Idaho Copper Corp

Overview

Idaho Copper Corporation is a mineral exploration and development company, focused on exploring and developing a large copper-molybdenum-silver deposit in Idaho (United States), (the “CuMo project”). The CuMo project currently consists of one hundred and twenty-six (126) federal unpatented lode mining claims, and six (6) patented mining claims. In total, the project comprises approximately 2,640 acres. To date, approximately $28 million has been invested into the CuMo project.

The unpatented lode mining claims and patented claims are situated in Boise County, Idaho, spanning Sections in Township 7N and 8N, Range 5E and 6E, Boise Meridian.

Idaho Copper seeks to capitalize on the looming copper supply deficit by advancing one of the potentially largest untapped copper projects in the United States. The economics of the project benefit from extensive high-value co-products including molybdenum and silver. A Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) was completed in May 2020 by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc.

Company History (2020 – 2022)

Idaho Copper Corporation (formerly known as Joway Health Industries Group Inc.), incorporated in Nevada, was initially engaged in the manufacture, distribution, and sales of tourmaline-related healthcare products through operating entities in China. As a result of the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement dated as of December 31, 2020, with Dynamic Elite International Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, Crystal Globe Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, and Joway Merger Subsidiary Limited, a British Virgin Islands company, the Company no longer had any assets or business operations. Accordingly, the Company became a shell company, as that term is defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

On February 3, 2022, the Company consummated the transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement dated as of January 31, 2022 by and among the Company, Crystal Globe Limited and JHP Holdings, Inc., a Nevada corporation, pursuant to which JHJP purchased 16,644,820 shares of Common Stock of the Company from Crystal Globe. The shares represented 83% of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company on a fully diluted basis. The purchase price for the shares paid by JHP was $100,000. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, each of Crystal Globe, JHP and the Company made customary representations and warranties to each other. In connection with the acquisition of the 83% by JHP, Jinghe Zhang, the sole officer and director of the Company, resigned and Ramon Lata was appointed as the sole officer and director of the Company.

Company History (2023 – Present)

On January 23, 2023, the Company entered into and consummated the transactions contemplated by a Share Exchange by and among the Company, International CuMo Mining Corporation, an Idaho corporation, and the shareholders of ICUMO Shareholders. Pursuant to the terms of the Share Exchange Agreement, the ICUMO Shareholders transferred all the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock of ICUMO to the Company in exchange for newly issued shares of the Company’s Common Stock As a result of this Share Exchange, ICUMO became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

ICUMO owns and controls the mining claims and rights to the CuMo Project, a large primary molybdenum deposit with silver and copper co-products and also byproducts tungsten and rhenium. Located in Boise County, Idaho, ICUMO was formed to determine the geologic and environmental factors that will determine the future development plan of the CuMo Project.

Pursuant to the terms of the Share Exchange Agreement, each share of ICUMO’s Common Stock held by the ICUMO Shareholders was converted into the right to receive the number of shares of Common Stock equal to an exchange ratio of 1.34.

As a result of the Exchange, a change in control of the Company occurred with the ICUMO Shareholders owning 90.1% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock. Immediately after giving effect to the Exchange, there were 202,294,000 issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock, held as follows:

Pursuant to the terms of the Share Exchange Agreement, on January 23, 2023 at the Closing of the exchange the Company assumed: (i) all ICUMO’s obligations for the options, whether or not vested, granted to key management personnel pursuant to certain Incentive Stock Option agreements, and any vested options are now exercisable to purchase shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.125 until December 31, 2027; and (ii) all ICUMO’s obligations pursuant to certain warrants to purchase shares of ICUMO Common Stock, which warrants are now exercisable to purchase shares of Common Stock, at an exercise price of $0.15, until May 11, 2027. The Incentive Stock Options and 2021 Warrants are (i) exercisable for that number of shares of Common Stock equal to the number of shares of ICUMO’s Common Stock subject to such options and warrants, immediately prior to the Closing and as adjusted by the Exchange Ratio, and (ii) have an initial exercise price per share equal to the initial exercise price per share in effect for that option or warrant immediately prior to the Closing. With respect to these Incentive Stock Options and 2021 Warrants, the Company assumed at Closing, after applying the Exchange Ratio, vested and unvested options to purchase an aggregate of 56,615,000 shares of Common Stock and warrants exercisable for up to 41,540,000 shares of Common Stock.

