The Rosebud Project includes the former Rosebud Mine, where mining was conducted from 1997 through 2000 by the Rosebud Mining Company, a Newmont-Hecla joint venture, using underground mining methods where the mine operated at a cut-off grade of approximately 0.2 opt Au (6.8 gAu/t), when gold prices ranged from US$250 to US$350/oz; with mined material truck-hauled approximately 120 miles to an existing Newmont oxide mill for processing.

The current vision for the Rosebud Project is to evaluate the remaining higher-grade mineralization and the surrounding larger volume of lower grade mineralization as a potential open pit mining operation with on-site, heap-leach processing and recovery of gold and silver. The Rosebud Project currently hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 70.755 million tons grading 0.62gAu/t (0.018opt Au) and 6.49gAg/t (0.189opt Ag) for 1.28 million ounces of gold and 13.4 million ounces of silver. The mineral resource estimate was open pit constrained using long term gold and silver prices of US$2,500 and US$35 per ounce respectively. The deposit is open in all directions.

Further details on Blossom and the Rosebud Project, including the technical report titled “Mineral Resource Estimate for the Rosebud Property, Pershing County, NV, USA” by Northern Lights Mining LLC, with a report date of December 17, 2025 and an effective date of November 1, 2025, can be found under the Company’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com and the Company’s website at www.blossomgold.com.

For further information, please contact:

Brandon Throop
Vice President, Corporate Development & Investor Relations
Direct: 1-647-646-7824
Email: bthroop@blossomgold.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this news release constitute forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company’s plans, prospects and business strategies, including the anticipated timing and scope of the Feasibility Study, the expected timing of an updated Mineral Resource Estimate, the anticipated roles of the Company’s consultants, its drilling programs, permitting, the expected timing of a construction decision and the commencement of production, and its vision regarding the Rosebud Project. Terminology such as “plan”, “expect”, “schedule”, “estimate”, “forecast”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “may” or “will” and similar expressions identify forward-looking information. By identifying such information in this manner, Blossom is alerting the reader that such information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Blossom to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such information. In addition, in connection with the forward-looking information contained in this news release, Blossom has made certain assumptions. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: the inability of Blossom to achieve any one or more of the key catalysts on the timeline expected, or at all, and any changes in the development of the business of Blossom, as well as those risk factors more generally set out in Blossom’s AIF, which is available under Blossom’s profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com. Should one or more of these risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein. Although Blossom believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is provided as of the date of this news release, and Blossom does not undertake to update any forward-looking information that is contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws.

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