Le Lézard
Classified in: Mining industry, Business
Subject: CORPORATE OFFICERS

NorthWest Copper Issues Letter to Shareholders and Files Management Information Circular, Urges Shareholders to Vote Only the BLUE Proxy FOR NorthWest's Nominees to Protect Their Investment in the Company


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 21, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NorthWest Copper Corp. ("NorthWest" or the "Company") (TSXV:NWST) (OTCQX: NWCCF) today announced that it has issued a Letter to Shareholders and filed a Management Information Circular (the "Circular") for the Company's upcoming Annual Meeting of the Company's shareholders (the "Meeting").

The Letter to Shareholders and Circular offer compelling reasons why shareholders should vote for the election of the Company's seven nominees for the Board of Directors, and details regarding the threat that an activist group (the "Activist Group") poses to the value of shareholders' investment in NorthWest. Shareholders are urged to review the Letter to Shareholders and Circular and then vote only the BLUE proxy FOR NorthWest's Director nominees.

NorthWest appreciates the support it has received from shareholders who invested in the Company for its potential to play a role in supplying future demand for the critical minerals needed to supply a cleaner future. NorthWest's refreshed Board, led by a new Board Chair, and its strengthened executive team, are ready to execute against a strong strategic plan designed to deliver shareholder returns.

But shareholders should be aware that:

Don't put your investment in jeopardy. Time is short. Shareholders are Urged to Act Today

The proxy voting deadline is 10:00 a.m. (Vancouver time) on September 15, 2023 or, if the Meeting is adjourned or postponed, 48 hours (excluding Saturdays, Sundays or statutory holidays in British Columbia) prior to the time and date to which the Meeting is adjourned or postponed. The Meeting is scheduled for September 19, 2023 at the offices of Cassels, Brock & Blackwell LLP, Suite 2200, HSBC Building, 885 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6C 3E8.

The Letter to Shareholders and Circular, which can be found on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and the Company's website (www.northwestcopper.ca), is being mailed to the Company's shareholders along with a BLUE form of proxy.

Shareholders with questions about how to vote their NorthWest Copper common shares should contact Kingsdale Advisors by calling 1-888-518-1565 (toll-free in North America), calling or texting 1-647-251-9704 (collect call outside North America) or by email at [email protected] for more information. To keep current with and obtain information about voting your NorthWest Copper shares, please visit www.ProtectNWST.com.

Below is the Letter to Shareholders.

VOTE FOR NORTHWEST'S DIRECTOR NOMINEES

Dear Fellow Shareholders:
You have an important decision to make ? it will affect the value of your investment in NorthWest Copper ("NorthWest" or the "Company").

You may be contacted by an activist group (the "Activist Group") as it seeks to dramatically change the composition of the board of directors (the "Board") and take your Company in the wrong direction. Do not be taken in. Additionally, certain members of the Activist Group have told the NorthWest Board that they support certain members of our Board, including the newly appointed Chair. However, your NorthWest Board and Management, each as currently constituted, have been built with purpose and are a team. The election of even one Activist Group nominee would disrupt the Company's progress.

Before voting your shares, we strongly encourage you to read the accompanying management information circular (the "Circular") to ensure you make the right choice. Your choice is important to the future of the Company. Please stick with the Board that shareholders can trust to build value. Vote the BLUE proxy FOR all of the Company's director nominees and support a first-class team.

This is a critical time for the Company.

Recent Developments
Over the last eight months, NorthWest has embarked on a strategic path to accelerate growth and to protect and enhance shareholder value. This includes making changes to the Board as part of ongoing board renewal, hiring a new Interim President and Chief Executive Officer and appointing principal geologist Tyler Caswell as Vice President Exploration.

In this short period, the Company has reported advancements made on the 100%-owned Kwanika-Stardust Project as well as on strong copper, gold and silver drill results from the Lorraine Project and has plans to expand mineralization.

By consolidating ownership of the Kwanika, Stardust and Lorraine mining camps, NorthWest now owns 100% of all three of these highly prospective properties, providing the potential opportunity for an integrated project with shared infrastructure. As of earlier this year, the Company published two technical reports underpinning a significant increase in aggregate reported resources. NorthWest now has over 1.5 billion pounds of Copper Equivalent1 of Measured and Indicated Resources and over 850 million pounds of Inferred Resources across its portfolio. With these changes, NorthWest currently has the right team and the right opportunities in place, is aligned with shareholders and is well positioned for a better future.

