Hi-View Resources Inc. To Attend And Present "District Scale Exploration Of The Toodoggone Region" At Vancouver Resource Investment Conference (VRIC)

(TheNewswire)

Vancouver, British Columbia– January 15, 2026 – TheNewswire- Au Gold Corp (TSXV:AUGC) (“AUGC” or the“Company”) is pleased toannounce that it has entered into an agreement (the “Agreement”) with Leviathan GoldAustralia (“LGA”), awholly owned subsidiary of Leviathan Metals Corp (TSX.V: LVX), datedJanuary 12, 2026, to acquire (the “Acquisition”) a 100% interest in the 11,663 hectareHavelock Gold-Antimony Project (“Havelock”, or the “Project”), located in the heart of the Victorian goldfields in Australia, half-way between Bendigo and Ballarat.

Highlights of Havelock:

• Shallow, undrilled epizonal and mesozonal gold +/- antimony targets 

• Historical production from multiple small-scale underground workingswith recorded gold grades between 1 – 10 ounces per ton 

• Antimony reported in historic underground workings 

• History of coarse alluvial gold (nuggets) on the property 

• Excellent access with year-round exploration potential 

Marc Blythe, AUGC’s President and CEO stated, “Recent success at Fosterville (AgnicoEagle), Sunday Creek (Southern Cross Gold) and Costerfield (AlkaneResources) has highlighted the potential of Victoria’s epizonalgold-antimony deposits.  At Havelock, mining in the 1880’srecovered high-grade gold-bearing quartz reef with abundant stibnite(antimony sulphide) at one of at least seven workings along a 9 kmtrend within the project area.  This historic mining has never beenfollowed up with modern exploration programs or drilling.  We arevery excited to start exploration, including testing high prioritygold-antimony targets at Havelock”.

Epizonal gold systems, such as those mentioned above, have createdhigh-grade gold deposits that are now a focus for modern exploration. Significant antimony with gold in this part of Victoria is regardedas a reasonable proxy for epizonal gold mineralization4.  

The Company has agreed to pay LGA, an arms length party, C$75,000 andissue 5 million shares of AUGC for a 100% interest in the Project. In addition, AUGC will pay per ounce payments for future resourcedefinition – see “TransactionDetails” below. The Acquisition is subject to acceptance forfiling by the TSX Venture Exchange.

About the Havelock Gold-Antimony Project

The Project is located in the heart of the Victorian goldfields nearMaryborough, roughly halfway between Bendigo and Ballarat and about1.5 hours drive from Melbourne, Australia.  Paved highways and roads,along with gravel tracks provide year-round, ready access to all areasof the Project.  Land ownership is a combination of government(Crown) land and private property.

The first discovery at the Maryborough goldfield was made on thisproperty in 18535, withnuggets and alluvial gold, which led to small scale hard rock mining. Water pumping and processing technologies were rudimentary duringthis period and mining generally targeted high grades above the watertable.  Two significant gold-bearing structural trends cross theproperty with numerous historical workings evident.  The first is theShaw-McFarlane Trend (“SMT”), which comprises about 9 km of intermittent smallscale historic workings with recorded multi-ounce per ton goldproduction in the late 1800’s6.  The SMT has had minimal modern exploration and mosttargets have never been drilled.  

In 2010, a local landowner had a water storage dam excavated on theirproperty (situated in the central part of the SMT) and a metaldetector operator reportedly recovered 514 ounces of gold, including23 kg of gold bearing quartz material from the excavation7.  Management believes the damexcavation intersected the top of a gold-bearing quartz vein (reef)that has never been explored historically or drill tested (see Figure1).  The samples shown in Figure 1 were obtained from the dam spoilmaterial, located at 5,904,195 N, 746,275 E (GDA94 Zone 54).  Sampleswere identified as gold-bearing, first by metal detector response andthen visually.  Individual sample weights varied between 0.238 g and3.07 g.

The reader is cautioned that the sample selection process describedabove is designed to identify high-grade samples which may not berepresentative.  The disclosure is included because these sampleswill be used as a vector to guide future exploration activitiesspecifically at the dam target.

