Mr. Brian Thurston reports

COPPER QUEST INITIATES 32.4 SQUARE KILOMETER INDUCED POLARIZATION SURVEY OVER THE STARS COPPER-MOLYBDENITE PROPERTY

Copper Quest Exploration Inc. has commenced a 32.4-square-kilometre induced polarization (IP) geophysical survey on its 100-per-cent-owned Stars property. Stars is a porphyry copper-molybdenum project covering 9,693 hectares in the Stikine region of British Columbia, situated approximately 60 kilometres north of Imperial Metals Corp.'s past-producing Huckleberry Cu-Mo mine, 50 kilometres north-northeast of Surge Copper Corp.'s advanced-stage Berg copper project and 30 kilometres north-northwest of Vizsla Copper Corp.'s Poplar copper-gold project. Imperial Metals is exploring Huckleberry and its surrounding claims for additional Cu-Mo resources.

This very large IP survey represents the first time this geophysical technique has been applied across the full extent of the Stars property, including over the Tana zone discovery area and its along-strike extensions. Induced polarization is a proven method for detecting sulphide mineralization, the type of copper-bearing material found at Stars, at depth and at distance from known drill holes. By imaging the full 32.4-square-kilometre footprint of the magnetic anomaly, the company aims to determine the true scale of the mineralized system in terms of strike length, width and depth and to identify potential new drill targets beyond the current Tana zone.

Highlights of the Stars property:

• Road-accessible, 9,693-hectare property in a top-tier exploration and mining district, the Bulkley porphyry belt;
• A 230-by-180-metre domain (the Tana zone) of chalcopyrite-molybdenite-bornite quartz stockwork that has been intersected from surface to greater than 350 m depth. The zone is open in two directions as well as to depth. Drill intersection highlights include:
  • 0.466 per cent Cu over 195.07 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;
  • 0.205 per cent Cu over 207.27 m in drill hole DD18SS015 from 163.98 m;
• A highly prospective, approximately five-by-2.5-kilometre, annular magnetic anomaly that is interpreted as an altered monzonite intrusion and surrounding hornfels;
• Numerous underexplored soil and induced polarization geophysical targets within the larger magnetic anomaly.

Brian Thurston, president and chief executive officer of Copper Quest, commented: "Copper Quest controls 9,693 hectares covering the Stars property and prospective surrounding area with two complementary exploration upsides: being an established zone of higher-grade mineralization that the company can grow and define and a much broader underexplored area with high potential for new discovery. This is a very large geophysical program that, combined with the historic 9,016 m of drilling, will help guide exploration to provide the best information to make new discoveries in this very large anomaly that has a footprint five times that of the Huckleberry mine. Combined with the contiguous 5,389-hectare Stellar property, Copper Quest has assembled a dominant land position and created a unique opportunity that unlocks a district-scale copper porphyry project in the Bulkley porphyry belt.

"Given the global movement towards AI [artificial intelligence], electrification, environmental concerns, infrastructure development and the forecasted demand for copper, the combined properties make a very compelling exploration package."

The Stars property

The 9,693-hectare, road-accessible Stars property is located in central British Columbia, 40 km southwest of Houston. It hosts porphyry copper-molybdenum mineralization associated with a Bulkley suite monzonite stock. The Bulkley suite is linked to mineralization at Imperial Metals' past-producing Huckleberry mine, 60 km to the south, and other porphyry deposits in the region. Three drilling campaigns on the Stars property, totalling 9,016 m, have identified a broad area of anomalous copper and molybdenum within the monzonite stock. The most important drilling to date is at the Tana zone, where the contact between the stock and surrounding volcanic rock contains chalcopyrite-, molybdenite- and bornite-bearing quartz stockwork veining. Tana zone drilling has defined an approximately 230-by-180-metre domain with significant copper and molybdenum grades (Table 1).

Outside the Tana zone, most drilling on the property encountered altered and anomalous mineralized monzonite within an approximately 1.8-by-1.0-kilometre area marked by a broad magnetic low. While there is potential for an undiscovered porphyry deposit within the monzonite intrusion, Copper Quest's future exploration will concentrate on specific IP targets along the contact zones. Several historical drill holes are believed to have approached this contact, with assays at their bottoms showing increased copper and molybdenite values (Table 2). Their drill logs also indicate an increase in quartz-chalcopyrite-molybdenite-plus-or-minus-bornite veins with pink potassium-feldspar altered selvages, similar to those found in the Tana zone.

Qualified person

Brian Thurston, PGeo, the company's president and chief executive officer and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release.

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 eight projects that span over 46,000 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 portfolio of assets. The company's common shares are principally listed on the CSE 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 Au and an average grade of 16.52 g/t Au, representing an inferred resource of 142,000 ounces of gold (McCuaig and Giroux, March 6, 2018, NI 43-101 technical report for the Alpine property, British Columbia, Canada). Further drilling is necessary by the company to upgrade/verify the estimate. The qualified person has not done sufficient work to make the resource current and the company is not treating the estimate as current. 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 Cu over 195.07 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-kilometre-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 copper-gold zone, and drill intersection highlights of 0.54 per cent Cu and 1.03 g/t Au over 117.07 m in hole J-7 from 1.52 m, 0.55 per cent Cu and 1.00 g/t Au over 103.65 m in hole J-1 from 9.15 m, 0.45 per cent Cu and 0.80 g/t Au over 107.01 m in hole J-2 from 6.10 m, and 0.33 per cent Cu and 0.41 g/t Au over 112.20 m in hole J-8 from 11.89 m.

Copper Quest has a 100-per-cent interest in the past-producing, road-accessible Auxer gold mine, spanning 1,087 hectares located in Bonner county, Idaho, United States. This orogenic gold opportunity is positioned along one of the region's most significant structural corridors located within the prolific Hope fault system. Historical exploration has demonstrated exceptional gold grades, with the 1936 Platts report documenting up to 21.0 g/t Au in surface samples and underground workings showing consistent mineralization over 4.3-metre widths averaging 9.42 g/t Au at an 18-metre depth.

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, which hosts world-class systems such as Butte and Cumo. The project is fully road accessible by 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.