At the Closing, Ramon Lata, the sole officer, and director of the Company, resigned from all his offices and from the board of directors of the Company. In his place, the Board appointed four new directors, Robert Scannell, John Moeller, Shaun Dykes, and Andrew Brodkey, and the following four executive officers, Steven Rudofsky as Chief Executive Officer and President, Robert Scannell as Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Brodkey as Chief Operating Officer, and Shaun Dykes as Vice President, Exploration.

Private Placement by ICUMO

Prior to entering into the Share Exchange Agreement, from December 2022 to January 9, 2023, ICUMO conducted a private placement offering whereby it issued and sold Notes in the total amount of $898,000 with a conversion price of $0.10 and 8,980,000 warrants to purchase ICUMO Common Stock, with an exercise price of $0.15. As a condition to entering into the Share Exchange Agreement, ICUMO and the Company agreed that the Company would exchange the Notes and 2023 Warrants for notes and warrants issued by the Company. Such replacement notes and warrants were issued by the Company to the holders of the Notes and 2023 Warrants on January 23, 2023. After applying the Exchange Ratio to the conversion rate, the Company had outstanding convertible secured promissory notes in the principal amount of $898,000 which will convert into shares of Common Stock at an adjusted conversion price of $0.075 per share of Common Stock and 11,973,333 warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock at an adjusted exercise price of $0.15 per share. Principal on the Notes is due and payable on July 23, 2025. The warrants expire on January 9, 2028.

The Replacement Notes and Warrants are secured by a first priority lien on all of the assets and mining claims of the Company, other than certain patented lode mining claims that represent approximately 7.3% of the CuMo Project.

The Company continues to be a “smaller reporting company,” as defined under the Exchange Act, however, as a result of the Exchange, the Company has ceased to be a “shell company.”

In connection with the Exchange, the Company entered into lock-up and leak-out agreements (“Lock-Up Agreements”) with (i) certain majority shareholders of ICUMO, (ii) the holders of the Incentive Stock Options, (iii) the majority stockholder of the Company prior to the Exchange; and (iv) certain service providers who will receive shares of Common Stock as payment for services rendered in connection with the Share Exchange Agreement. These Lock-Up Agreements cover the Exchange Shares, any Common Stock issued pursuant to the exercise of any Incentive Stock Options or 2021 Warrants, and all shares of Common Stock issued to such service providers (the “Covered Securities”). The Lock-Up Agreements did not require any additional restrictions to be added to the Covered Securities at issuance but rather were applicable to the holders of the Covered Securities. The Lock-up Agreements provide that the Covered Securities are subject to an 18-month lock-up from January 23, 2023, subject to (i) early release upon the Company up-listing to a national securities exchange, and (ii) termination upon certain corporate events and transactions, and also provide for certain limited permitted transfers where the recipient takes the shares subject to the restrictions in the Lock-Up Agreement. At the end of the lock-up period, the Covered Securities are subject to a one-year leak-out restriction for public resales of five percent of the trailing ten (10) day average trading volume of the Common Stock. The Company may waive these restrictions.

In connection with the transactions contemplated by the Share Exchange Agreement, prior to the Closing, the Company assigned all the amounts owed to a third-party service provider to JHP, the former controlling stockholder of the Company. Pursuant to the terms of this Debt Assignment and Release Agreement, JHP Holdings, Inc. assumed all the outstanding debts of the Company as of January 23, 2023.

The CuMo Project, Geology and Mineralization

The CuMo Project currently consists of one hundred and twenty-six (126) federal unpatented lode mining claims, and six (6) patented mining claims. In total, the project comprises approximately 2,640 acres. The unpatented lode mining claims and patented claims are situated in an unorganized mining district, in Boise County, Idaho, spanning Sections in Township 7N and 8N, Range 5E and 6E, Boise Meridian, and are within the Boise National Forest.

The CuMo deposit is situated within the geological occurrence called the Idaho batholith and is part of a regional scale belt of porphyry and related deposits identified as the Idaho-Montana Porphyry Belt. Igneous complexes in this belt are interpreted to be related to an Eocene, intra-arc rift, and are characterized by alkalic rocks in the northeast, mixed alkalic and calc-alkalic rocks in the middle, and calc-alkaline rocks in the southwest. The CuMo deposit is located at the southwestern end of this belt and is associated with a calc-alkalic monzogranite, reported as 45-52Ma age that intrudes Cretaceous equigranular intrusive rocks of the Atlanta Lobe of the Idaho Batholith. The CuMo area is underlain by biotite granodiorite, the most common rock type of the Atlanta lobe of the Idaho batholith. All of the felsic intrusive phases contain molybdenite (MoS2) mineralization.

