Nexus Uranium receives USFS OK for scoping at Chord

Mr. Jeremy Poirier reports NEXUS URANIUM ANNOUNCES THAT USFS CONFIRMS JANUARY 2026 PUBLIC SCOPING START FOR CHORD PROJECT The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has confirmed that public scoping for Nexus Uranium Corp.'s Chord uranium project's federal lands component in Fall River county, South Dakota, will commence in mid-January, 2026. The scoping confirmation marks the next major step in a permitting process that has achieved several key milestones since late 2024. The company, through its subsidiary Clean Nuclear Energy Corp., has now advanced through plan of operations acceptance, execution of a memorandum of understanding with the USFS, completion of prescoping consultations and preparation of specialist technical reports -- positioning the project to enter the formal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) public review phase. "This confirmation from the USFS represents meaningful progress," said Jeremy Poirier, chief executive officer. "We have systematically completed each step required to reach public scoping and now have clear visibility on the path to a drill permit. Combined with our upcoming state mineral board hearing for Section 36, we expect 2026 to be a defining year for Chord." Permitting milestones completed The federal permitting process for the October Jinx area on USFS-administered land has progressed through the following milestones: November, 2024: plan of operations accepted by the USFS; July, 2025: memorandum of understanding executed with the USFS establishing the framework for NEPA review and third party contractor scope; Q3 to Q4 2025: prescoping meetings completed with USFS personnel; December, 2025: USFS confirmation received that public scoping will commence mid-January, 2026; In progress: Respec, the company's permitting consultant, is drafting a biological assessment report and a hydrological specialist report, with draft completion expected mid-January, 2026, and finalization shortly thereafter. Target permitting timeline Based on the confirmed scoping start and standard USFS review periods, the company expects the scoping to be completed by mid-July, 2026, for the federal permitting. Public scoping is a 30-day comment period conducted under NEPA that allows stakeholders and agencies to identify issues and alternatives for environmental review. The USFS may extend scoping by an additional 30 to 45 days at its discretion, though extensions are uncommon. Proposed exploration program The proposed exploration program on federal lands includes up to 17 drill holes (four convertible to cased groundwater monitoring wells), a maximum hole depth of approximately 700 feet, total surface disturbance of approximately 1.4 acres, access via existing roads with no new road construction and completion within one year followed by full reclamation. Based on the project scope, the USFS has indicated the review may qualify for a categorical exclusion under 36 CFR 220.6(e)(8), with elevation to an environmental assessment if extraordinary circumstances are identified. Chord project overview Chord comprises approximately 3,640 contiguous acres in the southern Black Hills near Edgemont, S.D., combining 147 unpatented lode claims (approximately 3,037 acres) with South Dakota State Mineral Lease No. 27CS230448 (approximately 638 acres). Mineralization is sandstone hosted within the Lakota and Fall River formations in the historic Edgemont uranium district. The project is located approximately three miles southeast of enCore Energy's Dewey Burdock ISR uranium project. The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Carl D. Warren, PE, PG, senior engineer, BRS Inc., a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101. About Nexus Uranium Corp. Nexus Uranium is a Canadian exploration company focused on uranium projects in North America. In the United States, the company holds the Chord and Wolf Canyon projects in South Dakota, the South Pass project in Wyoming and the Wray Mesa project in Utah. The Great Divide basin project in Wyoming is now under option to Canamera Energy Metals Corp. In Canada, Nexus holds the Mann Lake project in Saskatchewan's Athabasca basin. We seek Safe Harbor.