ARRAS MINERALS OUTLINES 2026 ELEMES EXPLORATION PLAN - DOUBLES DRILL RIGS TO FOUR IN Q1 2026

TSX-V: ARK / OTCQB: ARRKF

VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 22, 2026 /CNW/ - Arras Minerals Corp. (TSXV: ARK) (OTCQB: ARRKF) ("Arras" or "Arras Minerals" or "the Company") is pleased to outline the 2026 Elemes Exploration Plan focused on accelerating the advancement of the Elemes Project in the Pavlodar region of northeast Kazakhstan.

Highlights of the program include:

• Phase 2 Elemes drill program expanded, additional 20,000+ metres ("m") of core drilling planned, with
  • Two drills to commence in February and an additional two drills to commence in March
• Primary emphasis on expanding scale of Berezski Central and Berezski North targets
• Additional drilling extending the footprint of Berezski East Target and to find the source of the porphyry mineralization identified at the Novii target (announced December 16, 2025)
• 6,000m of Top of Bedrock ("KGK") drilling planned at both Berezski and Aimandai Trends to accelerate target definition in these zones.

Darren Klinck, President commented, "One year ago this month we announced the initial results from our Phase 1 drilling program at Elemes which started to outline the emergence of two distinct porphyry centres at Berezski North and Berezski Central. Pleasingly, after successfully raising capital and commencing the Phase 2 program in May, the follow-on eight months of work has delivered further expansion of the mineralized zones in both of these target areas and has identified additional targets at Berezski East and Novii which the Company has yet to determine if they are likely extensions of Berezski Central or new porphyry systems altogether. Overall, we believe that the outcomes from this first year of work warrants accelerating activity and we are doubling the drills that will be operating at Elemes to four rigs by March this year." 

He went on to say, "At a time when the world is waking up to the importance of critical minerals and commodities generally, our thesis that Kazakhstan would continue to be a stable jurisdiction to operate in and one that goes on attracting more and more foreign interest continues to play out. Marrying that with tremendous mineral endowment, and the Kazakhstan cost advantage, we continue to believe that the Elemes Project holds the near-term potential to demonstrate more than one scalable copper-gold deposit at grades that are consistent with operating copper-gold mines in Kazakhstan today, some of which are among the lowest cost operations globally. The timeline to explore for, develop, permit and operate a new mine in Kazakhstan going forward we believe will be amongst the shortest and with some of the lowest capex intensity of any critical minerals provinces globally. The vast infrastructure, deep acceptance from society paired with the ongoing support and encouragement from our government partners, creates the environment that will be a competitive advantage for Arras going forward."

Berezski Trend - Overview

2025 marked a year of major advancements at Elemes. The Company commenced Phase 2 drilling in May and completed nearly 10,000m of drilling by late December. The program significantly expanded the footprints of copper-gold mineralization at Berezski Central, Berezski East and Berezski North and discovered a potential new porphyry system at Novii. This work has expanded the length of the Berezski Trend to at least a 10 kilometre ("km") long strike length and demonstrates that mineralization continues below cover to the south. Grades and widths reported to-date at Elemes are consistent with mined grades from operating open-pit copper operations in Kazakhstan today.

A 64-hole KGK drilling program was completed in Q4 2025 across the Berezski East and Berezski Central targets to evaluate whether this technique could accelerate exploration along the entire length of the Berezski Trend. The program was highly successful, confirming the northward and southward continuation of mineralization at both Berezski Central and Berezski East, while also identifying multiple new, previously unrecognized, gold zones in the immediate vicinity of Berezski East. Initial follow-up drilling of one of these newly identified zones returned encouraging gold mineralization in drill hole EL25022, which intersected 29.9m grading 0.63 g/t Au starting from a depth of 14.0m. These results validate the effectiveness of the KGK approach as a powerful discovery tool and demonstrate its potential to rapidly generate new targets, which represent priority areas for future exploration and expansion of the mineralized footprint.

Magnetotellurics ("MT") and Gravity geophysical surveys were also completed at the Berezski and Aimandai Trends in Q4 2025. They have provided additional important data supporting the concept of the potential presence of several large porphyry systems along the Berezski Trend.

In 2026, Arras plans to expand the diamond drill program for at least an additional 20,000m on key Berezski Targets and also conduct a systematic 6,000m+ KGK drilling program along the entire length of the Berezski Trend and priority areas of the Aimandai Trend identified from the various magnetic, gravity and MT geophysics surveys. This KGK program will rapidly define the mineralization footprints of existing targets and identify additional new targets for follow-up prioritization and drilling.

