Copper Fox updates results from 2025 Program at Schaft Creek, British Columbia

Copper Fox Metals Inc. [TSXV: CUU; OTCQX: CPFXF; FSE: HPU] reported the receipt of the geotechnical, environmental, and hydrogeological program reports completed on the Schaft Creek project in 2025. The Schaft Creek project is managed through the Schaft Creek Joint Venture (SCJV). Teck Resources Ltd. [NYSE: TECK; TSX: TECK.A, TECK.B] is the operator of the SCJV and holds a 75% interest with Copper Fox holding the remaining 25% interest. The Schaft Creek deposit, located in northwestern British Columbia, is one of the largest undeveloped porphyry copper deposits in North America that contains significant gold-molybdenum-silver by-products.

The 2025 program was budgeted at C$15.8 million and focused on furthering technical investigations on key infrastructure parameters included drilling, geophysical surveys, archeological investigations and environmental baseline studies in alignment with Tahltan Nation’s cultural and social traditions.

Elmer B. Stewart, President, and CEO of Copper Fox, stated, “These studies form part of an ongoing program to collect, geotechnical, hydrogeological, environmental, and meteorological data to guide planning for future programs and support these important aspects of project development. The data from the 2025 field program indicates no significant changes from results of prior studies and conclude that the current geotechnical databases for the open pit and rock storage footprint are sufficient to support a scoping level of study. The 2025 studies recommend future programs to provide support for permitting activities and augment these databases to meet threshold industry standards for a preliminary feasibility level of study.”

The geotechnical review included a comprehensive assessment of the geotechnical and hydrological data related to the pit slope stability and potential rock storage locations for the Schaft Creek project.

The 2025 geotechnical review included the data collected between 2008-2025 and concluded that the geotechnical investigations conducted in 2023 and 2024 are considered appropriate for advanced scoping-level designs. The review recommended a “gap analysis” to identify areas for further investigation and that future studies should incorporate additional geotechnical and hydrogeological drilling and rock mechanics laboratory testing to expand the structural, geomechanical, and hydrogeological databases.

The review also recommended future programs would be required to meet current industry expectations (for data density and coverage of the proposed ultimate pit) for prefeasibility-level geotechnical design. The gap analysis is expected to identify how to most efficiently and effectively augment the existing databases to either assist in validating existing designs or provide a rationalization for modifying the design criteria. Updated and refined geotechnical and hydrogeological models will be required to support more detailed and sophisticated slope stability analyses.

The 2025 geotechnical review also included the historical and current geotechnical and drilling data from within or in proximity to the four potential Rock Storage Facilities (RSF) locations for the Schaft Creek project. The review identified significant challenges due to potential adverse foundation conditions and natural geohazards in portions of the proposed RSF footprints and concluded that the proposed locations are not considered to have been assessed sufficiently to inform beyond scoping level studies. The review concluded that supplemental field investigations are required for the RSF areas and recommended a program that includes test pits, drilling and laboratory testing of recovered samples for assessing the suitability of each location for waste rock storage.

This review covered the baseline meteorological and climate data collected since 2005 in the Schaft Creek area. The study was completed by Tahltan ERM Environmental Management and focused on predicting precipitation levels at the Schaft Creek site and at various elevations along proposed access roads. The meteorological data forms part of an environmental baseline monitoring program to characterize existing meteorological and climate conditions to assess potential impacts on project development to satisfy provincial monitoring requirements for Environmental Assessments (EA) and permitting processes.

The primary purpose of the baseline glacier monitoring is to characterize existing glacial conditions to assess potential effects of sources of water on resource development in the Schaft Creek project area. The area around Schaft Creek is heavily glaciated and the impact of glacier mass balance, in terms of glacier dynamics and glacial water contribution to streamflow is an important variable to understand as part of the hydrological assessment of the Schaft Creek area. The glacier monitoring program provides information for water balance and water quality modeling, predicting streamflow and water quality implications and supporting engineering design.

Hydrometric monitoring is used to characterize surface water resources and assess potential effects of resource development on waterbodies and provides baseline data for subsequent water quantity and water quality modelling and provides data for other parameters such as dilution and runoff modelling and in-stream flow estimates.

The overall objectives of a baseline hydrogeology study are to provide calibration data for the development of integrated mine site water balances and understanding the regional hydrogeologic conditions. The 2025 hydrogeological monitoring program measured the groundwater flow conditions and K values (hydraulic conductivity) for each lithologic unit. The 2025 data is consistent with historic data across most monitoring wells and improved confidence in the conceptual hydrogeological model developed for the Schaft Creek project area. The data is used to support the EA process and future design stages.

Copper Fox and its subsidiaries own 100% of the Van Dyke ISCR project, a development stage, potential near term, mid-size copper mine in Arizona and a 25% interest in the Schaft Creek Joint Venture with Teck Resources which hosts the Schaft Creek copper-gold-molybdenum-silver project in British Columbia’s Golden Triangle region. In addition, Copper Fox owns 100% of the resource stage Eaglehead polymetallic porphyry copper project in northwestern British Columbia and the Sombrero Butte and Mineral Mountain advanced exploration stage porphyry copper projects located in the Laramide-age copper province in Arizona.