Benchmark Botanics Provides Corporate Update

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 4, 2018) - Benchmark Botanics Inc. (CSE: BBT) (OTC Pink: BBHKF) (FSE: BBW) (the "Company" or "Benchmark") is pleased to provide a chronology of business developments since the company was founded in 2013. Potanicals as referred to in the chronology was acquired by Benchmark in November 2017 and is now a 100% owned subsidiary of the Company.

"The management team has achieved several significant milestones over the last six months. We believe it's very important to regularly communicate with our shareholders and the market and review the many things that have been accomplished. . We feel that this chronology paints the full picture describing the Benchmark successful journey to date." states Mr. Calum Hughes, COO of Benchmark.

June 2013 - Potanicals applied to Health Canada for a License under the ACMPR (Access to Cannabis Medical Purposes Regulation).(License #10-MM0003/2018) Potanicals' management made the decision in March 2014 to move forward with construction of its 12,700 square foot Phase I facility in Peachland, British Columbia.

March 2014 - Potanicals leased approximately 10 acres of land from Claude (Cliff) Stowell, which comprises of 50% of the total 20 acres of property on, which the Peachland Facility was being built. Pursuant to the lease agreement, Mr. Stowell also transferred his application for a License to Potanicals. (License #10-MM0003/2018).

Mar 2015 - Potanicals completed the construction of its state-of-the-art Peachland Facility and all of the internal infrastructure.

December 2017 - By a contract of purchase and sale dated November 30, 2017 and amended December 15, 2017 with Potanicals as purchaser and Mr. Stowell as vendor, Potanicals purchased the approximately 10 acres of land previously leased from Mr. Stowell on December 22, 2017 for cash consideration of $1,000,000.

October 13, 2017 - Potanicals received its License to Cultivate cannabis under ACMPR and became a Licensed Producer in its Peachland Facility. Immediately, the production team took action to begin cultivating and secured the necessary growing materials.

November 2017 - By contract of purchase and sale dated November 8, 2016 and amended on September 19, 2017 and November 30, 2017, Potanicals as purchaser agreed to the purchase from Douglas Turner, Secretary and a director of Potanicals, approximately 10 acres, which comprises the other 50% of the total lands on which the Peachland Facility has been built. The purchase price was $825,000, which was paid by the issuance in November 2016 to Mr. Turner of 450,000 Potanicals Shares at a price of $0.50 per Potanicals share and the issuance in December 2017 of 3,000,000 Common Shares at a price of $0.20 per Common Share. On December 15, 2017 Potanicals completed the purchase of the lands from Mr. Turner and the 3,000,000 Common Shares were deposited into escrow with TSX Trust.

November 2017 — Following the acquisition of Potanicals for 124,187,000 shares, Benchmark Botanics began trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

December 2017 - By a contract of purchase and sale dated November 30, 2017 and amended December 15, 2017 with Potanicals as purchaser and Mr. Stowell as vendor, Potanicals purchased the approximately 10 acres of land previously leased from Mr. Stowell on December 22, 2017 for cash consideration of $1,000,000. Please click here to view the news release.

January 2, 2018 — Benchmark/Potanicals received starting plants at its Peachland Facility. The plants consisted of three genetic strains: Sensi Star, Nebula 2 and Dela Haze. Two of these strains possess a High-THC percentage and Low-CBD percentage, and the third has a purposefully high CBD percentage strain with a moderate THC percentage. This began the strategy towards a dual vertical of medical/pharmaceutical approach combined with a recreational vertical for when Canada legalizes the sale of recreational marijuana. Under its License to Cultivate, Potanicals had permission to: produce, sell (to Licensed Dealers), possess, ship, transport, deliver and destroy dried marijuana. Potanicals can also produce, possess, and destroy marijuana plants, as well as possess and destroy marijuana seeds.