The CuMo deposit is located adjacent to a historic gold mining camp. Gold was discovered in the Boise Basin in 1862 and lode mining began within a year. As of 1940, total gold production amounted to 2.8 million ounces of which 74% was from placer operations. More gold has been produced from the Boise Basin than any other mining locality in Idaho. Although they are primarily gold deposits, considerable silver and minor copper, lead and zinc were produced as byproducts from the lodes.

The area features two separate mineralizing events that are referred to as early Tertiary and early Miocene. The first event consists of gold-quartz veins containing minor sulfide minerals that occur within the Idaho batholith and are associated with weak wall rock alteration. Associated sulfide minerals include pyrite, arsenopyrite, sphalerite, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, galena, and stibnite. The second mineralizing event occurs within porphyry dikes and stocks as well as in the batholith, and is characterized by relatively abundant sulfide mineralization, subordinate quartz, and widespread wall rock alteration. Base metal mineralization consists of pyrite, sphalerite, galena, tetrahedrite, chalcopyrite, minor quartz, and siderite with local occurrences of pyrrhotite and enargite.

Molybdenum mineralization was discovered at CuMo in 1963. Mineralization on the property occurs in veins and veinlets developed within various intrusive bodies. Molybdenite (MoS2) occurs within quartz veins, veinlets, and vein stockworks. Whereas a typical porphyry deposit features disseminated mineralized areas throughout the orebody. CuMo is a stockwork-type deposit, Individual veinlets vary in size from tiny fractures to veinlets five centimeters in width, with an overall thickness averaging 0.3- 0.4 cm. Pyrite and/or chalcopyrite are commonly associated with molybdenite although molybdenite can occur alone without other metallic mineralization.

Due to their large size, the total contained economic molybdenum in this type of lower grade copper-molybdenum deposit can be equivalent to or exceed that of high-grade molybdenum deposits.

History of CuMo Project Exploration

The Boise Basin was first explored following the discovery of placer gold deposits in 1862. Several lode gold deposits were discovered and developed immediately following the initial alluvial gold rush, with significant production occurring in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. No production has occurred on the CuMo Project claim footprint itself.

The first interest in the CuMo property was shown during aerial reconnaissance by Amax Exploration (“Amax”) in 1963. Follow-up geochemical rock and soil sampling indicated anomalous molybdenum and copper values. Forty claims were then staked, and three previously existing claims were optioned. A 2.5 mile (4 km) rough access road was constructed in 1964 to facilitate collection of rock samples and geological mapping. Amax completed detailed bedrock mapping on the CuMo property between 1964 and 1981.

In 1968, Curwood Mining Company staked 12 claims and undertook detailed mapping and geochemical rock sampling. Several trenches were excavated, and one line of dipole-dipole array induced polarization (“IP”) geophysical survey was conducted.

In 1969, Midwest Oil Corp. optioned the property and conducted exploration drilling through 1972 (four short rotary holes (less than 100 ft) initially, which were later deepened using diamond drilling, followed by six cored holes). Midwest also performed an IP survey in 1971 and an airborne magnetic survey in 1973.

In 1973, Midwest formed a joint venture with Amax and then subsequently Midwest was merged with Amoco Minerals Company (“AMOCO”) resulting in an Amax-AMOCO joint venture with AMOCO as operator. During the period 1973 to 1981, the Amax-AMOCO joint venture completed 30,822 ft of drilling, surface geological mapping, re-logging of the core, road construction, an aerial topographic survey, and age dating. In 1980, Amax Exploration Inc. transferred its interest to Climax Molybdenum Company (“Climax”), also a subsidiary of Amax Inc. In 1982, Climax collected more than 300 soil geochemical samples from three different grids.

A total of twenty-three (23) diamond holes and three RC holes were drilled on the property during this timeframe. Most RC holes were pre-collars to diamond drill holes with only the diamond drill component of the holes being used for resource modelling and sampling. The historic holes were sampled mostly at a 20ft sample interval. All the sample rejects were delivered directly from Climax’s secure facility in Colorado and are stored in the project secure warehouse facility for use by the project.

