Mr. Mike Ciricillo reports

NEVADA COPPER PROVIDES OPERATIONS UPDATE AND ANNOUNCES FILING OF Q3 2020 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Nevada Copper Corp. has provided an operations update and has filed its third quarter 2020 financial statements.

Q3 2020 highlights

Operations

During Q3 2020, the company made notable progress in its previously announced accelerated development plan, remobilized its work force and restarted the processing plant at its underground project on Aug. 20, 2020. Milestones for the quarter include:

• Mill restart: On Aug. 20, 2020, the company restarted its processing plant at the underground project following the temporary suspension of copper production due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the quarter, the processing plant continued to improve on its performance achieving single-day throughput milestones of 4,440 tons (representing approximately 90 per cent of design throughput). Processing plant performance continues to improve with recoveries increasing 10 per cent in October when compared with September.
• Concentrate delivery: During the quarter, the processing plant processed 125,796 tons of blended material consisting of stockpiled low-grade mineralized material and development ore. Concentrate production in Q3 totalled 1,050 dry metric tonnes (dmt) at 24.7 per cent copper. The company shipped a combination of inventoried material from April and current-quarter production totalling 1,179 dmt at a concentrate grade of 22.4 per cent. October concentrate shipments increased 166 per cent from September, and the company continued to deliver on-spec copper concentrates to its offtaker, with the company shipping 1,461 dmt at a concentrate grade of 25.5 per cent copper during the month.
• Main production shaft equipping: The company has completed equipping of the main production shaft. Work is continuing to complete the remaining loading pocket. By the third week of November, the company plans to use the main shaft to transfer materials, supplies and people, freeing the east north vent shaft to be used exclusively for development ore and waste movement, with a resultant expected increase in ore hoisting rates.
• Lateral development: Lateral development rates of the revised mine plan and hoist rates through the east north vent shaft are ahead of targets. Ore grades encountered in continuing development continue to reconcile well to resource model grades, and hoisted development ore grades have increased in line with the commencement of stope development.
• Mining: During the third quarter, the company hoisted an average of a 1,000 tons of material per day from the east north vent shaft, which was approximately 30 per cent better than planned hoisting rates. The company has initiated mining activities in stope ore with stope development grades in October reaching over 2 per cent copper equivalent.
• Material handling: During the quarter, the surface material-handling infrastructure was completed and moved into the permanent location, and staged commissioning commenced. The company is testing the communication system and interactions of these sections to ensure ramp-up can be accelerated once the underground conveyor is installed later in fourth quarter 2020.
• Geotechnical update: Additional geotechnical review and continuing definition drilling completed in October continue to support the company's mine plan, which shows production quickly transitioning to predominantly larger stopes over first quarter 2021 and, thereafter, supporting sustained mining of larger stopes as previously planned. While the move to initially smaller stopes in the Upper East South zone will further derisk the underground project and does not affect the life-of-mine resource, the change has increased costs in the short term. In light of the additional costs associated with this change in mine plan during the ramp-up period, management has concluded that the company will require additional financing over the next four months as it completes the ramp-up process.
• Mine plan: Mine planning to develop detailed production mining layouts and stope sequencing has commenced following receipt of the updated geological model and revised geotechnical design assumptions developed from underground infill drilling and mapping of the development.

Mike Ciricillo, chief executive officer of Nevada Copper, stated: "We are pleased with our operations progress in Q3 following recommencement of concentrate production in August. The processing plant performance continues to deliver on-spec concentrate with increased throughput rates, concentrate grade, recovery and volume. By the end of Q4, we look forward to continuing our operations improvements and completing the materials-handling system, a key to accelerating ramp-up to commercial production in Q1 2021."

Open-pit project

The company expects to restart advancing optimizations for its open-pit project following the current focus on ramp-up of the underground project. The optimizations are expected to include further extension and infill drilling as a follow-up to the last open-pit-project drilling program, which identified significant additional mineralization and indicated the orebody extends beyond the original pit boundary and remains open in multiple directions, as well as value engineering options and trade-offs with the aim of further enhancing project economics.

Exploration

The company continues to evaluate its extensive mineral landholdings at and around Pumpkin Hollow, including drilling and/or trenching, where appropriate, and to look for opportunities to increase its landholdings at the appropriate time. The company also continues to review recent and historical aeromagnetic survey data in conjunction with surface exploration to identify prospective targets. Further to this strategy, additional ground was staked along the eastern boundary of the Tedeboy target area. The company will prioritize advancing its high-priority targets in accordance with cash availability.

Finances:

• In July, 2020, the company completed its public offering of 667,503,553 units of the company at a price of 15 cents per unit. A portion of the net proceeds from the offering were used to settle in full the company's $30-million (U.S.) convertible loan facility that was provided to the company by Pala Investments Ltd., the company's largest shareholder, in connection with the company's refinancing transactions in March, 2020. The company also used a portion of the net proceeds from the offering to repay other outstanding indebtedness (including short-term financing provided by Pala in the principal amount of $15.1-million (U.S.)).
• Since the restart of the processing plant at the underground project, the company has recommenced concentrate deliveries and drawdowns based on future production under its working capital facility with Concord Resources Ltd. The company has delivered 2,640 dmt of concentrate and made cash repayments of $11.3-million (U.S.) as at Nov. 10, 2020, under the working capital facility. Additionally, since the restart, the company made drawdowns of $13.8-million (U.S.) under the working capital facility based on expected future deliveries as at Nov. 10, 2020.
• The company is in discussions with KfW-IPEX Bank, its senior lender, and has received a term sheet from a third party for an additional credit line of $20-million (U.S.) to $30-million (U.S.) to finance its increased cash requirements in light of the geotechnical changes discussed above. Discussions are also continuing with other potential financing sources. Pala has confirmed it will continue to provide financial support to the company until the end of the year, by which time the company expects to complete a financing. The company will provide further financing updates in the coming weeks. There can be no assurance that a financing will be completed, and in the absence of sufficient financing, the company may not be able to continue operations.

Q3 2020 financial statements

The company has filed on SEDAR its condensed interim financial statements and related management's discussion and analysis for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2020. Copies of these documents are available on the company's website and under the company's SEDAR profile.

Qualified persons

The information and data in this news release were reviewed by Greg French, CPG, and David Sabourin, PE, for Nevada Copper, who are non-independent qualified persons within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

About Nevada Copper Corp.

Nevada Copper is a copper producer and owner of the Pumpkin Hollow copper project. Located in Nevada, United States, Pumpkin Hollow has substantial reserves and resources, including copper, gold and silver. Its two fully permitted projects include the high-grade underground mine and processing facility, which are now in the production stage, and a large-scale open-pit project, which is advancing toward feasibility status.

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