The gold-bearing samples were delivered to On Site LaboratoryServices, located in Bendigo, Victoria by LGA.  On Site LaboratoryServices is a NATA accredited laboratory, certified as compliant withISO/IEC 17025 (2017) – Testing.  Samples were assayed using fireassay with gravimetric finish (Code PE01S).  Results were reported asparts per million and subsequently converted to percent gold content. LGA did not report QA/QC protocols and no blanks or standards wereadded to the sample stream by LGA.  On Site Laboratory Services addedone standard and one blank to the sample batch and these samplesreturned values within industry accepted standard deviations.  Thereis no relationship between On Site Laboratory Services and theCompany.

Figure 1 Photograph of gold-bearing quartz

The second structural trend is the Leviathan-Mariner’s Trend(“LMT”), which covers 3 kmof historic workings.  In 2021, Leviathan completed an 8-hole diamonddrill program along a 270 m portion of the LMT targets.  The drillprogram returned significant results from 4 of the 8 drillholes,justifying further work.

Table 1 Leviathan 2021 DrillHighlights

Historic underground mining reached a maximum depth of 500 feet (152m) on the SMT and 900 feet (274 m) on the LMT, limited by miningtechniques and the presence of ground water.  Mesozonal and epizonalgold systems are known to have depth extents of more than 1,000 m atother locations in Victoria, highlighting the potential below thesehistoric workings.

Epizonal gold systems are believed to have formed in the LateDevonian, specifically between 380 – 370 Ma.  A dyke at BristolHill Mine (Maryborough), about 10 km south of Havelock was dated at370 Ma, while a granite 10 km northwest of Havelock was dated at 391Ma +/- 8, indicating that Late Devonian intrusions potentially existon or near the property.

LGA previously referred to the Project as the Timor property.

The Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal people are the traditional owners ofthe land on which the Project is located.  A Land Use ActivityAgreement is in place for the project, providing clarity for both theDja Dja Wurrung and the project operator.

The Company advises that there are no current Mineral Resources on theProject and cautions that despite the documented historic production,there is no certainty that exploration will result in mineralresources being estimated.

___________________

 1885-Q4, The Gold-Fields of Victoria, Reports of theMining Registrars, Department of Mines, Victoria.

2Whitelaw,H.S., 1899, Notes on Antimony ores in Victoria, G1643.

3Dunn,E.J., 1912 List of Nuggets Found in Victoria, Geological Survey ofVictoria Memoir 12.

4Moore,D.H., 2007, Gold Undercover – Classifying gold bearing deposits incentral and western Victoria, Australia, Department of PrimaryIndustries, Victoria.

5https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2298

6Howitt,A.M., 1913, The Maryborough Gold-Field, Geological Survey of VictoriaMemoir 11.

7Whitehouse, K., 2021, Personal communication.

Transaction Details

For a 100% interest in the Project, AUGC has agreed to pay LGA:

• 5 million AUGC common shares 

• $10,000 (CAD) on signing of the Agreement 

• $65,000 (CAD) on TSX Venture Exchange acceptance for filing 

In addition, AUGC will pay LGA $3 per ounce discovered (measured,indicated or inferred category).  AUGC also agrees to honour anagreement between LGA and Mercator Gold Australia (“Mercator”) who vended the projectto LGA.  Under this agreement, a payment of A$1 per ounce discovered(measured, indicated or inferred) and A$1 per ounce produced shall bepaid to Mercator.  Payments to Mercator are capped at A$1 million forounces discovered and A$1 million for ounces produced.

AUGC has incorporated a wholly owned Australian subsidiary, HavelockGold Pty Ltd to hold the project. No finders fees are payable inconnection with this transaction.

The Company will also replace a A$10,000 environmental bond which isalready in place by LGA.

Post-closing, the Company plans to move quickly to commenceexploration on the project.

The Transaction is a Fundamental Acquisition under TSX VentureExchange policies and a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report onthe Project is being prepared for AUGC by an independent QualifiedPerson.  The Technical Report will be filed on SEDAR+ once it hasbeen reviewed and accepted by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Technical information in this press release was prepared under thesupervision of Mr. William Wengzynowski, P.Eng., a Qualified Person asdefined by NI 43-101.  Mr. Wengzynowski is AUGC’s ExplorationManager.

