Mr. Giulio Bonifacio reports

NEVADA COPPER PROVIDES CORPORATE AND PROJECT UPDATE

Nevada Copper Corp. is providing a corporate and project update on its 100-per-cent-owned Pumpkin Hollow copper project, located on 10,680 acres of private land near Yerington, Nev.

Corporate update

Amendment to Red Kite secured loan facility

On Dec. 30, 2014, a $200-million (U.S.) loan facility, of which $90-million (U.S.) has been drawn down, and an off-take agreement were executed with an affiliate of Red Kite. On Sept. 30, 2015, the loan facility was amended to extend the maturity date to Dec. 31, 2021, while the dates of loan drawdown, repayment commencement and first commercial production were all extended by 12 months. Under the amended loan facility, interest payments are accrued from July 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2016, with the first interest payment thereafter due on March 31, 2017. Accrued interest is capitalized to loan principal along with a 3.5-per-cent transaction fee.

With Pumpkin Hollow's large 70,000-ton-per-day integrated development option recently permitted, the amended loan facility will provide more-than-adequate time, in light of current market conditions, for the company to consider the optimum development and financing strategy for the project.

The 2014 copper off-take agreement was also amended to allow Red Kite a fixed-tonnage option should Nevada Copper elect to develop a larger open-pit operation. Under this amendment, Red Kite can elect to convert its percentage entitlement to a fixed tonnage of payable copper from this proposed larger operation. The tonnage of payable copper to be delivered is based on the payable copper projected for production from the stand-alone underground operation. This fixed tonnage of copper to be delivered is capped at the levels projected by the underground mine plan only.

Amendment to Pala Investments Ltd. bridge loan facility

On Sept. 30, 2015, the current $25-million (U.S.) subordinated bridge loan facility with Pala Investments was extended to June 30, 2016, and may be extended to a later date that will be mutually agreed between the company and Pala. The company has drawn down $20-million (U.S.) of this facility.

Giulio Bonifacio, president and chief executive officer, commented: "We are extremely pleased to have the continued support of our major shareholder, Pala, in addition to our lender Red Kite. Pumpkin Hollow represents the only large, fully permitted copper deposit in the Americas not currently owned by a major. Despite challenges in the mining sector and capital markets, the continued support of Pala will allow Nevada Copper additional time to carefully consider financing and strategic options that will accurately reflect the fair value of Pumpkin Hollow for all our shareholders. This value is further supported by our timely delivery on key project milestones, most recently, permits."

Next steps

Now that the major permitting hurdle is behind the company, Nevada Copper believes that it is the appropriate time to re-engage on the financing front. With a consensus that copper prices are expected to rise over the next three years, the company will accelerate discussions in order to position the project for a 2018 production start. Financing discussions may take the form of joint venture partnership; project bank debt with, or without, associated off-take; EPCM contracts with off-take provisions that bring associated low-cost Export Credit Agency (ECA) financing; and combinations of the foregoing. These discussions are currently under way and, as a fully permitted large copper project in Nevada, the company also has interest from the corporate mining sector.

The company is fortunate to have two development options -- both supported by feasibility studies. These two development options are both fully permitted and could be developed in sequence:

1. Smaller, lower-capital-expenditure underground operation for which the hoist, headframe and production-sized shaft are already in place;
2. Larger integrated operation with a 70,000-ton-per-day concentrator with ore feed from both underground and open-pit mine.

Nevada Copper, with the support of its major shareholder Pala and lenders, will take the time necessary to carefully consider financing options and strategic alternatives that are only reflective of fair value for the Pumpkin Hollow project as a fully permitted project, in an ideal location, with abundant infrastructure.

Project summary and update

Nevada Copper has continued to make great strides advancing and derisking its Pumpkin Hollow project during the last several years. The project is located in an ideal mining jurisdiction close to roads, rail, power and infrastructure.

Since 2006, the project has advanced through a number of phases, from early exploration though to feasibility and recently achieved full permitting status. A summary of these activities are as follows:

• Over 600,000 feet (183,000 metres) of resource delineation diamond drilling in the underground and two open-pit deposits, which have now successfully merged;
• Upgraded the initial copper inferred resource while adding gold-silver resources and successfully converted these resources into proven and probable reserves of 5.05 billion pounds of copper, 760,585 ounces of gold and 27.6 million ounces of silver (see news release dated May 28, 2015, for mineral reserve tonnages and grades);
• Completed four feasibility studies, evaluated detailed plans to mine and process copper, gold and silver from the company's underground and open-pit deposits;
• Completed baseline studies required for permitting, added power lines, water supply and office facilities;
• Constructed a production-sized headframe and production-sized hoist capable of sustaining operations at over 6,500 tons per day;
• Constructed a maintenance shop and warehouse for the underground mine;
• Completed a 1,900-foot, 24-foot-diameter, concreted-lined production-sized shaft;
• Completed over 640 feet of lateral development to establish stations for underground drilling.

This year, 2015, culminated in the achievement of two critical milestones by Nevada Copper:

• First, full permitting status for the large 70,000-ton-per-day integrated project. The underground mine project had been previously permitted in 2013;
• Second, the acquisition in August of 10,050 acres of federal land and conversion of unpatented claims on this land into wholly owned surface and mineral rights.

Pumpkin Hollow is now shovel ready -- ready for the start of detailed engineering and full construction subject only to financing (see Aug. 17 and Aug. 21, 2015, news releases). As a fully permitted, large-scale copper project located on 10,680 acres of private land in mining-friendly Nevada, the project has attracted attention from lending institutions, engineering firms, copper smelters, state and local officials, as well industry peers.

Earlier in 2015, the project team completed the production shaft on the East deposits to the 1,900-foot haulage level and commenced initial lateral development to provide for three underground drill stations. In expectation of full permits in 2015 for the much larger open-pit operation, the company also initiated an updated feasibility study early in the year. This study was completed and released in May.

On the exploration front, the company completed its first phase of open-pit drilling which proved very successful and met expectations as to the potential for future expansion of copper reserves at Pumpkin Hollow (see news release dated Sept. 10, 2015). The company is also completing the first phase of underground drilling with the objective of confirming its ability to target higher copper grades in the early years of production. Results will be released in the coming weeks.

For further information please visit the Nevada Copper corporate website and visit the Pumpkin Hollow virtual tour.

Qualified persons

The technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Gregory French, PG, vice-president, exploration and project development, Timothy D. Arnold, PE, vice-president, operations, and Robert McKnight, PEng, executive vice-president and chief financial officer of Nevada Copper, all of whom are non-independent qualified persons within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

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