Nevada Copper Corp. announced that it has restarted processing operations at its Pumpkin Hollow underground mine with the first ore being fed to the mill. Successful mill restart; processing operations recommenced at an initial feed rate to the mills of 3,000 tons per day (tpd) to allow for the process team to optimize reagent addition and establish and reinforce operating procedures and ensure consistent operations.

The mill is being recommissioned on lower grade ore stockpiles and will transition to a combination of mined stope ore and stockpiled ore. By mid-October, throughput is planned to be increased steadily towards a goal of achieving steady state operations of 4,500-5,000 tpd by the end of 2023. Once steady-state operations are achieved, the Company may consider relatively simple optimization opportunities in 2024 to increase mill throughput potential beyond 5,000 tpd.

Dike 3 crossing completed; the third dike crossing was completed in September, clearing the way for planned 2024 stope development. Continued development beyond the dike is to ultimately provide a full ventilation circuit for the Lower East North stoping areas, but it also provides additional headings for the development contractor to open targeted 2024 stopes. Rock conditions beyond the dike continue to be as predicted by the geotechnical model.

Paste plant commissioned and first stope back filled; the initial stope in the 2023 mining sequence was mined in July and August with 9,000 tons of ore extracted in the Sugarcube area of the East South (ES) Zone. Stope back filling activities began in September and a full stope was backfilled, completing successful testing of both the surface paste plant and the underground paste delivery system. This Sugarcube stope is part of the ES Zone planned stopes and ground conditions encountered during mining were conducive to a successful paste back fill.

Drilling and blasting on the next planned stope in the Alphabet area of the ES Zone is in progress and is expected to yield 20,000 tons of ore by the end of October. Remaining capital projects progressing; work on the underground crusher and ore handling system is progressing. The Geho dewatering system is mechanically complete with electrical and piping installation in process and expected to be completed and commissioned by the end of October 2023.

Geho Pumps installed and mechanically complete. Grizzly installation and truck ore loading pocket foundation pours. Regional drilling program commences; one reverse circulation drill is planned to be on site starting the week of October 2, 2023.

The primary goal of the 5,000-foot drill program is to follow-up on the recent results and historic sampling that are discussed in the Nevada Copper news release dated July 26, 2023. The Copper Ridge and Dimples target areas are outside of the current mineral resources and have the potential to establish additional mineral resources within the Pumpkin Hollow property. Workforce growing at a rapid pace; the Nevada Copper workforce has more than doubled to over 200 employees over the last year with the most significant additions in technical roles as well as mining and process teams.