Mr. Brian Thurston reports

COPPER QUEST INCREASES AND CLOSES UNIT OFFERING FOR TOTAL GROSS PROCEEDS OF $2,099,890

Further to the news release dated Jan. 26, 2026, Copper Quest Exploration Inc. has increased and closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement for total gross proceeds of $2,099,890 through the issuance of 16,513,000 units at a price of 13 cents per unit.

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 which 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. Fees of $113,405.28 are to be paid, and 872,348 finders' warrants issued to certain finders in connection with the offering. Each finder's warrant is exercisable into one share for a period of two years after the date of issuance at an exercise price of 16.5 cents and includes the same accelerator provision.

All securities issued in connection with the offering will be subject to a statutory hold period expiring four months and one day after the date of issuance, as set out in National Instrument 45-102 (Resale of Securities).

Stock option grant

The company also announces it has granted an aggregate of 3.25 million stock options to a director, officer and certain consultants of the company for the purchase of up to 3.25 million common shares in the capital of the company pursuant to the company's stock option plan.

The options are exercisable for a period of five years at an exercise price of 15 cents per share and vest immediately. The options and underlying shares will be subject to a four-month hold period in accordance with the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

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 gold and an average grade of 16.52 g/t Au, that represents an inferred resource of 142,000 ounces of gold (McCuaig and 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 historic 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 over 195.07 metres 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 kilometres 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, United States, along the prolific Idaho-Montana porphyry copper belt that hosts world-class systems such as Butte and Cumo. The project is fully road accessible through 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.

We seek Safe Harbor.