The drilling efforts from 1969 to 1982 were the only actual drilling done on the property until ICUMO in 2006, who under option from American CuMo completed one diamond drillhole and partially completed another before relinquishing the project back to American CuMo in late 2006. Thereafter, American CuMo between 2006 and 2012 drilled a total of 25,486.82m in forty-two (42) holes. Drilling consisted of both HQ and NQ diameter core with holes being started with HQ diameter and then reducing at a major fault intersection or at 1000ft which ever was less. Core recoveries were monitored and were excellent (90%+). All holes were surveyed down-the-hole at regular intervals (100 feet) using a Reflex survey instrument. All core was collected at the drill site by the diamond drillers under supervision of onsite geology staff and delivered to a secure warehouse facility in Garden Valley where they were logged, analyzed and samples collected. All drill sites were surveyed using a total field station in order to accurately locate the holes.

The 2006 through 2012 results confirmed the extent and grade of mineralization on the property as indicated by previous drilling and demonstrated continuity of mineralization between the original wide-spaced holes.

American CuMo’s work resulted in the interpretation and modelling of three distinct mineralized zones within the deposit. These zones were previously interpreted by Amax as distinct shells that were produced by separate intrusions. Re-interpretation of down-hole histograms for copper (Cu), silver (Ag) and molybdenite (MoS2) suggests the mineralized zones are part of a single, large, concentrically zoned system with an upper copper-silver zone, underlain by a transitional copper-molybdenum zone, in turn underlain by a lower molybdenum-rich zone. Three-dimensional modeling of the above zonation indicates the current area being drilled is located on the north side of a large system extending 4.5km (15,000ft) in diameter, of which 1.5 km (3,000 ft.) has been drilled.

Resource Reports and Preliminary Economic Assessments

In 2008, an initial Resource Estimate compliant with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 was commissioned by American CuMo under its former name, Mosquito Consolidated Gold Mines Ltd. This estimate was based on information from 31 diamond drillholes completed through 2007. The deposit was subdivided into three mineral domains based on the drill hole data: a Cu-Ag zone, a Cu-Mo zone, and a Mo zone. Within each mineral domain 20 ft. composites were formed. Blocks 50 x 50 x 50 ft. were estimated for MoS2, Cu, Ag and W by ordinary kriging.

In May 2009, the authors of the 2008 report provided an updated Resource Estimate based on a total of 42 diamond drill holes totaling 76,436 ft, including 11 completed during 2008. Using a Recoverable Metal Value (the “RCV”) cutoff at various US dollar values per ton, and at certain assumed metal recoveries and metal prices, the authors presented tonnages, metal grades, and contained metal for indicated and inferred resource calculations in all 3 mineralized zones.

In November 2009, Ausenco Canada Inc. (“Ausenco”), an independent, third-party engineering firm employed by American CuMo, published a NI 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment, throughput Scoping Study Report based on the same 42 diamond drillholes. In a manner similar to the May 2009 report, Ausenco reported tonnages, metal grades and contained metal for indicated and inferred resource calculations in all 3 mineralized zones. Ausenco went further and proposed a mining and processing operational design at various mining rates, from 50,000 to 200,000 tons per day of ore to mill throughput. This firm also included provisions and estimated capital and operating costs for a conceptual open pit mine, waste dumps, tailings storage facility, plant/concentrator, molybdenum roaster, and ancillary facilities. Based on this data, Ausenco was able to perform a Preliminary Economic Analysis (PEA) of the CuMo project, at various throughput rates, which yielded numeric results for Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Payback, and cash operating costs per pound of molybdenum equivalent.

In 2011, a new technical study for a NI 43-101 compliant Resource update was commissioned with Snowden Mining Consultants. The resource estimate update was based on a total of 54 diamond drillholes totaling 99,404 ft. Of these, 12 diamond drillholes were completed in 2009 and 2010. Again, using assumed metal recoveries and selected RCV cut-off grades, Snowden reported updated global Indicated Resources and global Inferred Resources Snowden adopted most of the other design parameters and assumptions offered by Ausenco.

