Phoenix Copper Ltd. announced that the Company's 2023 drilling programme is now underway at the Navarre Creek exploration project in Custer County, Idaho. The 2023 drilling programme marks a new phase of work on the gold exploration project located approximately five kilometres ('km') west of the Company's Empire Mine copper oxide deposit. The 2023 Navarre Creek drilling programme is scheduled to comprise up to 60 reverse-circulation ('RC') drill holes from 30 drill pads ("Drill Programme") located at targets throughout the Navarre Creek claim block.

The programme is expected to build on the Company's current understanding of the area from previous exploration activities including geologic mapping, surface geochemistry, airborne hyperspectral mineral imaging, and geomagnetic ground surveys. During the 2021 field season, Phoenix contracted Magee Geophysical Services to acquire approximately 169 line-km of total field magnetic measurements at the Company's Navarre Creek project and SpecTIR, LLC of Reno, Nevada to complete an airborne hyperspectral survey of the same Navarre Creek area to identify prospective exploration targets in an area, many of which are largely concealed by glacial till. The ground magnetics survey looked specifically for magnetite and magnetic-bearing minerals, some of which have been identified in limited outcroppings, while the hyperspectral imaging helps to identify alteration minerals often associated with precious metal deposition.

Hyperspectral imaging incorporates a small airplane with mounted infrared lights and sensors to detect a wide range of wavelengths, mineral absorption and reflectance within the target area. The wavelength data collected in this survey are VNIR (Vible and Near-Infrared), SWIR (Short-Wave Infrared), and LWIR (Long-Wave Infrared). The human eye can detect wavelengths (colours) from 390 nanometers ('nm') to 700nm.

The VNIR and SWIR sensors collected wavelength data from 390 nanometers ('nm').