Copper Added to New USGS Critical Minerals List Highlighting Increased Support for US Copper Projects Like American Pacific's Madison & Palmer Projects

American Pacific Mining Corp. (CSE: USGD) (OTCQX: USGDF) (FSE: 1QC1) ("American Pacific" or the "Company") is pleased to highlight the recent addition of copper to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)'s 2025 list of critical minerals as the Trump Administration expands the scope of what minerals are considered vital to US interests.

Copper joins, silver, zinc, lead and barite, plus 55 additional minerals for a total of 60 the US considered critical as part of the new US Geological Survey list¹. The Trump Administration has prioritized fortifying domestic supply of these minerals, to combat an over-reliance on foreign supply that jeopardizes national security, infrastructure development, and technological innovation, including within the energy sector.

The move is expected to bolster government investment and streamline permitting of copper projects located in the US that have the potential to buttress the domestic critical metals supply chain. Recently, the US Government has ramped up direct funding support of US-based mining projects it deems essential to the US supply chain, launching four new funding initiatives totaling nearly US $1 billion with grants of up to $250 million for new critical metals projects. Additionally, the Trump Administration has been making direct equity investments into critical metals projects, including a 5% equity stake in the Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada.

"The Trump Administration's addition of copper to the latest USGS Critical Minerals List represents a significant leap forward in validating the importance of domestic projects like our Madison Copper-Gold Project in Montana and our Palmer Copper-Gold VMS Project in Alaska for potential future copper production," commented Warwick Smith, CEO of American Pacific Mining. "This move signals the current government's increased focus on strengthening US supply chains and is already translating into new funding, investment, and permitting support for the advancement of critical minerals projects across the United States providing important tailwinds for advancing our high-quality US copper assets at a time when reliable supply and national security have never been more important. The Trump Administration's decision to include copper in the latest USGS list will help build awareness and understanding amongst legislators about the important role of copper in everyday life."

About American Pacific's US Copper Projects

Madison Copper-Gold Project, Montana

The high-grade Madison Project was host to small-scale production in the early 2000s with 2.7 million pounds of copper produced at grades ranging from 20-30% copper. Historical drill highlights include:

• 8.47 metres of 40.03% Cu
• 61.63 metres of 6.97% Cu

More recent exploration work returned additional high-grade intercepts confirming the presence of widespread mineralization beyond what was historically mined, while also, for the first time ever, demonstrating the link between the historic Broadway and Madison Mine areas.

2024/2025 Drilling Highlights (see July 30, 2025 and September 23, 2024 news releases)

• APMMAD25-08: 7.6 metres of 10.2 g/t gold, including 1.5 metres of 44.1 g/t gold)
• APMMAD24-09: 8.14 metres of 3.66% Cu, 29.72 metres of 2.09% Cu and 9.75 metres of 1.56% Cu, within a broader 75.13-metre zone of 0.98% Cu
• APMMAD24-08: 2.90 metres of 2.41% Cu and 3.17 g/t Au
• APMMAD24-06: 12.34 metres of 0.88% Cu and 10.36 g/t Au

Notes: Cu = copper; Au = gold; g/t = grams per tonne

Palmer Copper-Zinc VMS Project, Alaska

Last year, American Pacific reported the highest-grade copper intercepts ever drilled at its Palmer project, including:

• CMR23-172 Zone 1: 43.8 m grading 6.54% Cu, 3.15% Zn, 0.42 g/t Au and 27.97 g/t Ag (8.22% CuEq)
• CMR23-167 Zone 1: 37.1 m grading 4.57% Cu, 8.44% Zn, 0.50 g/t Au and 29.33 g/t Ag (8.40% CuEq)
• CMR23-169 Zone 1: 33.2 m grading 5.48% Cu, 7.22% Zn, 0.64 g/t Au and 36.78 g/t Ag (8.95% CuEq)
• CMR23-171 Zone 1: 23.9 m grading 9.03% Cu, 3.49% Zn, 0.83 g/t Au and 41.75 g/t Ag (11.15% CuEq)

Additionally, the Company recently published an updated mineral Resource estimate on the project, which showed a substantial increase in contained copper (see January 20, 2025 news release).

Palmer 2025 Mineral Resource Estimate

• Indicated: 4.77 million tonnes at 1.69% copper, 5.17% zinc, 0.14% lead, 28.4 g/t silver, 0.29 g/t gold, 20.6% barite (3.5% copper equivalent or 13.2% zinc equivalent) (178 million pounds of contained copper)
• Inferred: 12.00 million tonnes at 0.57% copper, 3.92% zinc, 0.47% lead, 66.3 g/t silver, 0.33 g/t gold, 25.5% barite (3.1% copper equivalent or 8.9% zinc equivalent) (151.5 million pounds of contained copper)

About American Pacific Mining Corp.

American Pacific Mining Corp. is a precious and base metals explorer and developer focused on opportunities in the Western United States. The Company has two flagship assets: 100%-owned Palmer Project, a Volcanic Massive Sulphide (VMS) project in Alaska, and the 100%-owned Madison Project, a past-producing copper-gold project in Montana. For the Madison transaction, American Pacific was selected as a finalist in both 2021 and 2022 for 'Deal of the Year' at the S&P Global Platts Metals Awards, an annual program that recognizes exemplary accomplishments in 16 performance categories. Also, in American Pacific's asset portfolio are three high-grade, precious metals projects located in key mining districts of Nevada, USA: the Ziggurat Gold project, the Gooseberry Silver-Gold project; and the Tuscarora Gold-Silver project. The Company's mission is to grow by the drill bit and by acquisition.

The technical information in this news release regarding the Palmer Project has been reviewed and approved by Peter Mercer, P.Geo., Senior Vice President of Advanced Project for American Pacific and a Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

On behalf of the American Pacific Mining Corp Board of Directors:

Warwick Smith, CEO & Director
Corporate Office: Suite 910 - 510 Burrard Street
Vancouver, BC, V6C 3A8 Canada

Full disclosure can be found in the NI 43-101 Technical Report for both the Madison and Palmer Projects at www.americanpacificmining.com.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

¹ https://www.usgs.gov/programs/mineral-resources-program/science/about-2025-list-critical-minerals#overview

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/273554