In August 2015, Gary Giroux of Giroux Consultants Ltd. (one of the authors of the 2008 and 2009 Reports) was employed by American CuMo to publish a NI 43-101 compliant, updated resource estimate. This update was based on a total of 65 diamond drill holes totaling 120,685 feet (36,784.9 meters). Nine (9) of the sixty-five (65) diamond drill holes were completed in 2012 since the previous resource calculation. Using low, medium, and high metal price assumptions, and different cutoff grades for RCV, Giroux calculated Measured, Indicated, and Inferred mineral resource numbers for ore contained within a conceptual pit shell.

Finally, in 2020 SRK authored a Canadian NI 43-101 compliant Preliminary Economic Assessment and Technical Report (PEA) for the CuMo project. This document, relying on the previously published 2015 resource estimate, proposed an open pit mine and concentrator combination at a milling rate of 150,000 tons per day, and an initial mine life of 30 years. It also incorporated particle-based ore sorting technology to remove 28% of the mining waste from the ore stream, prior to entering the concentrator.

The mineral resource estimates contained in the TRS are based on drilling completed through 2012 on a total of 65 diamond drill holes totaling 36,166 m (118,654 ft). As no additional drilling has been completed since the 2015 resource was estimated, the mineral resource estimates are considered current and have not been updated since that time.

The mineral resource estimates contained in the TRS were estimated in conformity with Committee for Mineral Reserves International Reporting Standards (CRIRSCO) “International Reporting Template for the public reporting of Exploration Targets, Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves” as adopted by the International Council on Mining & Metals November 2019. The mineral resources are reported in in accordance with §§229.1300 through 229.1305 (subpart 229.1300 of Regulation S-K).

The resource estimate was based on a total of 65 diamond drill holes totaling 36,166 m (118,654 ftNine of the 65 diamond drill holes were completed in 2012. As no additional drilling has been completed since the 2015 resource was estimated, it is considered current. The resource is considered an Insitu resource as it is based on the drilling and overall geological modeling.

Table 1 to Paragraph (D)(1)—CuMo Summary of Copper, Molybdenum, Silver, Rhenium and Sulphur Mineral Resources at the End of the Fiscal Year 2024 Based on Metal Prices (see table 2)

• The detailed results of the resource calculation can be found in Exhibit 96.1 of this filing, in particular sections 1.10.1 and Section 11. The point of reference for this mineral resource is an In-situ Resource.

RCV calculation:

The RCV calculations were based on the following metal prices

Table 2: Metal prices for resources and represent the longer-term predictions for future prices combined with the moving average for the past 3 years.

Molybdenum is sold as molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) which has higher Mo content. The price used in this study for MoO 3 is $10/lb. MoO 3 is calculated from MoS 2 by the following:

The metal recoveries used to calculate RCV were a function of mineralized zones as follows:

Table 3: Metal recoveries sorted by mineralized zone

*Note – the recoveries for all metals in the MSI Zone were similar to the Mo Zone

Factors to use in RCV equation were as follows:

The equations to calculated RCV for each mineralized zone were as follows:

RCV (oxides) = (Cu% * 36.0) + (Ag(ppm) * 0.24) + (MoS 2% * 143.88)

RCV (Cu-Ag) = (Cu% * 40.8) + (Ag(ppm) * 0.27) + (MoS 2% * 154.67)

RCV (Cu-Mo) = (Cu% * 51.0) + (Ag(ppm) * 0.28) + (MoS 2% * 165.46)

RCV (Mo) = (Cu% * 43.2) + (Ag(ppm) * 0.20) + + (MoS 2% * 170.85)

RCV (MSI) = (Cu% * 43.2) + (Ag(ppm) * 0.20) + + (MoS 2% * 170.85)

Other assumptions:

In 2012, Snowden Mining Consultants (Snowden) used Geovia’s WhittleTM pit optimizer to determine a constraining open pit shell for the CuMo deposit. Optimization parameters were from Thompson Creek mine (a comparable open pit molybdenum project located in Idaho). The optimization parameters included mill feed, mining and processing costs of $9.28 per processed ton, overall pit slope angles of 45°, metallurgical recoveries as shown above and appropriate dilution and offsite costs and royalties. The commodity prices used in 2012 by Snowden for restraining the resource were Mo at $25/lb, Cu at $3/lb, Ag at $20/oz and W at $10/lb. This pit constraint is still valid. Once block inside the constraining pit were identified RCV values were recalculated using the current metal prices.