Following completion of the transaction, LGA will beneficially own andcontrol 5,000,000 Common Shares, representing 11.16 % of the issuedand outstanding Common Shares of the Company on a non-diluted basis.

This press release and LGA’s corresponding early warning report (the“Early Warning Report”) which is expected to be filed on SEDAR+ inthe near term, constitutes the required disclosure pursuant to section5.2 of National Instrument 62-104.  Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids(“NI 62-104”).  The securities acquired by LGA are for investmentpurposes. LGA has no current intention to enter into any of thetransactions listed in clauses (a) to (k) of item 5 of Form 62-103F1of National Instrument 62-103.  The Early Warning System and RelatedTake-over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues (“NI 62-103”), but inthe future LGA may acquire or dispose of securities of the Companydepending on market conditions, reformulation of plans and/or otherrelevant factors, in each case in accordance with applicablesecurities laws.

The Early Warning Report that will be filed on SEDAR+ will satisfy therequirement of section 5.2 of NI 62-104 to have the Early WarningReport filed by an acquiror, in this case by LGA, with the securitiesregulatory authorities in each of the jurisdictions in which theCompany is a reporting issuer and which contains the informationrequired by section 3.1 of NI 62-103, which includes the informationrequired by Form 62-103F1.

A copy of the Early Warning Report filed by LGA in connection with theOffering will be available under the Company’s profile on the SEDAR+website at www.sedarplus.ca.

For further information, please contact:

Au Gold Corp

Marc G. Blythe, MBA, P.Eng., President & Chief Executive Officer

Sandrine Lam, Investor Relations Phone: 1-604-687-3520 Ext. 250

[email protected]

augoldcorp.com

About Au Gold

Au Gold Corp (TSX-V: AUGC) is a gold exploration company focused onadvancing its flagship Havelock gold-antimony project in the VictorianGold Fields in Australia and the Ponderosa gold project in the SpencesBridge Gold Belt in British Columbia, Canada.

Cautionary Note

This release includes certainstatements and information that may constitute forward-lookinginformation within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws.Forward-looking statementsrelate to future events or future performance and reflect theexpectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding futureevents. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can beidentified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as“intends” or “anticipates”, or variations of such words and phrasesor statements that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “should”, “would” or “occur”. This information and these statements, referred to herein as"forward-looking statements", are not historical facts, aremade as of the date of this news release and include withoutlimitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans,estimates and forecasts and statements as to management'sexpectations and intentions with respect to, among other things, thecompletion of the Acquisition, receipt of TSX Venture Exchangeacceptance, future exploration activities including drilling on theProject, and the preparation and filing of a National Instrument43-101 Technical Report.

These forward-looking statementsinvolve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results mightdiffer materially from results suggested in any forward-lookingstatements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things,the ability of the Company to obtain sufficient financing to fund itsbusiness activities and plans, delays in obtaining governmental andregulatory approvals (including of the TSX Venture Exchange), changesin laws, regulations and policies affecting mining operations,currency fluctuations, market uncertainty, as well as those factorsdiscussed in the Company's most recently filed management'sdiscussion and analysis and other filings of the Company with Canadiansecurities authorities, copies of which can be found under theCompany's profile on the SEDAR+ website atwww.sedarplus.ca.

In making the forward looking statements in this news release, theCompany has applied several material assumptions, including withoutlimitation, that the Company will be able to complete the Acquisitionas anticipated, that it will obtain all necessary regulatoryapprovals, including the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange andthat the Company will be able to obtain sufficient financing to carryout its planned exploration activities.

Although management of the Companyhas attempted to identify important factors that could cause actualresults to differ materially from those contained in forward-lookingstatements or forward-looking information, there may be other factorsthat cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to beaccurate, as actual results and future events could differ materiallyfrom those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers shouldnot place undue reliance on forward-looking statements andforward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance onsuch information may not be appropriate for other purposes. TheCompany does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement,forward-looking informationor financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein,except in accordance with applicable securities laws. We seek safeharbour.

Click Image To View Full Size

Figure 2 Havelock Project Detail Map

Click Image To View Full Size

Figure 3 ProjectLocation Map

Copyright (c) 2026 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.