Orex Touts Viper's High-Grade Find to Back Mexico Equity Pivot

VANCOUVER, BC – March 24, 2026 – Orex Minerals Inc. is spotlighting a series of exceptional high-grade drill results from Silver Viper Minerals Corp.'s La Virginia project in Sonora, Mexico, framing the discovery as powerful validation for its own pending strategic overhaul. The results, which include bonanza-grade gold and silver intercepts, arrive just as Orex awaits regulatory approval for the sale of its Coneto Silver-Gold Project to Silver Viper in an all-share transaction.

The announcement reinforces Orex's strategic decision to trade direct ownership of a single asset for a significant equity position in a larger, well-funded explorer. For Orex shareholders, the impressive findings at La Virginia serve as an early and tangible justification for the deal, offering a glimpse of the potential upside from the diversified Mexican precious metals portfolio they are about to gain exposure to.

A Strategic Pivot to Equity

The move is part of a calculated pivot by Orex's management. The company recently entered into a definitive agreement to sell its interest in the Coneto Silver-Gold Project to Silver Viper. Rather than a cash sale, the transaction is structured as an all-share deal valued at US$15 million. Upon closing, Orex will receive 9,908,438 common shares of Silver Viper, making it a major shareholder.

This transaction, which remains subject to approval from the TSX Venture Exchange, effectively transforms Orex from a direct project operator at Coneto into a strategic investor with exposure across Silver Viper's entire portfolio. This includes not only the continued advancement of Coneto but also the promising La Virginia Gold-Silver Project and the Cimarron Gold-Copper Project.

John Eren, President and CEO of Orex Minerals, commented on the strategy in a recent press release. "We structured the Coneto transaction as an all-share deal precisely because we believe in the quality of Silver Viper's assets and the strength of their exploration platform," he stated. "Today's results...speak for themselves. They validate our conviction that Orex's equity position in Silver Viper represents meaningful, ongoing upside for our investors as we await TSXV approval to close the Coneto transaction."

This equity-based approach is a common strategy in the junior mining sector, allowing companies to consolidate assets, preserve precious cash reserves, and share both the risks and rewards of capital-intensive exploration. For Orex, it provides a path to value creation without the full burden of operational and financing responsibilities for a single project.

Bonanza Grades Bolster La Virginia's Promise

The results fueling this optimism come from Silver Viper's ongoing drill program at La Virginia, a resource-stage epithermal gold-silver system in the prolific mining state of Sonora. The latest batch of assays has delivered some of the project's most significant intercepts to date.

The headline result came from drill hole LV26-345, which intersected an 11.70-meter interval grading an impressive 9.18 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 352.0 g/t silver. Within this zone was a spectacular 0.5-meter section that returned bonanza grades of 183.5 g/t gold and 6,850 g/t silver, equivalent to over six ounces of gold and 220 ounces of silver per tonne.

Other notable intercepts underscore the project's high-grade potential:
* Hole LV26-344: 2.60 meters grading 50.66 g/t gold and 158.1 g/t silver, including a 0.6-meter interval of 208.0 g/t gold.
* Hole LV26-343: 2.20 meters grading 4.50 g/t gold and 347.7 g/t silver, including a 0.5-meter section of 13.8 g/t gold and 1,205 g/t silver.

Silver Viper's drill program, originally planned for 5,000 meters, has already been expanded after completing over 5,600 meters across 18 holes. The focus is on infill drilling at the project's main El Rubi resource area, with the strategic goal of converting existing Inferred Mineral Resources into the higher-confidence Indicated category. The program has also successfully identified new mineralized structures at a target known as El Molino.

These results will be crucial for the project's updated mineral resource estimate, which is anticipated in the second quarter of 2026. The current 2021 estimate already outlines 154,000 indicated ounces of gold and 6.92 million indicated ounces of silver, with an additional 260,000 inferred ounces of gold and 12.94 million inferred ounces of silver. The ongoing drilling success suggests significant potential for both resource expansion and an increase in overall resource confidence.

Navigating Mexico's Evolving Mining Landscape

The strategic maneuvering by Orex and Silver Viper is taking place against the backdrop of a fundamentally altered regulatory landscape in Mexico. Sweeping mining law reforms enacted in May 2023 have introduced significant changes for all operators in the country.

Under the new framework, mining is no longer considered a "preferential activity," meaning companies are not automatically granted land access and must negotiate directly with landowners and local communities. Concession terms have been shortened from 50 to 30 years and are now awarded through a competitive public bidding process, replacing the historical first-come, first-served system.

Furthermore, the reforms impose stricter environmental and social obligations. These include a mandate for prior consultation with indigenous communities, a requirement to pay at least 5% of net profits to those communities, and prohibitions on mining in protected natural areas. Water usage has also come under scrutiny, with new concessions contingent on water availability and a requirement for significant water recycling.

While these changes introduce new layers of complexity and potential delays for exploration and development, they also incentivize the formation of well-capitalized, experienced, and strategically aligned companies. In this context, the consolidation of the Coneto and La Virginia projects under Silver Viper, with Orex as a key shareholder, creates a more robust entity better equipped to navigate the new regulatory realities while advancing a significant portfolio of assets in Mexico's premier mining state.

While awaiting the finalization of the Coneto sale, Orex Minerals continues to hold its other assets, including a 40% joint-venture interest in the Sandra Silver-Gold Project with Pan American Silver in Durango, Mexico, and the wholly-owned Jumping Josephine Gold Project in British Columbia. However, the strong performance at La Virginia has firmly shifted the market's focus to the immediate upside potential of its impending equity stake in Silver Viper, providing a powerful endorsement of its new strategic course.