Berezski North

The Company completed six drill holes at the Berezski North target in H2 2025, outlining a 600m long copper-gold mineralized system. Deeper drilling has intersected broad intervals of porphyry-style mineralization in drill-holes EL24005 (547.0m grading 0.48 g/t Au and 0.23% Cu) and EL25027 (results pending).

Berezski North is defined by a several large chargeability highs (Figure 1), surrounding a large magnetic high (Figure 2). The chargeability anomaly is probably related to a pyrite halo that commonly surrounds the potassic core of many porphyry deposits.

Several discrete magnetic lows are spatially related to the hydrothermal breccias that have been intersected in several drill-holes, including drill holes EL25014A (154.0m grading 0.72 g/t Au and 0.29% Cu) and EL25023 (246.2m grading 0.75 g/t Au and 0.24% Cu).

The MT survey results (Figure 3) recently received from the program completed in Q4 2025 has defined a large conductivity anomaly centered below drill hole EL24006 (56.0m grading 0.35 g/t Au and 0.35% Cu), with high conductivity zones extending to surface that coincide with porphyry mineralization intersected in holes EL24005 and EL25027 and with the breccias intersected in hole EL25014A and EL25023, indicating that the areas of mineralization intersected to date may connect to a much larger mineral system a depth.

The 2026 drilling will test the conductivity zones to the southwest of drill-holes EL24005 and EL25014A, towards the center of Berezski North Target and test the deep conductivity zones. KGK drilling will be conducted systematically over the entire Berezski North Target to cost-effectively test the various near surface conductivity, chargeability and magnetic lows to determine their origin.

Berezski Central /Berezski East

Results from 2025 identified wide zones of porphyry Cu-Au mineralization with hole EL25012 (444.0m grading 0.25 g/t Au and 0.16% Cu) extending the mineralization to at least 500m depth. Hole EL25018 (76.0m 0.28 g/t Au and 0.17% Cu expanded the footprint to 600m strike length. Regional drilling has defined a large, low-grade (>0.1 g/t Au) gold shell extending for at least 2.1 km (see Figure 4) from drill-hole EL24003 (264.0m grading 0.17 g/t Au) to drill-hole EL25013 (192.0m grading 0.16 g/t Au).

The ground magnetic data shows that the current Cu-Au mineralized envelope is in the center of a very large, demagnetized zone caused by the alteration associated with a large porphyry system.

At Berezski East, the mineralization coincides with a 2 km long linear magnetic high. The IP and MT data shows subtle chargeability and conductivity anomalies, probably reflecting the lower sulphide content seen in the drilling from this area.

The MT survey has defined a large 2.5 km by 1.2 km conductivity high at Berezski Central (Figure 5) that extends south towards drill-hole NOV25003. It is believed that this anomaly is caused either by sulphides or clay minerals associated with porphyry systems. The weaker anomalies seen at Berezski East reflect the lower sulphide content seen in drill-holes at this target.

At Berezski Central, drilling will focus on expanding the footprint of the known mineralization with holes exploring the continuation of the near surface conductivity anomaly to the south towards the Novii Target; additionally several holes are planned to test the large near-surface conductivity anomaly; and several holes are planned to explore the large deeper conductivity anomaly located to the west of the current mineralization to determine its cause.

At Berezski East, drilling will explore the prominent magnetic high that hosts the Au-Cu mineralization seen in holes EL24004 (138.8m grading 0.77 g/t Au and 0.09% Cu) and EL25019 (457.5m grading 0.61 g/t Au and 0.10% Cu) to the north and south. Several holes will explore a prominent gravity low to the northeast of hole EL25019 to determine its cause, and to see if it is the source of the porphyry-style (potassic) alteration and mineralization intersected in that hole (released October 8, 2025). Follow-up drilling on gold intercepts from the KGK drilling (released December 16, 2025) that identified multiple gold zones to the east of holes EL25019 and EL24004 is also planned.

The MT survey defined a series of large, near surface conductivity anomalies at Berezski Central and Berezski East. These appear to link at depth to a larger anomaly at depth to the west of Berezski Central (Figure 6), which is also planned to be tested as part of the 2026 drill program.

Novii

The discovery of porphyry style mineralization at Novii in hole NOV25003 (announced in the December 16, 2025 news release – 14.0m grading 0.23 g/t Au and 0.08% Cu) demonstrated that the Berezski Trend continues at least another 2 km south of Berezski Central beneath cover. A review of the geophysical data including ground magnetic and MT conductivity appears to show that hole NOV25003 may have intersected the distal margin of a porphyry system.