January 9, 10 and 11, 2018 — Benchmark/Potanicals hosted representatives from Health Canada for a three-day inspection audit. The team went through all elements of Health Canada's Good Production Practices, its GMP-pharma-focused quality assurance and sanitation program, record keeping, and security measures. Also included in this audit were investigations by Health Canada to ensure all compliance measures were in place for all stages of the plant life cycle, including: plant propagation, vegetation, flowering, harvesting, drying, curing, and storage environment. Audits of packaging and patient intake were reserved for the License to Sell audit at a later date. Following the audit, Health Canada provided comments regarding the Peachland Facility, to which Benchmark responded to Health Canada's satisfaction.

January 12, 2018 to April 9, 2018 - Batch records were created for every day that every singular plant that was in the Peachland Facility. This included: daily environmental condition audits (including temperature, humidity, wattage output of lighting systems, carbon dioxide levels, environmental air sanitation upkeep and maintenance), incoming trace minerals and intake substances and materials, integrated pest management metrics, light cycles of each room, nutrient mixtures and application down to the part per million granularity. All of these daily measurements were totalled and trended for quality assurance of the product integrity. Any signs of "slippage" or non-conformance of processes were caught by the production team and corrective action was implemented following discussions at its weekly meeting. Records of all these practices will be archived on site for five years. This is expected to mitigate the risk if there ever is a recall for any of the output products, and Benchmark has sound daily records demonstrating the high level of attention to quality assurance practice.

February 2, 2018 - Potanicals began its application to Health Canada for a GMP (Good Manufacturing Processes) audit of the Peachland Facility.

February 22, 2018 — Benchmark/Potanicals entered into a contractual agreement for the purchase of 20 kgs of dried marijuana from Supreme Cannabis (FIRE — TSX.V). The purpose is for sale and the extraction of the medical cannabinoids into oil. The cost of this purchase was $6 per gram or $120,000. This product is currently in Benchmark's vault and will be ready to sell following receipt of a License to Sell from Health Canada. Our export relationships will look at exporting this product, as well as our product to Germany. Given this wholesale purchase, we believe we have a relationship with Supreme Cannabis that may enable us to negotiate further purchases of cannabis in wholesale quantities and prices in order to then sell into the Canadian and international markets.

March 13, 2018 - Benchmark shipped the machine that was purchased in March 2017 for the purpose of extraction of cannabinoids from flower into oil. This supra-critical CO₂ extraction technology machine is equipped with an Apeks Diaphragm Compressor Technology which allows for cold separation to preserve volatile oils ensuring high-quality extractions. The energy-efficient, low-maintenance diaphragm compressor gas pump increases processing efficiency, while utilizing CO₂ as a solvent for oil extraction. This inherently involves no toxins, heavy metals or hydrocarbon materials being in contact with the extracted oils. The ability of the CO₂ to selectively extract affords the ability to create unique extractions that have varying levels of desirable oils and waxes. Additionally, less desirable plant constituents, like chlorophyll, can be de-selected rendering a much more pure and standardized end-product.

March 25, 2018 — Benchmark/Potanicals submitted an amendment application to Health Canada indicating that it was prepared for an inspection regarding an extension of its License to Cultivate to a License to Sell. Benchmark/Potanicals sent Health Canada all of its Standard Operating Procedures pertaining to packaging, labelling, patient registration, import/export of bulk material, clearance of product for sale, examples of our patient bottles, recall procedures and business support plan.

March 27, 2018 - Benchmark executed a purchase and sale contract for the purchase of a large greenhouse production center located in the lower mainland of British Columbia. In connection with the proposed purchase, Benchmark paid a $500,000 non-refundable deposit and anticipates completion of the purchase in June 2018. Please click here to view the news release.

March 28, 2018 — Benchmark/Potanicals submitted an amendment application to Health Canada requesting an extension of its License to provide for the ability to produce cannabis oil via extraction. This application process follows the same process whereby a Licensed Producer is granted the License to Cultivate first, then the amendment to include the License to Sell.

April 10, 2018 - The first harvest at the Peachland Facility was successfully conducted. All plants were harvested, and 1,150 new plants were cloned to produce the next crop. The whole production environment was created to be a cyclical production center with predictable crop times and volumes. During the harvest, approximately 60 kgs of wet weight marijuana was harvested and put into the drying/curing process stream. All GMP-focused quality assurance measures were taken through harvest and drying/curing to enable a very high quality end product.