Building on Progress made in 2022
During a volatile 2022, the Company took proactive steps to enhance and protect shareholder value. These actions are already bearing fruit, as demonstrated in the announcements made over the last eight months. These include:

A Clear Plan
Under the guidance of an incumbent, refreshed Board and renewed leadership team, NorthWest is uniquely positioned to pursue a strategic plan to advance the company's assets and increase shareholder value. Highlights from our strategic plans, which have already garnered interest from institutional investors, are:

A Qualified Team
NorthWest is led by a highly qualified team with deep experience in discovering and developing large copper-gold porphyry deposits in British Columbia. Biographies of the full Board are included at the end of this letter. Relevant experience in British Columbia copper/gold deposits is as follows:

Terrence (Terry) Lyons, Chair, the former Chair of Northgate Minerals, operator of the Kemess Mine, which is located approximately 50 Km north of NWST's East Niv property. Kemess is a copper-gold porphyry deposit, with similar geological characteristics to NorthWest's projects and was sold to Aurico Gold (now Alamos) for $1.46 billion.

David Moore, Interim-President and CEO, Director, is past President and CEO of Serengeti Resources from 2004 until the launch of NorthWest in 2021. He has deep experience and knowledge of NorthWest's projects and was recognized by AMEBC as the 2010 Prospector of the Year for the Kwanika discovery.

David Smith, Director, has extensive experience in British Columbia including, the exploration, operations and ultimate sale of the Gibraltar, Endako, and Brucejack mines and the purchase of the Copper Mountain Mine.

Rick Bailes, Director, was involved in the exploration and delineation of the GJ copper/gold deposit in Northwest BC, now owned by Newcrest. He wrote his Master's Thesis on The Mount Polley copper/gold porphyry in Central BC.

Jim Lang, Chief Geoscientist, was involved in major discoveries of >5 billion tonnes of copper-gold mineralization at Pebble East (Alaska) and Xietongmen (Tibet) and was the geological lead on several successful PEA, PFS and BFS studies of development-stage projects.

The extensive experience of our Board and Senior Leadership team is much more likely to attract a top caliber permanent CEO. The Activist Group and its nominees are relatively unknown and inexperienced in the Mining industry in Canada and will likely struggle to attract and retain top talent.

Activist Group Poses a Significant Risk to Growth and the Value of Your Investment
At this crucial juncture in the Company's journey, Grant Sawiak and John Kimmel have launched a needless and costly attack on the Company and its Board. Their unnecessary proxy fight is, in reality, a self-serving exercise that comes at the expense of all other shareholders.

NorthWest's Board has worked hard to reach a compromise that would have avoided this expensive and unnecessary proxy fight. For nearly two months, starting in June, the Board negotiated in good faith with an activist nominee who owns no shares, and with John Kimmel. This evolved into advanced talks between the counsels for both parties.

Four Things You Must Know About The Activist Group And Its Behaviour

  1. The Activist Group's slate for the Board is unqualified and would derail the progress made by, and future plans for, the Company. The Activist Group's nominees have:
    • Insufficient and inadequate mineral exploration experience in British Columbia.
    • No apparent experience with or understanding of B.C. copper deposits and, in particular, no engagement with the critical local community and First Nations surrounding the projects. Those relationships have been built on trust of the current Board and management and risk becoming completely undone.
    • No management team and no business plan, other than to hire advisors to help assess the situation, then look for additional directors with experience. It is unclear who will lead the Company.

  2. Mr. Sawiak, who is the face of the Activist Group, has not been a director or officer of a public company for the past six years. Prior to that, he was a director at Ellipsiz Communications Ltd., during which time the company lost 70% of its value. He was Corporate Secretary of Thistle Mining Inc., a company that was delisted from the TSX and filed for protection from creditors under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. He was a director at Terra Nova Gold Corp., when the company lost 85% of its value before it became insolvent and was delisted from the TSXV.

  3. The Board understands and is concerned that Tony Ianno is working with the Activist Group. Mr. Ianno previously entered into a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission and admitted to conduct that is contrary to the public interest in connection with Covalon Technologies Ltd. Under the settlement, Mr. Ianno made a payment of $100,000, was banned from trading securities (subject to certain exceptions) for a period of five years and was prohibited from becoming an officer or director of a public company for a period of five years.

  4. The Activist Group, if elected, intends to use Company money to reimburse itself for what could be hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses that it incurred in this proxy fight; money that would be better used to fund strategic growth if the Company's nominees are elected.

These circumstances and behaviours of the Activist Group and its nominees lead us to a serious lack of confidence in their ability to transparently and effectively govern a public company. It is important for shareholders to understand that the Activist Group's interests are not aligned with your interests. If anything, the Activist Group poses a significant risk to the future of the Company and might well be using this situation that it has created to attempt to take NorthWest private at a discount to its full value.

Our Vision at NorthWest
NorthWest's nominees are individuals capable of ensuring that the Company's growth plans remain on track. Their collective expertise spans governance, financial acumen, profound knowledge of capital markets and an intimate understanding of both the BC mining industry and the copper markets.

The newly rejuvenated NorthWest Board is fully committed to advancing the Company's transformation and maximizing and protecting shareholder value. NorthWest Board's nominees possess the necessary technical experience to advance mineral assets, community engagement experience to develop relationships with First Nations in BC and the specialized knowledge required for BC copper deposits.

