Excellon Resources Inc. is providing an update on operations at Platosa and company-wide exploration plans over the course of 2022, with additional updates to be forthcoming as mining and exploration plans evolve over the coming months. The Company conducted extensive underground drilling over the past six quarters, including 320 holes totalling 20,462 metres during 2021. Much of this drilling successfully improved definition of mineralized bodies in advance of mining operations and incrementally added tonnage to the mineralized body.

A key goal of this drilling, as variously stated, was to define tonnage in an area of deposit, the "Gap Zone," that had not been sufficiently drilled with historic vertical holes from surface and which held significant potential for additional mineralization connecting the shallower parts of the mineralized body with the deepest defined extents. Drilling in the Gap Zone has not sufficiently infilled this area of the deposit. Over the course of 2021, cost increases impacted the operation in various areas, particularly energy and labour, the two largest cost centres.

Additionally, legislative changes in Mexico further materially increased labour costs. The Company is assessing whether maintaining a consistent production schedule beyond mid-2022 at achievable dewatering rates and with acceptable capital expenditures is possible without additional mineralization being defined in the Gap Zone or elsewhere. Underground drilling continues and results are forthcoming on various areas of the deposit, including follow-up results from the vertically-oriented 817 Zone.

Ongoing underground exploration is testing for other potential vertical zones of mineralization. The Company is also launching an up to 2,000 metre surface drilling program in the coming weeks to test anomalous mineralization approximately 90 metres southeast of Manto 623. This drilling will be important to define mine planning for 2022 and is expected to provide insights by late First Quarter 2022.

Beyond the programs outlined above, the Company has a 2,700 metre drill program at PDN planned for H2 2022. PDN is a skarn-related target approximately two kilometres north of the Platosa Mine associated with the Rincón del Caído discovery made in 2012. The target is an 800-metre-long geophysical anomaly derived from induced polarization, magnetics and gravity surveys.

The discovery horizon is at approximately 500-800 metres depth, which has necessitated an incremental drilling approach. The Company is conducting an O18 isotope study on the Jaboncillo target, approximately 11 kilometres northwest of the Platosa Mine. Jaboncillo is a Platosa- or CRD-style target, where exploration is testing for massive sulphide mantos and chimneys.

The isotope study has been delayed due to COVID limitations in the academic labs capable of conducting the work. Combined with the strong understanding of stratigraphy and structure derived from geophysics and recent drilling programs, the isotope study is expected to provide additional information on the characteristics of the Jaboncillo hydrothermal system and additional vectors for a potential drilling program in late-2022. At the Evolución Project, the Company has planned approximately 4,600 metres of drilling for H2 2022 at the Ilusión and Los Lobos targets, which may lie on the structure regionally controlling Hecla Mining's San Sebastián Mine, northwest of the project.

The program is based on an ongoing regional structural geology study by a Ph.D. candidate from the Université du Québec à Montréal, detailed mapping and rock and soil geochemistry. The Company expects to commence a drilling program of approximately 15,000 metres on the Kilgore Project in mid-2022 pursuant to the terms of the drilling operations plan permitted by the United States Forest Service. The program is focussed on the Mine Ridge area, with 9,800 metres to expand the Kilgore deposit along strike and test high-grade mineralization at depth and an additional 1,800 metres to support metallurgical, geotechnical and hydrological studies.

Additional drilling is planned for Prospect Ridge (1,250 metres) to test mineralization at depth and along strike from the deposit and Dog Bone Ridge (1,800 metres) to follow up on historic high-grade intersections. Drilling may also be conducted at the Gold Ridge target depending on results from drilling to depth at the Mine Ridge target and to follow-up on soil sampling anomalies. The Company currently expects to resume drilling on the Silver City Project in late January to close out the 2021 program, dependant on pending results from the Grauer Wolf target.

Drilling may be conducted until March 31st and resumed on approximately July 1st based on crop planting and bird nesting cycles. Subject to annual permitting requirements, the currently proposed 2022 drilling program at Silver City includes approximately 9,000 metres of drilling on the Grauer Wolf, Peter Vein and Reichenbach targets and approximately 2,100 metres testing of known mineralized structures on the Oederan, Mohorn and Frauenstein licenses, which were added to the project in 2021. Various soil and ground geophysical studies are expected on the project during 2022 and advanced structural analysis is considered a high priority.