BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. Solidcore
Resources, a gold producer based in Kazakhstan, will invest $25
million in a three-year exploration program in Japan under a new
alliance with Japan Gold Corp., with an option to acquire up to an
80% direct interest in five exploration areas.


This was announced in a statement published by the press service
of Solidcore Resources.


According to the company, the alliance covers five target areas
in Hokkaido and Kyushu, where Solidcore will fully fund the initial
three-year exploration program. Following completion of the first
phase, Solidcore will have the right to earn a 49% direct interest
in one or more of the target areas, depending on exploration
results.


The company may subsequently increase its interest to 70% by
funding a pre-feasibility study for an individual project and to
80% by financing a bankable feasibility study.


The five target areas are Hakuryu, Bajo, Mizobe, Ryuo and
Aibetsu. They are located near historical gold-producing mines and
cover areas with previous exploration and identified
mineralization.


Alongside the exploration alliance, Solidcore acquired 78.775
million units of Japan Gold for C$9.45 million ($6.85 million) in a
private placement.


The investment gives Solidcore an 18.81% stake in Japan Gold on
a non-diluted basis and 19.9% on a partially diluted basis if all
warrants held by Solidcore are exercised.


The units were issued at C$0.12 each and include common shares
and warrants. The warrants allow Solidcore to acquire additional
Japan Gold shares at C$0.135 each for three years.


Solidcore will also have the right to nominate two directors to
Japan Gold's board while maintaining at least an 18% non-diluted
ownership stake. Victor Flores and Tania Tchedaeva were appointed
to the board as Solidcore representatives following the formation
of the alliance.


Japan Gold said the private placement proceeds would support
continued exploration across its other 22 projects, increase
drilling capacity and provide general working capital.







Japan Gold holds more than 3,000 square kilometers of
prospective mineral rights in Japan, according to the company.


Solidcore CEO Vitaly Nesis said the company's interest in Japan
Gold's portfolio was driven by its geological characteristics and
Japan's status as a stable and under-explored jurisdiction.


"Solidcore has a long record of investing across the mining
sector and of building durable partnerships, and Japan Gold's
licence portfolio stands out to us. It has the makings of a
large-scale, generational gold district with a distinctive style of
geology that we have been historically successful working with, in
a stable, well-regulated, developed and notably under-explored
jurisdiction," Nesis said.


Japan Gold CEO John Proust said the alliance would combine
Solidcore's financial resources with Japan Gold's technical and
operational expertise in Japan.


The alliance will be overseen by a joint technical committee
comprising two representatives from each company, chaired by a
Solidcore nominee with a tie-breaking vote.


Hakuryu is located in northern Hokkaido's Konomai epithermal
gold district, where the Konomai Mine produced 2.35 million ounces
of gold at an average grade of 6.4 grams per ton between 1915 and
1973.


Bajo, in central Kyushu, is centered on the historic Bajo Mine,
which produced 421,000 ounces of gold. The Sakuru-Hi vein alone
accounted for 317,000 ounces of gold at 125.9 grams per ton, along
with 557 grams per ton of silver.


Mizobe, in southern Kyushu, has a geological setting similar to
that of the Hishikari deposit, which contains 13 million ounces of
gold and produced approximately 9 million ounces between 1985 and
2025.


The other two areas, Ryuo and Aibetsu, also contain historical
workings and gold-silver mineral occurrences. Ryuo includes five
historic working areas, while Aibetsu encompasses five historical
gold-silver and mercury mines or occurrences.