Mr. Elmer Stewart reports

COPPER FOX ANNOUNCES STRATEGY TO ADVANCE VAN DYKE COPPER PROJECT TO PFS STAGE

Copper Fox Metals Inc. has provided an update on plans to advance its 100-per-cent-owned Van Dyke in situ copper recovery (ISCR) project, located in the Globe-Miami mining district in Gila county, Arizona.

Elmer B. Stewart, president and chief executive officer of Copper Fox, stated: "Copper Fox is focused on restarting copper production from the historic Van Dyke mine in Arizona employing responsible mining technologies, practices and utilizing ISCR methodology, a mining method currently being implemented at Florence Copper. The 2020 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) recognized Van Dyke as a near-term, mid-size, environmentally friendly and sustainable copper project located in the prolific Miami-Inspiration mining district in Arizona. Copper Fox's goal at Van Dyke is to update the 2020 PEA incorporating results of studies completed since 2021 to provide a critically important assessment of the project's status. The results of the PEA could optimize the timeline, activities and estimated cost of the execution plan prepared to advance the project to the prefeasibility study (PFS) stage. We look forward to delivering on this next milestone and are exploring available options for non-dilutive funding prior to initiating the PFS-level activities."

The PEA would incorporate, among other items, the results of technical studies completed since 2021, update the capital, operating and sustaining costs, and update pretax and posttax economic models using consensus long-term copper pricing and a project economic sensitivity analysis to copper price.

Copper designated critical mineral

The recent designation of copper as a critical mineral by the U.S. Geological Survey, combined with the rapidly growing demand for copper to support the global energy transition, manufacturing, electrification and AI (artificial intelligence) expansion highlights the importance of new, environmentally sustainable development-stage copper projects such as Van Dyke. The project has the potential to be a near-term, mid-size copper project located in a Tier 1 jurisdiction, playing a meaningful role in meeting the growing long-term domestic demand for copper in the United States.

The Van Dyke project

The 2020 PEA contemplated a mining operation with a production capacity of 85 million pounds of Grade A, 99.99-per-cent-pure copper cathode per year utilizing ISCR methodologies over a 17-year mine life. Highlights of the 2020 PEA are as follows (see news release dated Jan. 12, 2021).

2020 PEA highlights (based on $3.15 (U.S.) per pound copper):

• Base-case posttax net present value (discounted at 7.5 per cent) of $644.7-million (U.S.), an internal rate of return of 43.4 per cent and payback period of 2.1 years;
• Life-of-mine (LOM) copper production of 1.1 billion pounds with cumulative net free cash flow of $1.76-billion (U.S.) pretax and $1.44-billion (U.S.) posttax over a 17-year mine life;
• Initial capital expenditure of $290.5-million (U.S.) (includes a 30-per-cent contingency) with LOM (life-of-mine) direct operating cost of 71 U.S. cents per pound and sustaining costs of seven U.S. cents per pound;
• C1 cost of 98 U.S. cents per pound copper and and AISC (all-in sustaining cost) of $1.14 per pound copper.

Note: The technical report, titled "NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report for the Van Dyke Copper Project," with an effective date of Dec. 30, 2020, was prepared by Susan C. Bird, MSc, PEng, Bob Lane, PGeo, and Tracey Meintjes, PEng, of Moose Mountain Technical Services and Jim Norine, PE, of Ausenco Ltd. C1 cost and AISC are non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and non-IFRS (international financial reporting standards) measures (see Note 1 in life-of-mine comparison table in Jan. 12, 2021, news release).

In addition to providing copper to meet U.S. domestic copper requirements, the 2020 PEA projected the project could support directly and indirectly approximately 500 jobs in the Miami-Globe area, injecting approximately $1.07-billion (U.S.) into the Miami-Globe and Arizona economies and contribute approximately $355-million (U.S.) in mineral, state and federal taxes over its 17-year mine life. The project also benefits from access to local infrastructure, including a copper smelter, a copper rod plant, highways, rail lines and power grid.

Technical investigations completed since 2021

Studies completed by the company's team, in combination with the contributions from the consultants that prepared the PFS execution plan, have materially strengthened the foundation of the Van Dyke project and include:

1. Established four hydrogeological monitoring stations and initiated water quality sampling in accordance with federal and state regulatory requirements;
2. Updated conceptual hydrogeological, geometallurgical, geological, structural and mineralogical models for the deposit;
3. Preliminary characterization of the copper mineralogy in the oxide and transition mineralogical domains within the deposit;
4. Preliminary characterization of the copper mineralization, gangue and host rock to mitigate potential operating issues during the leaching process;
5. Geotechnical study to determine rock strength and geotechnical characteristics of the Gila conglomerate;
6. Infrastructure reviews to minimize environmental and social disturbance;
7. An execution plan outlining expected activities, estimated costs, timeline and permitting process to achieve a PFS-level technical report.

Current activities

Activities currently in progress in advance of completing the planned PEA include initiating the permitting process with the Town of Miami to conduct future diamond drilling activities and completion of a preliminary groundwater flow model for the project. The groundwater flow model is expected to optimize the hydrogeological recommendations set out in the PFS execution plan and potentially locate additional hydrogeological monitoring and water sampling stations to support developing an updated hydrogeological model. The updated hydrogeological model would be used to better predict solution flows and potentially projected copper recoveries during the leaching process. Other activities include continuing the community outreach program, quarterly water sampling and collection of hydrogeological data from existing hydrogeological monitoring sites within the project area.

Qualified person

Elmer B. Stewart, MSc, PGeol, president and chief executive officer of Copper Fox, is the company's non-independent, nominated qualified person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and has reviewed and approves the scientific and technical information disclosed in this news release.

About Copper Fox Metals Inc.

Copper Fox is a Canadian resource company focused on copper development and exploration in the United States and Canada. Copper Fox and its subsidiaries own 100 per cent of the Van Dyke ISCR project, a development-stage, potential near-term, mid-size copper mine in Arizona, and a 25-per-cent interest in the Schaft Creek joint venture with Teck Resources Ltd. (75-per-cent interest and operator) that hosts the Schaft Creek copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project, transitioning from the scoping stage to the PFS stage in 2026, located in British Columbia's Golden Triangle. In addition, Copper Fox owns 100 per cent of the resource-stage Eaglehead polymetallic porphyry copper project in northwestern British Columbia and the Sombrero Butte and Mineral Mountain advanced-exploration-stage porphyry copper projects located in the prolific Laramide-age copper province in Arizona.

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