The Company has developed a strategic plan and the Board's nominees are uniquely positioned to strike the right balance of continuity to bring this plan to fruition.

The Board's seven highly-qualified director nominees include David Moore, recently appointed Interim President and Chief Executive Officer. It also includes Terrence Lyons, recently appointed as the Chair of the Board. Together, these appointments allow us to continue to build on our significant achievements and tradition of strong leadership.
We are grateful to former Chair Dr. Mark O'Dea for his role in co-founding NorthWest Copper in 2021, and wish him well in his retirement. He has informed the Board that he intends to vote his shares for NorthWest's nominees.

Vote the BLUE proxy for People With The Right Expertise ? A Board You Can TRUST

Full Director Biographies

Terrence (Terry) Lyons, BASc., MBA, ICD.D

David Moore, B.Sc., M.Sc., P.Geo.

David Smith, B.Sc., ICD.D

Teodora Dechev, B.A.Sc., MBA, P.Eng., ICD.D

Richard Bailes, B.Sc., M.Sc.

Lewis V. Lawrick, BComm

Sean Tetzlaff, BComm, CPA, CA

Vote to Protect Your Investment.
The future of NorthWest is at stake. As an owner, you have a chance to take control and have your say about the direction of your investment.
Even if you have never voted before and no matter how many shares you own, becoming a voter is fast and easy.
Here's how:

  1. To Vote FOR, vote the BLUE proxy. Follow the instructions on the BLUE proxy or VIF.
  2. Vote online:
    1. Registered shareholders: https://login.odysseytrust.com/pxlogin
    2. Non-registered shareholders: www.proxyvote.com

NorthWest shareholders can contact Kingsdale Advisors by calling 1-888-518-1565 (toll-free in North America), calling or texting 1-647-251-9704 (collect call outside North America) or by email at [email protected] for more information.

We encourage you to read our Circular published today. The Circular outlines reasons why you should support our refreshed Board and our team's strategy for growth at NorthWest.

Don't wait. Take Action, Vote FOR the BLUE proxy and Protect Your Investment Today.

Sincerely,

"Terry Lyons" "David Moore"
   
Terry Lyons David Moore
Chair Interim President and CEO
NorthWest Copper Corp. NorthWest Copper Corp.

For further information, please contact:

Investor contact:
Peter Lekich, Director Investor Relations
Tel: 604-683-7790 ext. 232
Email: [email protected]

Media contact:
Longview Communications and Public Affairs
Alan Bayless: 604-417-9645; [email protected]
Joel Shaffer: 416-649-8006; [email protected]

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Technical aspects of this release have been reviewed, verified, and approved by Tyler Caswell, 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.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements with respect to: the Company's strategic plan, including with respect to drilling and First Nations engagement; the plans and intentions of the Activist Group, including with respect to expense reimbursement and taking the Company private; the potential to share infrastructure at the Company's properties; and the ability of the Company and the Activist Group to attract talent. Wherever possible, words such as "may", "will", "should", "could", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict" or "potential" or the negative or other variations of these words, or similar words or phrases, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on information currently available to management as at the date hereof.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified in NorthWest's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Forward-looking information are subject to business and economic risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from NorthWest's expectations include risks associated with the business of NorthWest; risks related to a change in the current Board or management of the Company; risks related to reliance on technical information provided by NorthWest; risks related to exploration and potential development of the Company's mineral properties; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; fluctuations in commodity prices and currency exchange rates; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; the need for cooperation of government agencies and First Nation groups in the exploration and development of properties and the issuance of required permits; the need to obtain additional financing to develop properties and uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; the possibility of delay in exploration or development programs and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time and additional risks identified in NorthWest's filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR+ in Canada (available at www.sedarplus.ca). Forward-looking information is based on estimates and opinions of management at the date the information are made. NorthWest does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Technical Disclosure Note
For further information on Lorraine please see: NI 43-101 technical report titled "Lorraine Copper-Gold Project NI 43-101 Report & Mineral Resource Estimate Omineca Mining Division, B.C", dated September 12, 2022, with an effective date of June 30, 2022, filed under the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

For further information on Kwanika-Stardust please 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.sedarplus.ca.

Notes on Mineral Resource Estimates
Kwanika Central (Open Pit and Underground) Notes

Kwanika South (Open Pit) Notes

Stardust (Underground) Notes

Lorraine Notes


1 Please see Technical Disclosure Note at the end of this release
2 Please see NorthWest's press release dated January 9, 2023 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ and at www.northwestcopper.ca
3 Please see NorthWest's press release dated January 16, 2023 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ and at www.northwestcopper.ca
4 Please see NorthWest's press release dated March 23, 2023 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ and at www.northwestcopper.ca
5 Please see NorthWest's press releases dated June 21, 2023 and July 6, 2023 available under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ and at www.northwestcopper.ca



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