NorthWest’s primary asset is the 100% owned, 47,000+ ha Kwanika-Stardust Project, which combines high-grade Cu-Au-Ag resources in the Kwanika Central Zone, and Stardust deposits with Cu-Au-Mo-Ag resources in the Kwanika South Zone deposit. The combined deposits present natural exploration efficiencies and provide numerous co-development scenarios to evaluate.
Highlights of the Project include:

• Zones of higher-grade Cu-Au-Ag mineralization with strong lateral grade continuity, which in the case of the Central Zone comes to within metres of surface.
• Drill-ready exploration targets with high potential to augment current mineral resources, including the Transfer Target, our highest-conviction opportunity at Kwanika.
• Easy access via major logging roads and proximity to infrastructure including rail and power.
• Favorable location allowing for ability to conduct year-round exploration.
• A positive PEA that highlights excellent optionality to optimize project economics at relatively low initial capital. (See: February 17, 2023 Kwanika PEA NI 43-101 Report)
• An opportunity to study an alternative phased development approach targeting higher grade sub-domains within the current mineralization at Kwanika.

Figure 1. Map of the Kwanika-Stardust Project showing claim boundary, geology, prioritized exploration targets, and the location of the estimated mineral resources.

Kwanika is located 150 km north of Fort St. James in the Omineca Mining Division of north-central British Columbia (Figure 2)

The property is accessible by road from Highway 16 at Fort St. James followed by well-maintained all-weather forest service roads.  Fort St. James, and Prince George are the closest populations centres to provide support and resources on the Kwanika-Stardust property. Prince George is a major commercial centre with major road, rail, and air links, as well as significant infrastructure and is a five-hour drive from the Kwanika Property.

Figure 2. Location of Kwanika-Stardust relative to regional infrastructure and NorthWest Copper Tenements.

The Kwanika porphyry deposits are located along the western margin of the Quesnel Terrane, a Late Paleozoic to Early Jurassic island arc that hosts numerous calc-alkalic to alkalic Cu-Au porphyry deposits including the Copper Mountain, Mount Milligan and New Afton Cu-Au mines, the giant Highland Valley Cu-Mo mine, and NorthWest’s Lorraine – Top Cat Cu-Au-Ag±PGE porphyry project. Kwanika geology is dominated by Jurassic intrusions that are part of the Hogem batholith, to which Kwanika mineralization is related, emplaced into favourable Triassic Takla Group volcanic rocks. The Kwanika hydrothermal system and the Hogem intrusions are truncated on their west side by the Pinchi fault, a regional-scale dextral strike-slip structure. Mineral resources at Kwanika are hosted by the Central Zone, and the South Zone located just 1.5 km to the southeast.

Kwanika Central Zone. Mineralization in the Central Zone is hosted by Early Jurassic monzodiorite porphyry to diorite intrusions emplaced into Triassic-aged Takla Group volcanic rocks, which are cut by late-mineral diorite porphyry dykes. The deposit has a structurally controlled core of very high-grade Cu-Au-Ag mineralization characterized by disseminated and vein-hosted chalcopyrite ± bornite within intense K-feldspar alteration related to abundant quartz-sulphide veins (Figure 3 & 4). High-grade Cu-Au-Ag mineralization begins at top of bedrock in an open pit resource that extends continuously to depth to the west where block cave mining may be feasible (Model 1). An extensive zone of Cu-Au-Ag mineralization of more moderate grade occurs in diorite intrusions and Takla Group volcanic rocks that surround the high-grade core.  The western part of the Central Zone is overlain nonconformably by Cretaceous-aged sedimentary rocks, which preserved a small tonnage of paleo-supergene copper mineralization at the top of the deposit.

Figure 3. Example of High-Grade Mineralization with Chalcopyrite and Bornite from the Kwanika Central Zone. KW-180 388.4 metres depth

Figure 4. Representative 2D Section Showing Estimation Domains Within the Central Fault Block, Looking North

Model 1. Kwanika 3D geology model after Figure 14-3 showing mineral resource estimation domains (PEA 2023).

Note 1: See NI 43-101 technical report titled “Kwanika-Stardust Project NI 43-101 Technical Report on Preliminary Economic Assessment” dated February 17, 2023, with an effective date of January 4, 2023, filed under the Company’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com .

Kwanika South Zone. The South Zone is a discrete Cu-Au-Mo-Ag porphyry deposit that is located approximately 1.5 km southeast of the Central Zone open pit resource. In comparison to the Central Zone, the South Zone is slightly younger, has a more polymetallic metal signature that includes significant molybdenum, and is hosted by a distinct, equigranular quartz monzonite intrusion. The South Zone has an open pit resource that adds important tonnage to the Kwanika-Stardust Project and which remains open to expansion.

The road-accessible Stardust deposit is located only 7 km northwest of the Kwanika Central Zone. It is hosted by the Late Paleozoic Cache Creek Terrane, which occurs west of the Pinchi Fault. Mineralization at Stardust is related to the Eocene Glover Stock, a multiphase felsic intrusion emplaced into Cache Creek limestones and clastic sedimentary rocks. 

Stardust is a high-grade Cu-Au carbonate replacement deposit (CRD) with significant opportunity for growth. Stardust occurs in one part of a 2.2 km long corridor that exhibits classic CRD zoning progressing from the northwest to the southeast through (Figure 5 ):

• Proximal Cu-Mo porphyry mineralization in the Glover Stock.
• High-grade Cu-Au resources in the 421 Zone and overlying Canyon Creek Zone skarns that replaced limestone and calcareous sedimentary rocks along the eastern margin of the Glover stock.
• Zn-Pb-Ag mantos and chimneys in the 4b, No. 3 and No. 2 Manto Zones.
• Peripheral Ag-Au epithermal mineralization in the No.1 Ag-Au ±Zn±Cu Vein Zone.

