Highlights:

• Historic drilling from the 1970s and 80s focused on higher-grade massive sulphide deposits, while broader lower-grade copper-bearing feeder and stringer zones were generally perceived to be of lesser economic interest and were not consistently sampled.
• Analysis of hyperspectral data and high-resolution core photography, completed on 48 historic drill holes, has identified widespread hydrothermal alteration associated with previously unsampled visible sulphide stringers which may host copper mineralization.
• Several historical holes pass immediately adjacent to broad copper rich intersections drilled into the newly discovered Kraken copper zone.

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 17, 2026) - Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: VCG) (OTCQB: VCGMF) (the "Company" or "Visionary") is pleased to announce the initiation of a hyperspectral-guided historical core review and sampling program at its 100%-owned Pt. Leamington Gold-Copper-Zinc-Silver Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide ("VMS") Deposit in central Newfoundland.

The program will advance ahead of Visionary's previously announced 20,000-metre Phase 2 drill program and follows a review of high-resolution core photography and hyperspectral data collected by College of the North Atlantics ("CNA") Hyperspectral Scanning Unit ("HSU") from 48 historical drill holes at Pt. Leamington.

Max Porterfield, President and CEO of Visionary, stated, "Every hole we drilled to test the Kraken copper zone hit mineralization, and none of it is in our 2021 resource estimate. That tells you something about what the historical drilling was and wasn't looking for. The original operators defined an excellent massive sulphide deposit, but broad copper feeder systems weren't the target in that era. We're resampling up to 2,000 metres of historical core and planning to put 20,000 metres of drilling into the ground — enough to bring Kraken into the resource and upgrade what's already there."

An initial review has identified eight holes with numerous wide intervals of visible sulphide stringer mineralization, which hosts the Kraken copper zone, within broad quartz-chlorite-white mica alteration signatures that were either not sampled or were incompletely sampled during historical exploration (see news releases dated March 2, 2026 and May 13, 2026) (See Figure 1: Pt Leamington Deposit 3D View with Hydrothermal Alteration Halo associated with the Deposit).

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Jason Flight, Visionary's Vice President of Exploration, commented, "We have used the hyperspectral data to map chlorite, quartz and white mica through the scanned historical holes and integrated those responses into our three-dimensional geological model. The strongest alteration is concentrated in the footwall of the massive sulphide system, where we also see copper-bearing stringer mineralization in the historical core and the newly discovered Kraken zone. That geometry is familiar from my previous experience at the Ming Mine, where broad copper-rich footwall mineralization occurs beneath the VMS lenses."

"This work is possible because more than five decades of historical core has been preserved through the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Core Storage Program, and the College of the North Atlantic's multi-camera hyperspectral scanning system subsequently created a high-resolution photographic and hyperspectral dataset from that core."

Historical Sampling Opportunity

Visionary's discovery of the Kraken copper zone in the 2026 Phase 1 drilling program demonstrated that broad copper-rich mineralization occurs in the footwall of the existing Pt. Leamington massive sulphide resource.

At Kraken, PL-118 returned 22.5 metres grading 0.53% Cu and 41.5 metres grading 0.39% Cu, including 7.5 metres grading 0.89% Cu. PL-112 previously returned 75.8 metres grading 0.45% Cu, including 12.0 metres grading 1.09% Cu.

Historical hole PL-010 (307-10) passes approximately 20 metres from PL-118 in Visionary's current three-dimensional interpretation. Review of CNA core photography shows visible sulphide stringer mineralization within a broad altered interval approximately 80m (core length) wide that was not historically sampled.

PL-010 is one of numerous historical holes identified during the initial review where strong hydrothermal alteration and visible sulphide mineralization coincide with gaps in historical assay coverage.

The Company cautions that visible mineralization and hyperspectral alteration are exploration indicators only and no grade can be assigned to unsampled intervals until analytical results are received.

Large VMS Feeder Systems

The potential importance of broad VMS feeder systems is well demonstrated at Newfoundland's Ming Mine, operated by FireFly Metals Ltd., where higher-grade VMS lenses are underlain by an extensive copper-rich Footwall Zone.