April 10, 2018, Benchmark/Potanicals entered into a binding letter of agreement for the joint ownership of a four acre greenhouse located in Pitt Meadows, British Columbia. Please click here to view the news release.

April 20, 23, 24, 2018, the Peachland Facility went through a three-day GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) certification pre-assessment audit. The GMP audit ensures that the site is adhering to GMP-pharmaceutical-focused quality assurance measures. This pre-assessment audit was conducted by SGS Laboratories, one of the leading companies in Canada who conducts GMP certification audits for pharmaceutical production. Benchmark's GMP certification audit is scheduled for June 11, 12, 13, 2018.

April 25, 2018 — Benchmark/Potanicals shipped five batch samples from its Peachland Facility to MB Laboratories to be tested with reference to the European Pharmacopeia specification standards.

May 2, 2018 - The laboratory testing results for the five batch samples were returned and compared against the European Pharmacopeia specification standards. All five batches were well below the allowable limits for foreign contaminants. Bile Tolerant Gram Negative Bacteria (completely absent), e. coli (completely absent), salmonella (completely absent), pseudomonas, mold and yeast, aflatoxins B1, A1, lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic were all well below allowable specification standards. All product was deemed as QA (Quality Assurance) approved for sale to patients and export.

May 8, 2018 - The Benchmark team received an email from Health Canada stating that the Ottawa office had approved the pre-audit review for the License to Sell and provided communication to the site that Potanicals had passed the paper-based review for the License to Sell. Approval of Benchmark's application for the Licence to Sell requires a final inspection. This communication was also forwarded simultaneously to the compliance office in Ottawa, Ontario and the British Columbia office to alert them that the site is ready for the BC Inspectors to schedule a License to Sell inspection audit. Management anticipate receiving the License to Sell for the Peachland Facility in June 2018, provided that the audit is successfully completed.

May 27, 2018 - Benchmark received notification that the License to Produce Oil extract from the cannabis plant had been approved. Please click here to view the news release.

May 29, 30, 31, 2018 - Benchmark completed a three day in-person audit conducted by Health Canada. This audit was focused on all requirements needed to seek approval for a significant amendment to the Company's ACMPR license. This amendment is for the "License to Sell".
                         

About Benchmark

Benchmark Botanics, Inc. is: "Cannabis Redefined".

Benchmark is a publicly traded company based in Vancouver, British Columbia that is positioned to provide financing, partnership and acquisition opportunities to licensed producers and ancillary businesses within the global cannabis industry.

In November 2017, the Company acquired its first subsidiary, Potanicals Green Growers Inc. Potanicals Green Growers possesses a Health Canada license to cultivate cannabis and is an Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes (ACMPR) Licensed Producer. In its first phase of operations, Potanicals is currently cultivating in its 12,700 square foot PHASE I indoor production facility. Benchmark has additional sites currently being retro-fitted for large scale cultivation expansion.

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For Further Information

Investor Relations
Benchmark Botanics, Inc.
Email: invest@bbtinc.ca
Tel: 1-888-221-0915 
www.benchmarkbotanics.com

Dave Burwell
Vice President
The Howard Group Inc.
Email: dave@howardgroupinc.com
Tel: 403.221-9015
Toll Free: 1-888-221-0915

The CSE has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the content of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to various risks and uncertainties regarding future events. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking information can include without limitation statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. This news release includes forward-looking statements with respect to the business and future objectives of the Company. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including related to: (i) the facility and Potanicals' operations; (ii) adverse market conditions; (iii) the ability of the Company to complete financings in the future; (iv) dependence on suppliers and skilled labour; (v) government regulation and compliance with the ACMPR; (vi) managing and maintaining growth; (vii) unfavourable publicity or consumer perception litigation; and (viii) competition. There is a risk that Potanicals' Producer's License will not be amended to permit the Company to sell medical marijuana produced at its facility. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of factors and risks including the risk factors discussed in this news release and in the Company's disclosure documents, which can be found under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com and on the CSE website. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company does not intend to update these forward-looking statements.