Figure 5. Comparison of conceptualized CRD model (Megaw 1998) relative to the geological model at Stardust.

Kwanika-Stardust Combined summary resource estimate

Notes to Mineral Resource
Kwanika Central (Open Pit and Underground) Notes

• The Mineral Resources have been compiled by Mr. Brian S. Hartman, M.S., P.Geo., Ridge Geoscience LLC, and subcontractor to Mining Plus. Mr. Hartman is a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and a Practicing Member with Professional Geoscientists Ontario. Mr. Hartman has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that he has undertaken to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
• The Mineral Resource estimate has an effective date of January 4, 2023.
• Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
• The totals contained in the above table have been rounded. Rounding may cause some computational discrepancies.
• Mineral Resources are estimated consistent with CIM Definition Standards and reported in accordance with NI 43-101.
• Open Pit Mineral Resources are reported on an in-situ basis at an NSR of US$8.21 and constrained by an economic pit shell. Underground Mineral Resources are reported at an economic cut-off of US$16.41 and constrained by a conceptual block cave shape. Cut-offs are based on assumed prices of US$3.50/lb for copper, US$21.50/oz for silver, and US$1,650/oz for gold. Assumed metallurgical recoveries are based on a set of recovery equations derived from recent metallurgical test work. Maximum recoveries were limited to 95% for Cu, 85% for Au and 72% for Ag. Milling plus G&A costs were assumed to be US$8.21/tonne, and underground mining and G&A costs are assumed to be US$8.20/tonne.
• Actual SG measurements were interpolated into the block model, with an average SG of 2.74.
• The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Mineral Resources in the 2023 PEA are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Mineral Resources as Indicated or However, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
• The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.

Kwanika South (Open Pit) Notes

• The Mineral Resources have been compiled by Mr. Brian S. Hartman, M.S., P.Geo., Ridge Geoscience LLC, and subcontractor to Mining Plus. Mr. Hartman is a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration, and a Practicing Member with Professional Geoscientists Ontario. Mr. Hartman has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that he has undertaken to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
• The Mineral Resource estimate has an effective date of January 4, 2023.
• Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
• The totals contained in the above table have been rounded. Rounding may cause some computational discrepancies.
• Mineral Resources are estimated consistent with CIM Definition Standards and reported in accordance with NI 43-101.
• Open Pit Mineral Resources are reported on an in-situ basis at an economic cut-off of US$8.21 and constrained by an economic pit shell. Cut-offs are based on assumed prices of US$3.50/lb for copper, US$21.50/oz for silver, and US$1,650/oz for gold. Assumed metallurgical recoveries are based on a set of recovery equations derived from recent metallurgical test work. Maximum recoveries were limited to 95% for Cu, 85% for Au and 72% for Ag. Milling plus G&A costs were assumed to be US$8.21/tonne.
• Actual SG measurements were interpolated into the block model, with an average SG of 2.68.
• The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Mineral Resources in the 2023 PEA are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Mineral Resources as Indicated or However, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
• The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.

Stardust (Underground) Notes

• The Mineral Resources have been compiled by Mr. B Ronald G. Simpson of GeoSim Services Inc. Mr. Simpson has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that he has undertaken to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.
• The Mineral Resource estimate has an effective date of January 4, 2023.
• Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
• The totals contained in the above table have been rounded. Rounding may cause some computational discrepancies.
• Mineral Resources are estimated consistent with CIM Definition Standards and reported in accordance with NI 43-101.
• Reasonable prospects for economic extraction were determined by applying a minimum mining width of 2.0 meter and excluding isolated blocks and clusters of blocks that would likely not be mineable.
• The base case cut-off of US$88/t was determined based on metal prices of $1,650/oz gold. $21.50/oz silver and $3.50/lb copper, underground mining cost of US$64/t, transportation cost of US$6/t, processing cost of US$8.25/t, and G&A cost of US$9.75/t. Recovery formulas were based on recent metallurgical test results. Maximum recoveries were limited to 95% for Cu, 85% for Au and 72% for Ag.
• Block tonnes were estimated using a density of 3.4 g/cm3 for mineralized material.
• Six separate mineral domains models were used to constrain the estimate. Minimum width used for the wireframe models was 1.5 m.
• For grade estimation, 2.0-meter composites were created within the zone boundaries using the best-fit method.
• Capping values on composites were used to limit the impact of outliers. For Zone 102, gold was capped at 15 g/t, silver at 140 g/t and copper at 7.5%. For all other zones, gold was capped at 6 g/t, silver at 140 g/t and copper at 5%.
• Grades were estimated using the inverse distance cubed method. Dynamic anisotropy was applied using trend surfaces from the vein models. A minimum of 3 and maximum of 12 composites were required for block grade estimation.
• Blocks were classified based on drill spacing. Blocks falling within a drill spacing of 30m within Zones 2, 3, and 6 were initially assigned to the Indicated category. All other estimated blocks within a maximum search distance of 100 m were assigned to the Inferred category. Blocks were reclassified to eliminate isolated Indicated resources within inferred resources.
• The quantity and grade of reported Inferred Mineral Resources in the 2023 PEA are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred Mineral Resources as Indicated or However, it is reasonably expected that the majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with continued exploration.
• The estimate of Mineral Resources may be materially affected by geology, environment, permitting, legal, title, taxation, sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.