NorthWest Copper (TSX-V:NWST) (OTCQX:NWXCC) is pleased to announce that drill-hole ENV-21-007 has intersected high grade gold, including 10.5 grams per tonne over 2.0 metres, within a broader interval of 41 metres grading 1.24 g/t Au. Additional drill holes have intercepted significant copper-gold-silver mineralization. We have successfully expanded the footprint of mineralization with strongly mineralized intervals, over a 1 by 1.5 km area of previously undrilled prospective geology, open in multiple directions. These drill results represent continued success at our East Niv project, the Company’s newest discovery. Highlights are shown below.

ENV-21-007 – 41.00 metres¹ of 1.24 g/t gold, including 2.00 metres of 10.5 g/t;
ENV-21-005 – 100.90 metres of 0.34% copper equivalent (“CuEq”)², including 12.50 metres of 0.45% CuEq;
ENV-21-008 – 77.30 metres of 0.32% CuEq, including 21.20 metres of 0.43% CuEq;
ENV-21-010 – 133.85 metres of 0.22% CuEq, including 20.20 metres of 0.37% CuEq.

Peter Bell, President & CEO of NorthWest stated, “In our first season of drilling, we established East Niv as a significant new porphyry Cu-Au discovery with the release of ENV-21-004. Now, we have shown that the mineralized footprint is large and open in multiple directions. Furthermore, we have found an exciting high-grade gold zone providing a new and compelling exploration target. We look forward to following up these excellent results with a full round of drilling in 2022.”

“East Niv is the newest asset in our project pipeline, which stretches from Kemess to Mt Milligan,” continued Mr. Bell. “We have over 150,000 hectares of underexplored ground between these two long-life assets in an area of exceptional infrastructure.”

NorthWest has now received all 2021 assays from the first ever drill program completed at East Niv. Discovery hole ENV-21-004³ encountered 81.60 metres of 0.56% CuEq demonstrating a strong mineralized system with economically significant grades over broad widths. The remaining holes expand the mineralized footprint materially, making it both deeper and more laterally extensive. The footprint size is consistent with that of other porphyry deposits in BC including Red Chris. In addition, the drilling has discovered an exciting high-grade gold zone in hole ENV-21-007, enhancing the prospectivity of this project. Full results for the East Niv program are given in the table below.

Porphyry copper-gold-silver mineralization at East Niv occurs in potassic-altered mafic volcanic rocks of the Late Triassic Takla Group and in associated intermediate intrusions hosted by the Stikine Terrane – a setting compatible with many major copper-gold porphyry deposits throughout Quesnellia and Stikinia. The 10 drill holes at East Niv host a variety of commonly strong, porphyry alteration types and each hole contains significant sulphide mineralization, all of which occurs within a much more extensive, largely open IP chargeability and surface geochemical anomaly that remains mostly undrilled.

In addition to the 2021 drill program, an integrated regional exploration program was conducted across the East Niv property to detect other areas of the property that are prospective for porphyry copper style mineralization. A detailed, low-altitude airborne magnetic survey at 100 m line spacing was completed over 4515 ha of the property, centered on the main area of known mineralization. Induced Polarization surveys were completed over 37.4 line kilometers in the area of the new discovery and in adjacent target areas. Regional mapping was complemented by 166 rock samples, 601 soil samples, 67 stream silt samples, and 27 porphyry indicator mineral samples. The regional exploration results will allow focused and well-informed exploration and drilling programs to be completed in 2022.

Quality Assurance / Quality Control

Drilling completed at East Niv in 2021 was supervised by on-site NorthWest personnel who collected and tracked samples and implemented a full QA/QC program using blanks, standards, and duplicates to monitor analytical accuracy and precision. The samples were sealed on site and shipped to Bureau Veritas (BV) in Vancouver BC for analysis. BV’s quality control system complies with global certifications for Quality ISO9001:2008. Core samples were analyzed using a combination of BV’s MA200 process for low level concentrations (ICP-MS/4 Acid digestion) and the MA370 process for higher level concentrations (ICP-ES/4 acid digestion). Gold assaying was completed with FA430, a 30-gram fire assay with AAS finish, with gold overlimits completed with a gravimetric finish.

Technical aspects of this news release have been reviewed, verified, and approved by Ian Neill P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of NorthWest, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Minerals Projects.

About NorthWest:

NorthWest is a new copper-gold explorer and developer with an exciting pipeline of projects in British Columbia. With a robust portfolio in a tier one jurisdiction, NorthWest is well positioned to participate fully in a strengthening global copper market.