Visionary considers Ming a useful geological analogue illustrating the potential significance of broad copper-bearing footwall stringer systems. Mineralization, grades, scale and geometry at Ming are not indicative of Pt. Leamington.

Pt. Leamington has its own compelling exploration characteristics. The massive sulphide component of the mineralized system has been drilled over approximately one kilometre of strike, begins at surface and has only been tested to roughly 400 metres depth. The recently discovered Kraken copper zone occurs in the footwall of the existing massive sulphide system and highlights the potential for additional near surface copper-bearing stringer mineralization beyond the current resource.

Historical Core Program

Visionary wishes to acknowledge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador's Core Storage Program for preserving the historical Pt. Leamington core at the provincial core storage facility in St. John's and the College of the North Atlantic's HSU team for scanning the historical core and making the resulting high-resolution photography and hyperspectral data available.

Priority core will now be retrieved, reconciled against historical assays and drill records, and continuously sampled across previously unassayed sulphide-bearing intervals.

The program will proceed alongside Visionary's 20,000-metre Phase 2 drilling program, with results from both programs progressively incorporated into the Company's three-dimensional Pt. Leamington model.

Qualified Person

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Jason Flight, P. Geo., a "qualified person" under NI 43-101. Mr. Flight is not independent under NI 43-101 as he is Vice President of Exploration for the Company.

About Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc.

Visionary Copper and Gold Mines Inc. (TSXV: VCG) (OTCQB: VCGMF) is advancing its portfolio of base and precious metals rich deposits located in established Canadian mining jurisdictions. The focus of the portfolio is highlighted by the 100% owned Pt. Leamington Deposit in Newfoundland, located in one of the richest VMS and Gold Districts in Canada. The Company prepared a pit constrained Indicated Mineral Resource of 5.0 Mt grading 1.42% CuEq for 156.8 Mlb CuEq (145.7 koz gold, 60.0 Mlb copper, 153.5 Mlb zinc, 2.0 Moz silver, 1.5 Mlb lead), a pit constrained Inferred Mineral Resource of 13.7 Mt grading 1.27% CuEq for 384.8 Mlb CuEq (354.8 koz gold, 110.2 Mlb copper, 527.3 Mlb zinc, 6.2 Moz silver, 7.0 Mlb lead) and an out-of-pit Inferred Mineral Resource of 1.7 Mt grading 1.74% CuEq for 65.7 Mlb CuEq (65.4 koz gold, 13.3 Mlb copper, 102.9 Mlb zinc, 1.4 Moz Ag, 2.6 Mlb lead) (see news release dated October 25, 2021). Additionally the Company is permitting the Rainbow deposit at its rich VMS Pine Bay Project located near existing infrastructure in the Flin Flon Mining District. The Company prepared an indicated mineral resource on the Rainbow deposit of 3.44 Mt grading 3.59% CuEq for 272.4 Mlb CuEq (238.3 Mlb Cu, 56.9 Mlb Zn, 37.6 koz Au, 692.8 koz Ag, 2.3 Mlb Pb), an inferred mineral resource on the Rainbow deposit of 1.28 Mt grading 2.95% CuEq containing 83.4 Mlb CuEq (72.1 Mlb Cu, 19.5 Mlb Zn, 11.1 koz Au, 222.2 Koz Ag, 0.8 Mlb Pb) and an inferred mineral resource at the Pine Bay deposit of 1.0 Mt grading 2.62% Cu containing 58.1 Mlb Cu (see news release dated July 10, 2023). Additionally, the portfolio includes the Nash Creek Project located in the VMS rich Bathurst Mining District of New Brunswick. A 2018 PEA generates a strong economic return with a pre-tax IRR of 34.1% (25.2% post-tax) and NPV8% of $230 million ($128 million post-tax) at $1.25 Zinc (see news release dated May 14, 2018).

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future expenditures. These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements. Such factors include, among others, the ability to complete the proposed drill program, additional capital requirements for its work programs and the timing and amount of expenditures. Except as required under applicable securities laws, Visionary does not assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.

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