Mr. Barry O'Shea reports

HIGHLAND COPPER STRENGTHENS LEADERSHIP WITH APPOINTMENT OF TRACE ARLAUD AS COPPERWOOD PROJECT DIRECTOR AND PETER HEMSTEAD AS INTERIM CFO

Highland Copper Company Inc. has made key hires as the company continue to drive the Copperwood project to a construction decision. Trace Arlaud has been appointed project director for the Copperwood project and Peter Hemstead has been appointed interim chief financial officer. The hires provide a clear path to achieving the company's 2026 engineering, construction readiness and project financing objectives.

Project director appointment

Ms. Arlaud is a globally recognized mining executive with a proven record of improving project economics through strategic mine planning and technical innovation, in addition to holding key mine development execution roles. A qualified geologist, mining and geotechnical engineer, with significant experience in Michigan's Upper peninsula, Ms. Arlaud is particularly well placed to continue project optimization efforts through detailed engineering as well as prepare Copperwood from a construction and operational readiness perspective.

Most recently, Ms. Arlaud was general manager, execution, of Rio Tinto's Resolution copper project, where she led key mining and operational trade-offs, capital and operating cost reviews, and evaluation of engineering partnership structures. At Rio Tinto, Ms. Arlaud also conducted a peer review of the Kennecott Utah copper division underground development strategy and contractor bids. Particularly relevant to Highland, Ms. Arlaud was a key contributor to the development of Upper Peninsula-based Eagle mine, leading the underground feasibility, detailed engineering, and procurement for the greenfield underground mine, with a strong focus on infrastructure design, scheduling and cost optimization. In addition to Ms. Arlaud's strong technical background, she is a distinguished board member with experience across multiple publicly listed mining companies, including IGO Ltd. and Seabridge Gold.

Barry O'Shea, chief executive officer of Highland Copper, stated: "At this pivotal point for Highland Copper, we could not be happier to have attracted someone of Trace's calibre. Trace has worked at world-class mining companies like Rio Tinto, Freeport-McMoRan, South 32, in addition to considerable experience at global engineering firms like Hatch. Importantly, her experience at the Eagle mine will be invaluable as we consider potential optimization opportunities, continue to mitigate project risk and advance toward a construction decision and project execution."

Interim CFO appointment

Highland Copper has also appointed Mr. Hemstead as interim CFO to temporarily replace Cybill Tsung while she takes personal leave. Mr. Hemstead is a highly experienced mining executive and board member. Mr. Hemstead's early career was at Capstone Copper Corp., as part of the founding executive team that developed and advanced Capstone into an intermediate copper producer. Mr. Hemstead then became the CFO of Bluestone Resources and eventually transitioned to president and chief executive officer, where he orchestrated the sale of the company to Aura Minerals Inc. in 2025. As CFO of LunR Royalties Corp., Mr. Hemstead assisted with its initial spinout from Nex and with LunR's initial public listing on the TSX Venture Exchange. Mr. Hemstead currently serves on the board of Fireweed Metals and Sanu Gold Corp. and was previously a board member and audit committee chair of Fiore Gold.

Mr. O'Shea further stated: "Peter is another important hire as we advance project financing and offtake through 2026. His experience at Capstone while the company transitioned from a development-stage mining company to an intermediate copper producer will prove highly valuable to Highland. Peter has a strong understanding of both debt and equity capital markets, considerable experience in concentrate marketing, and a good track record of corporate governance from his board positions. On Cybill's return from her personal leave, it is the intent that Peter will transition to Highland Copper's board of directors."

Formation of technical advisory committee

Highland Copper also announces the formation of a technical advisory committee, which, at the outset, will consist of former Copperwood project director, Dr. Wynand van Dyk, in addition to board members Jon Cherry and Melanie Miller. Dr. van Dyk has been a significant contributor to the success of engineering efforts, particularly spearheading the enhanced process flow sheet that incorporated Glencore's Jameson cell, an ultrafine flotation technology. Significantly, this resulted in increased copper recoveries and lower operating costs relative to the feasibility study, as announced in September, 2025. Highland Copper is particularly happy to have retained Dr. van Dyk on a consulting basis to ensure engineering continuity.

Mr. Cherry, current president and chief executive officer of Perpetua Resources, previously spent 20 years at Rio Tinto, where, amongst other assignments, he was responsible permitting and the initial development of the Eagle mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Ms. Miller has considerable experience in supply chain innovation, strategic planning and analysis, and organizational management. Ms. Miller's past roles include general manager, Hemlo operations, at Barrick Gold Corp. as well as vice-president, global supply chain, at Newmont Corp.

Highland will add further advisory members as needed through engineering and construction readiness.

Engineering update

Detailed engineering is progressing with DRA Americas Inc. on mining and process plant engineering, Tetra Tech on the tailings disposal facility (TDF), and Foth Infrastructure & Environment LLC on overall water balance engineering.

Following the successful redesign of the process plant flow sheet, the current focus is an integrated mine plan review to consider potential optimizations as well as address key risks. As the mine plan is re-evaluated, key consideration will be given to a cut-off grade review to better align mining selectivity to revised processing strategy, potential mine height, pillar size and ground support optimization, in addition to process plant and TDF footprint optimization. Key geotechnical risks are also being further evaluated and mitigated through continuing design.

With a goal of completing 40 per cent of front-end engineering and design (FEED) in 2026, Highland will also update key capital and operating cost assumptions. Given the range of changes from a design perspective as well as consideration of higher long-term consensus copper prices, Highland will plan to issue an updated feasibility study as part of its engineering objectives. An updated feasibility study reflective of long-term consensus copper price, with FEED engineering complete and design optimizations incorporated, will more readily facilitate due diligence in project financing.

Highland plans to formally initiate project financing during 2026 in parallel with its engineering efforts. This will include progressing the $250-million letter of interest from the U.S. Export Import Bank for debt financing. Highland was pleased with the recent White House acknowledgment of its importance to domestic copper production, as announced in April, 2026. The company looks forward to advancing the engineering and financing process in consideration of near-term development of the Copperwood project.

Engagement of investor relations firm

Highland Copper also announces the engagement of NH IR Advisory Corp., a firm with extensive experience in strategic investor relations and tailored communications programs. NH IR is led by principal Nisha Hasan, who brings considerable experience as a corporate vice-president of investor relations and an adviser to publicly traded mining issuers. The agreement has a 12-month term with total expected cost of approximately $100,000.

Issuance of stock options

Highland announces that, subject to regulatory approval, it has approved the grant of 600,000 incentive stock options pursuant to its stock option plan to certain employees and consultants. These options are exercisable at 15.5 cents per share for a period of up to five years and will vest as to one-third immediately and one-third on each of the first and second anniversaries of the grant.

NH IR was granted 250,000 options exercisable at 14.5 cents per share for a period of up to five years and will be subject to vesting over a period of 12 months, with one-quarter of the options vesting every three months following the date of grant. The options will expire 90 days after the termination date of the agreement with NH IR.

About Highland Copper Company Inc.

Highland Copper is focused on developing the Copperwood project in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, United States. The company also owns surface rights securing access to the Copperwood deposit and providing space for infrastructure at Copperwood as required. The company has 738,188,122 common shares issued and outstanding. Its common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol HI and trade on the OTCQB Venture Market under symbol HDRSF.

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