Mr. Brian Thurston reports

COPPER QUEST ANNOUNCES $1,950,000 INVESTMENT BY STRATEGIC INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR 'CONCEPT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT' A FOUNDATIONAL INVESTOR IN MINING AND EXPLORATION COMPANIES

Copper Quest Exploration Inc. plans to complete a non-brokered, bought deal, strategic private placement with Concept Capital Management Ltd. by issuing up to an aggregate of 15 million units at a price of 13 cents per unit for gross proceeds of up to $1.95-million. Copper Quest is pleased to welcome this new strategic investor who shares the company's long-term view of investment and provides foundational financing for mining and exploration companies to complete exploration and feasibility studies.

The board of Concept Capital Management stated: "We are very excited for the opportunity to invest in a company that we see has great potential to advance multiple notable properties. Our management group is focused on up-and-coming copper properties that we feel have undervalued discovery hole results such as the Stars and Kitimat properties owned by Copper Quest. We also see exceptional value in gold properties we believe could quickly increase current gold resources through drilling. We are particularly interested in stable, mining-friendly jurisdictions such as British Columbia and so we feel Copper Quest is just a great investment opportunity for us."

Brian Thurston, chief executive officer of Copper Quest, comments: "We're thrilled to welcome Concept Capital as a new cornerstone investor into Copper Quest and thankful for their shared vision to grow shareholder value through the acquisition and advancement of multiple properties by drilling and discovery.

"This hard-dollar investment into Copper Quest adds another level of value for our shareholders through a strong treasury and working capital that allows the company to expand its planned exploration and drilling operations for the 2026 season."

Strategic international private placement

Each unit consists of one common share in the capital of the company and one share purchase warrant, whereby each share purchase warrant shall be convertible into an additional share at an exercise price of 16.5 cents per warrant share. Each warrant shall expire on the date that is two years following the date of issuance. The expiry date of the warrants may be accelerated if the closing price of the shares on any Canadian stock exchange equals or exceeds 50 cents for 10 consecutive trading days at any time following the date that is four months and one day after the date of issue of the warrants, such that the warrants shall expire on the date that is 30 calendar days following the date a news release is issued by the company announcing the accelerated expiry date of the warrants.

Proceeds from the private placement are intended for exploration activities and general working capital purposes. Closing of the private placement is subject to the receipt of all necessary regulatory and other approvals, and is expected to take place on or before Feb. 4, 2026. Copper Quest may pay finders' fees in connection with the private placement.

About Copper

Copper is an essential industrial metal at the heart of the global energy transition and modern infrastructure. It plays a critical role in electrification, renewable energy systems, electric vehicles, data centres and smart technologies. With global demand rising and new supply challenged by declining grades, complex permitting and underinvestment, the copper market faces persistent deficits and growing geopolitical scrutiny. Recent U.S. policy announcements, including import tariffs and initiatives to secure domestic and allied supply chains, underscore copper's strategic importance and the need for resilient, localized resource exploration, development, production and processing capacity.

About Copper Quest Exploration Inc.

The company's landholdings comprise seven projects that span over 45,000 hectares in great mining jurisdictions of Canada and the United States. Copper Quest is committed to building shareholder value through acquisitions, discovery-driven exploration and responsible development of its North American critical mineral portfolio of assets. The company's common shares are principally listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange under the symbol CQX.

Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the past-producing Alpine gold mine, located approximately 20 kilometres northeast of the city of Nelson, B.C., spanning 4,611.49 hectares, with a 2018 National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, historical inferred resource of 268,000 tonnes, estimated using a cut-off grade of 5.0 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) and an average grade of 16.52 g/t Au, representing an inferred resource of 142,000 ounces (oz) of gold (McCuaig & Giroux, 2018)*. Apart from the Alpine mine itself, the property hosts four other less explored significant vein systems, including the past-producing King Solomon vein workings, the Black Prince and the Cold Blow veins system, and the Gold Crown vein system.

* The company has not yet completed sufficient work to verify the 2018 historical inferred resource results.

Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the road-accessible Stars porphyry copper-molybdenum property, spanning 9,693 hectares in central British Columbia's Bulkley porphyry belt, with Tana zone discovery drill intersection highlights of 0.466 per cent copper (Cu) over 195.07 metres* (m) in drill hole DD18SS004 from 23.47 m, 0.200 per cent Cu over 396.67 m* in drill hole DD18SS010 from 29.37 m and 0.205 per cent Cu over 207.27 m* in drill hole DD18SS015 from 163.98 m. This highly prospective, approximately five-by-2.5-kilometre annular magnetic anomaly is interpreted to represent an altered monzonite intrusion and surrounding hornfels.

Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the road-accessible Kitimat copper-gold property, spanning 2,954 hectares within the Skeena mining division of northwestern British Columbia, located northwest of the deepwater port community of Kitimat, B.C. The property benefits from exceptional infrastructure, being within 10 km of tidewater, 1.5 km of rail and six km of high-voltage hydroelectric transmission lines. Exploration on the Kitimat property dates to the late 1960s, with the most significant historical work conducted by Decade Resources Ltd. (2010), which completed 16 diamond drill holes totalling 4,437.5 metres in the Jeannette Cu-Au zone, and drill intersection highlights of 1.03 g/t Au and 0.54 per cent Cu over 117.07 m in hole J-7 from 1.52 m, 1.00 g/t Au and 0.55 per cent Cu over 103.65 m in hole J-1 from 9.15 m, 0.80 g/t Au and 0.45 per cent Cu over 107.01 m in hole J-2 from 6.10 m, and 0.41 g/t Au and 0.33 per cent Cu over 112.20 m in hole J-8 from 11.89 m.

Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the Nekash copper-gold project, a porphyry exploration opportunity located in Lemhi county, Idaho, along the prolific Idaho-Montana porphyry copper belt, which hosts world-class systems such as Butte and CUMO. The project is fully road-accessible via maintained U.S. highways and forest service roads, and consists of 70 unpatented federal lode claims covering 585 hectares.

Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the road-accessible Stellar property, spanning 5,389 hectares in British Columbia's Bulkley porphyry belt contiguous to the Stars property. Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the Thane project, located in the Quesnel terrane of Northern British Columbia, spanning over 20,658 hectares with 10 priority targets identified demonstrating significant copper and precious metal mineralization potential.

Copper Quest has an earn-in option of up to 80 per cent and joint venture agreement on the road accessible Rip porphyry copper-molybdenum project, spanning 4,700-hectares located in the Bulkley porphyry belt in central British Columbia.

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