In the mineral resource estimate table above the base case of $5.00/t RCV cut-off is used and is selected based on operating costs and the results of grade improvement using a mineral sorting process. The $5.00 cut-off is suggested to separate waste from material that is fed into the sorters. From the sorters, only mill feed above an economic cut-off would be sent for immediate processing and is used in the economic analysis.

An estimate for rhenium (Re) and sulfur (S) associated with the MoS 2 was completed using linear regression of MoS 2 vs. Re and MoS 2 vs S to show the average grades of Re and S that would be contained with MoS 2 within each block. The Re and S were not used to determine the RCV value of resources.

There has been no changes to the disclosed mineral resource in the past 5 fiscal years.

Effect of Material Regulations on the current operations of the Company.

The Company’s current activities are subject to a number of laws and regulations, in particular including those with respect to exploration on federal lands (under the jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service (USFS)) and corresponding State of Idaho and local/Boise County laws and regulations. These laws and regulations, and permits/approvals granted by governmental entities thereunder, govern how the Company must conduct surveys and how it can build and maintain roads and drill pads, access the properties, conduct drilling and related exploration, transport staff and materials, secure, use and conserve water, protect identified species of flora and fauna, limit land disturbance, protect surface and groundwater, comply with mitigation requirements, and reclaim affected lands post-exploration. The Company is also required to post a bond with the USFS for reclamation assurance. Material compliance with these regulations is mandatory and is critical to the operations of the Company.

On March 14, 2025, the Company received a Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact from the USFS approving for its Exploration Plan of Operations by the USFS (pursuant to an Environmental Assessment published by the USFS under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1970 (NEPA)) for the commencement of drilling and exploration activities. Consequently, the Company can legally undertake exploration on federal lands in 2025. In addition, material approvals that the Company will need for its planned 2025 exploration activities will need to come from the Idaho Department of Water Resources, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, and Boise County Department of Roads. The Plan of Operations permits the Company to conduct exploration from April 15 to December 15 each calendar year for a 4-year period starting in 2025, and the Company believes that each of such additional material approvals will be applied for and received prior to April 15, 2025. However, the Company notes that if a lawsuit is filed by Non-Governmental Organization (NGO’s) or others challenging the USFS approval, it may not be able to carry out exploration under the Plan of Operations in 2025.

Significant encumbrances to and future permitting for the property.

There are no legal encumbrances affecting the properties except for the pledges of security under certain notes and debentures.

As to future permits and approvals beyond exploration, needed for development, construction and operation of a mining project at CuMo, and assuming that technical and economic evaluation of a project merits such development, the Company first will need to conduct extensive baseline environmental studies, hydrological studies, additional plant and animal surveys, and related activities required under NEPA to allow the USFS to publish an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). If drilling and exploration activities are completed during 2025 (assuming no legal challenges), the Company anticipates that it will begin additional technical analysis for a Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS), described below, and commence environmental baseline work during 2025, leading to a PFS publication conceivably within 18 months. If the PFS results are positive, the Company would continue with additional technical work, environmental work, preliminary engineering work, all in order to develop a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) and submit to the federal agency a Plan of Operations for construction, development and operation of a mining project under an EIS. The Company estimates that with no legal challenges, an EIS could be published by the USFS as early as 2029. The Company again notes that possible legal challenges from NGO’s could potentially prevent exploration in 2025 and can extend these approximate timelines.

Internal Controls and Data Verification

Shaun M. Dykes, a former a director and officer of the Company, (the “Qualified Person”) reviewed the procedures used by ICUMO and produced a description and an analysis of the results as contained in Section 8 of the TRS. These are standard data verifications with no limitations.

All assay results used in the verification process by the Qualified Person were obtained from fully certified analytical laboratories with signed assay certificates.

The Qualified Person has reviewed the data collection and verification procedures followed by ICUMO and by third parties on behalf of ICUMO, and believes these procedures are consistent with industry best practices and acceptable for use in geological and resource modelling.

These procedures have also been verified by several independent qualified people over the years.

For more information about quality control/quality assurance and data verification, see Section 8 and Section 9 of the TRS.

The mineral resources estimated may ultimately be affected by a broad range of environmental, permitting, socio-economic (as discussed in Section 17 of the TRS), legal, title (as discussed in Section 3 of the TRS), marketing and political factors (as discussed in Section 22 of the TRS). At this time the authors are unaware of any of these factors that could materially affect the mineral resource estimate. Of course, going forward, relevant factors that could influence the resource estimate include changes to the geological, geotechnical or geometallurgical models, infill drilling to convert mineral resources to a higher classification, drilling to test for extensions to known resources, collection of additional bulk density data and significant changes to commodity prices. It should be noted that all these factors pose potential risk and opportunities to the current mineral resource.