The ground magnetic survey (Figure 7) identified a discrete magnetic high located 900m south of hole NOV25003, and the Company believes that this potentially could be related to the core of a porphyry system, with hole NOV25003 intersecting the demagnetized phyllic halo.

Arras plans to test these compelling geophysical targets to determine their source and evaluate their relationship to the distal porphyry-style mineralization intersected in drill hole NOV25003. These targets may represent vectors toward the core of a large, previously unrecognized porphyry system and offer a significant opportunity for discovery.

Aimandai Trend

In 2025, the Company focused on the emerging Berezski Trend, as well as conducting regional drilling on the Teck joint venture licenses. Concurrently, the Company completed extensive IP, MT and gravity surveys over the largely unexplored Aimandai Trend that delineated several conductivity highs with coincident gravity lows. The Company plans to initiate a systematic KGK drilling program (Figure 8) across geophysical targets on the Aimandai Trend in Q2, designed to quickly evaluate large areas, define mineralized zones and district-scale trends, and generate immediate, high-priority targets for follow-up diamond drilling.

Elemes Phase II Drill Program: Since June of last year, Arras Minerals has been advancing its 20,000m Phase II diamond drill program at the Elemes Project. Drilling was paused in late December for a scheduled winter break and is expected to recommence in February. Nearly 10,000m were completed in 2025, and the strength of the results has prompted Arras to plan an expansion of the program to 30,000m, with completion targeted by the end of 2026.

Elemes Project Overview: The Elemes Project comprises two exploration licenses covering 531 square kilometres in northeast Kazakhstan, located approximately 13 km southwest of Ekibastuz and just 20 km from Arras's operational base. The project benefits from exceptional infrastructure, with a paved highway crossing the licence, and access to 1100 KVA power lines, heavy rail, and other utilities within a 15 km radius.

Situated within the prolific Bozshakol-Chingiz metallogenic belt, Elemes lies near significant regional deposits, including the Beskauga porphyry copper-gold-silver deposit (~80 km east) and KAZ Minerals' Bozshakol copper-gold mine (~60 km northwest), which reported mined grades in Q1 2025 of 0.37% Copper and 0.20 g/t gold.¹

Geologically, the property is underlain by interbedded intermediate volcanic and sedimentary rocks intruded by multiple phases of diorite and monzodiorite porphyry. Copper-gold mineralization occurs in sheeted and stockwork quartz-chalcopyrite veins associated with these intrusions. In addition, high-grade low-sulphidation epithermal veins have been mapped on the property, representing a secondary exploration target.

Property-wide soil sampling programs defined two extensive Cu-Mo-As geochemical anomalies: the Berezski and Aimandai Trends, both considered priority targets for follow-up exploration drilling. A Phase 1 drill program on the Berezski Trend in late 2024 returned high-grade porphyry/epithermal copper and gold mineralization in results announced in Q1 2025. A 20,000m Phase 2 drill program commenced in May 2025 which was expanded to 30,000 metres in January 2026 and expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

References
¹Bozshakol Q1, 2025 Report
https://www.kazminerals.com/media/23282/q1-2025-production-report_final.pdf

Quality Assurance and Quality Control

The Company adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines for exploration related activities conducted on its property. Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures are overseen by the Qualified Person.

Arras Minerals QA/QC protocols are maintained through the insertion of certified reference material (standards), blanks and field duplicates within the sample stream. Drill core is cut at Arras Minerals operations base in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan by Company personnel. Diamond drill core was sawed in-half with a diamond saw, and then sampled in maximum 2-meter intervals, stopping at geological boundaries, with one-half placed in sealed bags and shipped to the laboratory and the other half retained on site.

Each bagged core sample was shipped to ALS Laboratory in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Samples were dried, crushed and pulverized to >80% passing -200 mesh. The prepared sample splits were sent to the ALS Chemex's geochemical analysis laboratories laboratory in Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland and Lima, Peru for multi-element analysis. Multielement analyses were analyzed with ICP-MS following a four-acid digestion (method ME-MS61) and samples containing >1.0% copper are analyzed via method Cu-OG62.

Gold analysis was conducted by ALS Chemex at the analytical laboratory in Karaganda, Kazakhstan. Gold was analyzed by fire assay (30 g) with an AA (atomic absorption) finish (method Au-AA23) with detection limits of 0.005 g/t gold. Samples containing greater than 10.0 g/t gold are analyzed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish (method Au-GRA21).

