NorthWest Reports Palladium Assay Results at Kwanika, Highlighting Potential for a By-Product Credit

TORONTO, June 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — NorthWest Copper Corp. (“NorthWest” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: NWST) reports palladium assay results from stored sample pulps collected from historical drilling at its 100% owned Kwanika project in British Columbia, highlighting the potential for palladium to provide an additional by-product credit.

Sample pulps from Kwanika have been stored since the 2007 drill program; however, palladium has only been systematically assayed since 2022. As a result, most of the assay database supporting the current mineral resource estimate does not include Pd values, representing an opportunity for value enhancement. Palladium, a designated critical mineral, is used primarily in automotive catalytic converters, with emerging use in fuel cells and hydrogen purification equipment. Its presence complements Kwanika’s exposure to copper, another designated critical mineral.

Recent drilling by the Company has shown anomalous palladium levels, prompting a program to assay stored sample pulps. Earlier this year, samples were selected within known copper and gold mineralized zones and sent to a laboratory for analysis. Results demonstrate that certain mineralized zones have the potential to host payable palladium by-product credits, specifically Zones 2, 5, and 10. Highlights from the 2026 palladium assay program, expressed as drill intersections, are presented below and described in more detail later in this release.

Highlighted drill intersections including palladium (“Pd”) assay include:

• K-07-15: 74.1 metres of 1.04% Cu, 1.48g/t Au, 3.32g/t Ag and 0.71g/t Pd from 27.4 metres
• K-07-33: 30.5 metres of 0.53% Cu, 1.28g/t Au, 1.61g/t Ag and 0.40g/t Pd from 101.1 metres
• K-07-51: 77.2 metres of 0.46% Cu, 0.70g/t Au, 1.18g/t Ag and 0.15g/t Pd from 382.6 metres
• K-07-53: 55.6 metres of 0.84% Cu, 0.80g/t Au, 2.71g/t Ag and 0.41g/t Pd from 338.4 metres
• K-07-54: 36.2 metres of 0.27% Cu, 0.72g/t Au, 1.17g/t Ag and 0.20g/t Pd from 560.9 metres
• K-07-55: 38.8 metres of 0.61% Cu, 0.67g/t Au, 1.72g/t Ag and 0.20g/t Pd from 408.0 metres
• K-08-60: 13.7 metres of 1.45% Cu, 1.88g/t Au, 3.74g/t Ag and 1.05g/t Pd from 407.4 metres
• K-18-184: 18.7 metres of 0.72% Cu, 1.24g/t Au, 3.31g/t Ag and 0.58g/t Pd from 31.8 metres
• K-21-211: 15.4 metres of 1.00% Cu, 0.86g/t Au, 3.38g/t Ag and 0.55g/t Pd from 38.0 metres

Geoff Chinn, VP Business Development and Exploration stated: “We are encouraged by these palladium results, as they create multiple opportunities for Kwanika. First, they provide the data required to estimate palladium grades and better understand their distribution, which is the first step in evaluating its potential as a by-product credit. Second, palladium can provide an exploration vector to the hottest, most saline parts of the system, which would help us to map core parts of the system and allow us to target potential extensions to known mineralized zones. Third, metallurgical recovery test work for palladium is incomplete. Recoveries to copper concentrate and/or doré are unknown and present an opportunity for future follow-up test work and process optimization. Kwanika is also strategically positioned to supply concentrates to smelters in the Americas and Asia. A clean copper concentrate containing gold, silver and platinum group metals should attract broader interest from smelters. Finally, palladium mineralization at these levels is another characteristic Kwanika shares with the producing New Afton copper-gold mine in British Columbia, whose geology provides an important analogue for our exploration and development model.”

A total of 3,653 stored sample pulps were collected from 66 holes and assayed for palladium. Previously, only 22% of the mineralized zones had palladium assays. Sample pulps represent an unbiased homogenized sub-sample of the original ½ core drill sample. Sample pulps were recovered from secure storages in sealed boxes that contained sealed sample bags. Original sample bags were inserted into larger plastic bags containing a new a number sequence with both original and new sample numbers recorded. As part of the sampling program, assay QAQC samples, including certified standards and blanks were inserted into the sample sequence at predetermined locations and then used to monitor laboratory performance. A small number of QAQC failures were investigated and/or re-assayed with no significant issues identified.

Table 1 provides the complete list of drill hole intersections above 0.1 g/t Pd cut-off grade over a minimum of 3-meter intersection length and Table 2 provides related collar information. We expect these results to inform a palladium estimate to be included in the next mineral resource update, scheduled early in 2027.