Current Planned Working Programs

Ore Sorting and Updated Preliminary Economic Assessment

Idaho Copper during 2024 investigated the potential to utilize additional ore sorting technologies to optimize the separation of waste and low-grade ore from higher grade mill feed post-mining and increase the head grade of ore being fed to a concentrator. The thin-veined stockwork nature of the CuMo deposit lends itself well to ore sorting, since mineralized veins at CuMo largely carry the metals of interest and are much different from waste in appearance. A visual scanning exercise of all of the core recovered from previous drilling activities described herein revealed that up to 84% of the waste and lower grade ore mined can be theoretically separated from higher grade material through application of ore sorting, versus the 28% separation factor that SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. (“SRK”) conservatively used in its 2020 Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”). There are over 90 active mines in the world today which utilize some form of ore sorting.

During 2024, the Company contracted with MineSense, Technologies Ltd., of Vancouver, BC, Canada, who, using their ShovelSense scanning systems, which employ X-ray fluorescence (the “XRF”) surface scanning sensor technology, successfully tested ore from CuMo and determined positively it amenability to ore sorting. These systems are installed directly on mine shovel buckets and scan the blasted material as the shovel scoops it up, allowing the mine operator, based on cutoff grades, to differentiate ore from waste at the mining face. ShovelSense is currently being used successfully by at least three large producing copper open pit mines (Highland Valley BC, Copper Mountain BC, and Carmen de Andacollo Chile). The MineSense agreement is for the sum of $65,000.

Contemporaneously with this test work, the Company executed a contract with Veracio, Inc., from Salt Lake City, Utah, to scan existing CuMo drill cores with mobile XRF scanners, in order to confirm that the CuMo deposit is variable in nature and amenable to selective separation by ore sorting techniques. Veracio has scanned approximately 33,000 feet of core at the Company’s leased core storage facility in Idaho, at a footage rate of $8/foot, and with mobilization and incidentals, the Company has paid or is responsible for a cost of around $275,000.

The final ore sorting design will likely not only rely on a single sorting pass, but may possibly integrate multiple sorting technologies, such as combining surface XRF scanning at the mining face on blasted material with downstream penetrative prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) or pulsed fast thermal neutron activation (PFTNA) scanners installed on the material conveyors, and potentially bulk particle XRF scanners to finish. The potential combination of different ore sorting technologies and equipment could enable the Company to optimize the separation of ore from waste, substantially increasing the head grade of mill feed, and thereby reducing the size of the concentrator. Consequently, this will in theory allow the Company to significantly reduce capital and operating costs.

The Company initially contracted with SGS Bateman, Inc., (“SGS”) a noted professional mining industry consulting firm, to undertake metallurgical test work and act as lead author and Qualified Person(s) (QP), to publish an updated PEA, utilizing ore sorting results to revise the technical and economic sections of the document. The key terms of the SGS contract are, for an estimated cost of $429,000 (and an initial deposit of $110,000), SGS, and except for ore sorting, SGS was to provide all of the technical input for a Canadian NI-43-101 equivalent Technical Report and a compliant US SK-1300 Technical Report. These reports will include all technical studies including geologic resources, mineable resources, pit optimization, mine planning and equipment scheduling, metallurgical analysis, concentrator design, capital and operating cost estimates, and an economic analysis. SGS is currently conducting at its Lakefield, Ontario, Canada laboratories, metallurgical testwork on representative, post-ore sorting, higher-grade ore samples which were provided by the Company. As to ore sorting, the Company has engaged Lycopodium, Inc, of Ontario, Canada, for a cost of roughly US$80,000, to provide a QP for expert ore sorting analysis of the MineSense sorting results which will be incorporated into the updated PEA.

The Company dismissed SGS Bateman in February 2025 and hired Barr Engineering Inc. (“Barr”) to act as overall author of and QP for the updated PEA. SGS Lakefield, however, is continuing with its metallurgical evaluations. The Company is currently discussing with SGS Bateman the outstanding invoices, paid this far and the cost of any remaining work by SGS Lakefield. The Barr contract is for $433,000. Expected budget for all of the work identified above is roughly $1 million. The updated PEA is anticipated to be published in mid-2025.

