White River Energy and BitNile Holdings’ Subsidiary, Ault Energy, Successfully Complete Drilling Project in Holmes County, Mississippi

BitNile Holdings, Inc. (“BitNile”) (NYSE American: NILE) and White River Energy Corp (“White River”) (OTC: FRTM), today announced that Ault Energy, LLC (“Ault Energy”), a wholly owned subsidiary of BitNile, and White River Operating LLC (“WR Ops”), a wholly owned subsidiary of White River, have successfully completed drilling a 9,531 foot well, the Harry O’Neal 20-9 No. 1 (the “O’Neal No. 1 Well”), on White River’s oil and gas mineral lease in Holmes County, Mississippi. The O’Neal No. 1 Well was logged on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, by an independent Fortune 500 oilfield services company and had productive oil results across multiple pay-zones in the Smackover formation.

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WR Ops has commenced the completion process on the O’Neal No. 1 Well and anticipates pumping the O’Neal No. 1 Well in mid-October 2022 as an economically viable oil well. White River and BitNile will issue a subsequent press release to communicate to their investors the initial production results as well as an estimate of oil reserves within the O’Neal No. 1 Well’s reservoir.

BitNile obtained participation rights with respect to the O’Neal No. 1 Well and future oil wells when it invested $12 million in Ecoark Holdings, Inc. (“Ecoark”) (Nasdaq: ZEST) on June 8, 2022. Ecoark beneficially owns approximately eighty-three percent (83%) of White River’s capital stock. BitNile, through Ault Energy, exercised its participation right and acquired a forty percent (40%) working interest in the O’Neal No. 1 well, which is the first project in an expected long-term partnership between White River and BitNile, which was previously announced in July 2022 with the intention to drill approximately 100 oil wells over five years.

“The recent success of our development drilling strategy at Horseshoe Lake in Holmes County, MS via our vertically integrated business model is an exciting first step in our relationship with Ault Energy,” stated Randy May, Executive Chairman of White River.

BitNile Founder and Executive Chairman Milton “Todd” Ault, III, who also serves as the Manager of Ault Energy, stated, “We are pleased to announce the successful drilling of an economically viable producing oil well. My team and I conducted a site visit to the in-progress drilling project in September 2022, and we were very impressed with White River’s drilling operations, management, and geological capabilities. We look forward to participating in additional drilling projects with White River over the next several months.”