Rio Tinto Advances to Next Stage of Agreement

VANCOUVER, December 1, 2020 - Midnight Sun Mining Corp. (the "Company" or "Midnight Sun") (TSXV:MMA) is pleased to announce that Rio Tinto Mining and Exploration Limited ("Rio Tinto") have delivered formal notice that they have completed the Initial Work Program phase of the earn-in and joint venture agreement (the "Earn-In Agreement") on Midnight Sun's Solwezi Licences by incurring project expenditures in excess of USD $3,000,000, and are proceeding to Stage 1.

Under Stage 1 of the Earn-In Agreement, Rio Tinto may earn a 51% interest in the Solwezi Licences by incurring a further USD $16,000,000 of project expenditures within four years, as well as making cash payments to Midnight Sun. For more information on the terms of the Earn in Agreement, please see the Company's news release Midnight Sun Signs USD$51 Million Earn-In Agreement With Rio Tinto, dated April 27, 2020.

During the Initial Work phase, Rio Tinto compiled all the available Solwezi Licence data produced by Midnight Sun and prior operators into their management systems and completed additional field work. The goal of the Initial Work was to strengthen their geological understanding of the Solwezi Licences and further delineate exploration targets on the Licences.

Al Fabbro, President and CEO of Midnight Sun stated, "I am very pleased to see the attention Rio Tinto is giving this project. Under the terms of the Earn-In Agreement, Rio Tinto had two full field seasons to complete the Initial Work Program and they completed the program in a matter of months. Now, without any interruption in field work, they have elected to continue on to the next phase of the earn-in."

During the Initial Work Program, the majority of the field work undertaken by Rio Tinto was focused in the area around the 22 Zone and includes:

• Infill soil sampling program, completed on 250 metre x 250 metre spacing;
• Airborne geophysical survey collecting magnetic, radiometric and digital terrain modelling data, completed on 50 metre line spacing;
• A natural source audio-frequency magnetotelluric geophysical survey, totalling 72.3 line kilometres;
• A regional gravity survey, 1-3 kilometre spaced; and
• Air core drilling, 165 holes totalling 6,050 metres.

Currently, a 3,000 metre diamond drill program is underway.

The Solwezi Licences are comprised of two individual exploration licences totalling 506 square kilometres, situated in the North-Western Province of Zambia on the prolific Zambia-Congo Copper Belt and immediately adjacent to Africa's largest copper mining complex, First Quantum's Kansanshi Mine.

Quality Control/Quality Assurance: All samples collected including soil samples and air core samples were sent to ALS Global Preparation Lab in Ndola and were analysed by lab certified portable XRF. Soil samples and air core samples where regolith and fresh/weakly weathered rock at the bottom of the hole were intersected were sent on for further analysis using a 4-acid digestion on the samples followed by ICP-MS analysis (the ME-MS61L package) by ALS Global - Geochemistry Analytical Lab in Vancouver, Canada. One duplicate sample and one certified standard sample were inserted by Rio Tinto in every 20 samples analyzed for quality control/quality assurance purposes.

Qualified Person: Richard Mazur, P.Geo., a Director of the Company and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical data and contents of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF Midnight Sun Mining Corp.
Al Fabbro
President & CEO

For Further Information Contact:
Al Fabbro
President & CEO
Tel: +1 604 351 8850

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 NEW RELEASE.

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include, changes in market conditions, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in commodity prices, unanticipated changes in key management personnel and general economic conditions. Mining exploration and development is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company's forward-looking statements. These and other factors should be considered carefully and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time by the Company or on its behalf, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Midnight Sun Mining Corp.