Additional Exploration and Metallurgical Studies; Pre-Feasibility Study

Following completion of the updated PEA, and under the approval by the USFS of approval of the Company’s Exploration Plan of Operations. The Company intends to procced with additional exploration, including infill, expansion, and geotechnical pit wall drilling. The infill work is intended to enable the Company to reclassify resources currently labeled as Inferred, to the level of Indicated, or Measured and Indicated. The Company has tentatively budgeted $12 million for this drilling and exploration work.

The Company also plans to initiate additional metallurgical studies to (1) determine the optimal concentrator design for both copper-silver, and molybdenum concentrate circuits, and (2) investigate the potential to recover copper and molybdenum via heap leaching of lower grade ore that is stockpiled and not immediately processed at the concentrator. The Company has identified a number of outside consultants that can be engaged for both of these studies. In total, the Company expects that these studies will cost approximately $1,000,000 and will take on the order of four (4) months to complete.

These undertakings, along with a number of additional studies, are part of the Company’s plan to develop an independent third-party Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the CuMo Project. In addition to the exploration and metallurgical work, explained above, the PFS will include expenditures for infrastructure and road improvements, environmental and permitting work, preliminary engineering, community, and public/government relations work, and potentially costs for expansion of the current land position.

Competitive Position in the Industry

The mineral exploration, development, and production industry are largely unintegrated. The Company competes with other exploration companies looking to acquire and obtain financing for the exploration and development of mineral resource properties. While the Company competes with other exploration companies to locate and acquire mineral resource properties, it may also compete with them for the removal or sales of mineral products from its properties if it should eventually discover their presence in quantities sufficient to make production economically feasible. Readily available markets for the sale of mineral products only sometimes exist for all mineral commodities; however, the principal CuMo Project commodities of copper, silver and molybdenum are traded on international exchanges and therefore, at a minimum a terminal market exists for which these commodities can be delivered and sold.

Competition

ICUMO’s competition includes large, established mining companies with substantial capabilities and more significant financial and technical resources. As a result of this competition, it may have to compete for financing and may need help to acquire the funding on terms it considers acceptable. ICUMO may also have to compete with other mining companies to recruit and retain qualified managerial and technical employees. If ICUMO cannot compete successfully for financing or qualified employees, its exploration programs may be slowed down or suspended, which may cause it to cease operations as a company.

Employees

As of the date of this Report, other than certain executives, ICUMO has no employees. ICUMO does not have or maintain any employee benefit plans or similar plans under any applicable laws.

Recent Developments

From February 28, 2024, through March 28, 2024, the Company conducted a private placement offering pursuant to which it entered into subscription purchase agreements with accredited investors for an aggregate of 162.66 Units (the “Units”), at a purchase price of $12,000 per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $1,952,000 (the “Newbridge Private Placement Offering”). Each Unit comprised of one (1) share of Series A Convertible Non-Voting Preferred Stock, $0.001 par value per share, and (ii) 62,500 Common Stock purchase warrants (the “Warrants”). The Warrants entitle the holders to shares of Common Stock for three (3) years, at an exercise price of $0.24 per share. Newbridge Securities Corporation acted as the sole placement agent (the “Placement Agent”) on a best-efforts basis pursuant to a Placement Agency Agreement dated September 7, 2023, as amended on December 27, 2023. Pursuant to this agreement, the Placement Agent received cash commissions of $195,200, representing 10.0% of the gross purchase price of the Units sold. Certain members of the Placement Agent participated as investors in the Newbridge Private Placement Offering.

Pursuant to the Subscription Agreements, the Company agreed to file a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to register the re-sale of the shares of Common Stock issuable upon the conversion of the Preferred Stock and upon the exercise of the Warrants within 90 business days after the final Closing date. If the Company fails to file a registration statement by such date, the Company shall pay the Subscribers 2.5% of their respective purchase price for each 30 days that the registration statement is not filed, with a maximum of 10%.

Available Information

We file annual, quarterly, and current reports and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any reports, statement or other information that we file with the SEC at the SEC’s public reference room at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. Please call the SEC at (202) 551-8090 for further information on the public reference room. These SEC filings are also available to the public from commercial document retrieval services and at the Internet site maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov.

The Company’s website is www.idaho-copper.com. The Company’s website is not incorporated in this Form 10-K.