Kuniko has launched diamond drilling programmes spanning its three highest priority projects in Norway for Copper, Nickel and Cobalt. The drilling programme at the Ertelien Nickel Project commences, as planned on schedule. This campaign is focussed on verifying key historical drill intercepts close to the Ertelien Nickel Mine.

Drilling at the Ertelien Nickel Project will comprise five diamond drill holes, aiming to idemonstrate continuity between historical mineralised intercepts across the Ertelien geological model. In February, a second rig will be mobilised to the Skuterud Cobalt Project as Kuniko seeks to build upon the results of the maiden drill program of 2022. Drilling in 2022 yielded intercepts of cobalt mineralisation in 8 of 8 drill holes at the priority Middagshvile target.

This phase of planned drilling at Skuterud will consist of 2,500 metres spread across approximately ten diamond drillholes, designed to test the extension of mineralisation along strike and at depth. A maiden 1000­1500 metre, 10-hole drilling programme at Undal-Nyberget Copper Project is scheduled to start in early Mar'23, targeting confirmed geophysical anomalies for conductors identified at the Myrmalm and Øyasætra locations on the exploration licence area. Kuniko will be kicking off the first of three diamond drilling campaigns at the brownfield Ertelien nickel deposit located on the Ringerike battery metals project license area.

Ertelien is highly prospective for nickel, copper and cobalt, and during the most recent period of activity at the historical mine site, 66 diamond drillholes were drilled across the Ertelien intrusion by former exploration license holders. Kuniko is aiming to continue to verify the existing work from these previous explorers, with a goal of developing a modern and JORC-compliant Mineral Resource estimate at the Ertelien Nickel Project. This Phase 1 campaign will focus on a single drill profile, twinning two key holes (ER2006-05 and ER2006-6B) from drilling of previous exploration licence holder, Blackstone Ventures Inc. ("Blackstone").

By twinning these holes, Kuniko aims to verify grades and thicknesses of mineralisation previously reported by Blackstone (Refer: Technical report on resource estimates for the Ertelien, Stormyra and Dalen deposits, Southern Norway, Reddick Consulting Inc., Feb. 11, 2009). Three additional holes will be drilled, with the aim of improving knowledge of mineralised continuity within the deposit.

All drill holes will also be continued into the footwall gneiss sequence as this contact zone is currently thought to play a key role in the genesis of mineralisation at Ertelien. This maiden drilling campaign with its planned 5 diamond drill holes for 1,200 ­ 1,500 meters, commencing 18 January 2023, is expected to conclude end-February/early-March. The programme will yield a wealth of new data in a tightly controlled geological environment, aimed at considerably improving the understanding of geological controls on mineralisation at the Ertelien Nickel Project.

In addition to this drilling and the groundwork already completed in 2022, Kuniko anticipates assay results for the four boreholes resampled in late 2022 to be returned and reported during February 2023. The verification of historical assay data will be an important factor in utilizing the historical data in an updated resource model. Two of the resampled historical drill holes are from Ertelien, and two were drilled at the Langedalen prospect, also on Kuniko's Ringerike Project.

Kuniko's exploration team will be analysing the assay results and seeking geochemical comparisons between the intrusions and mineralisation at both locations, with the intent of developing exploration criteria for other targets across the region. Kuniko anticipates that an additional phase of drilling at Ertelien will be planned with a view to expanding the scale of known mineralisation at the Ertelien Nickel mine in connection with defining a maiden JORC resource. Following the successful drilling programme in mid-2022 at the Skuterud Cobalt Project's Middagshvile location, Kuniko returns in February 2023 with an expanded drill campaign to test the continuity and extent of mineralisation along strike and at depth.

The programme is expected to be ongoing throughout February and March, with a planned 2,500 metres across approximately 10 diamond drill holes. After successfully intersecting cobalt mineralisation to the NE of the historic Middagshvile mine workings in KNI_MDV008, Kuniko's campaign objective is to now continue to test the depth continuation of mineralisation across the defined trend, as well as focusing on using infill drilling to connect the intercepts in KNI_MDV001-007 to KNI_MDV008. The campaign will improve the understanding of both physical and grade continuity, which will be factored into the planning of future drilling.

Planned to commence in early March '23, Kuniko's maiden drilling campaign on the Undal-Nyberget Project is targeting two strong conductors known as Myrmalm and Øyasætra. Both targets show along-strike electromagnetic geophysical continuity with outcropping sulphide mineralisation, which makes both targets highly prospective. At the Myrmalm target, boggy low-relief terrain reduces outcrop exposure and could have concealed sulphide mineralisation.

Kuniko is utilising the winter conditions to enable the drilling team to operate in this terrain with the lowest possible impact and environmental footprint on the project area. Drilling will be split between the two targets based on geological observations made as drilling progresses, although at this stage a minimum of five holes are planned to be drilled at Myrmalm, with a further three drill holes planned at Øyasætra.