ALS is an accredited laboratory which is independent of the Company. Chain of custody is maintained from the drill to the submittal into the laboratory preparation facility.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical disclosure for this news release has been prepared under supervision of and approved by Matthew Booth, Vice President of Exploration, of Arras Minerals Corp., a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. Mr. Booth has reviewed and approved this release. Mr. Booth has over 20 years of mineral exploration experience and is a Qualified Person member of the American Institute of Professional Geologists (CPG 12044).

Gold, copper and other mineral equivalents are calculated on the basis specifically set forth in respect thereto in this presentation and are based upon the reasonable assumptions as to the prices of various metals and their recoveries thereof made by management of the Company on a project-by-project basis as converted metal. All drill-hole intervals are reported as drill widths, as true thicknesses are unknown. Assumed metal prices are: US$3.75/lb. Copper, US$3,000/oz Gold, US$35/oz Silver, & US$30/lb Molybdenum.

The Company has updated metal recoveries: 90% for copper, 85% for gold, 75% for silver, and 80% for molybdenum. These figures are based on a review of published data from advanced-stage porphyry projects (including Vizcachitas, Los Andes Copper; Copper Creek, Faraday Coper; Valeriano, ATEX Copper; Los Helados, NGEx Resources Inc.; Opemiska, XXIX Metal Corp; Costa Fuego, Hot Chili Limited; Moonlight-Superior, US Copper Corp; Warintza, Solaris Resources, Inc.; Chita Valley, Minsud Resources Corp.; Hat, Doubleview Gold Corp.)

Copper Equivalent ("CuEq") grades reported for the drill holes at Elemes were calculated using the following formula: CuEq % = ((Copper (%))*0.9) + ((Gold (g/t) x 0.8571)*0.85) + ((Silver (g/t) x 0.0117)*0.75) + ((Molybdenum (ppm) x 6.8568)*0.80).

Gold Equivalent ("AuEq") grades reported for the drill holes at Elemes were calculated using the following formula: AuEq g/t = ((Gold (g/t)*0.85) + ((Copper (%) x 1.1667)*0.9) + ((Silver (g/t) x 0.0136)*0.75) + ((Molybdenum (ppm) x 8.0)*0.80).

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Tim Barry"
Tim Barry, MAusIMM CP(Geo)
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Further information can be found on:

• the Company's website https://www.arrasminerals.com or
• follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arrasminerals or
• follow us on X (formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/arrasminerals

About Arras Minerals Corp: Arras is a Canadian exploration and development company advancing a portfolio of copper and gold assets in northeastern Kazakhstan, including the Elemes copper-gold porphyry project. The Company has established one of the largest land packages in the country prospective for copper and gold. In December 2023, the Company entered into a strategic alliance with Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") in which Teck may sole fund a US$5 million generative exploration program over a portion of the Arras license package in 2024-2025. The Company's shares are listed on the TSX-V under the trading symbol "ARK" and on the OTCQB under the trading symbol "ARRKF".

Cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and Arras' future results that are subject to the safe harbors created under the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the Exchange Act, and applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding plans and expectations of the exploration program Arras is in the process of undertaking, the timing, scope, nature, breadth and other information related to Arras' exploration program, any results that may be derived from the Arras' exploration program, the prospects of Arras' business plans, and any expectations with respect to any permitting, development or other work that may be required to bring any of the projects into development or production. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about Arras' exploration projects, the industry in which Arras operates and the beliefs and assumptions of Arras' management. Words such as "expects," "anticipates," "targets," "goals," "projects," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "continues," "may," variations of such words, and similar expressions and references to future periods, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management at the time, are inherently subject to business, market and economic risks, uncertainties and contingencies that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such assumptions include, but are not limited to, assumptions that the anticipated benefits of Arras' proposed exploration program will be realized, that no additional permit or licenses will be required in connection with Arras' exploration programs, the ability of Arras' to complete its exploration activities as currently expected and on the current anticipated timelines, that Arras' will be able to execute on its current plans, that Arras' proposed explorations will yield results as expected, and that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner. Although Arras has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Such statements represent the current view of Arras with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by Arras, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to the following: inability of Arras to realize the benefits anticipated from the exploration and drilling targets described herein or elsewhere; inability of Arras to complete current exploration plans as presently anticipated or at all; inability for Arras to economically realize on the benefits, if any, derived from the exploration program; failure to complete business plans as it currently anticipated; overdiversification of Arras' portfolio; failure to realize on benefits, if any, of a diversified portfolio; unanticipated changes in market price for Arras shares; changes to Arras' current and future business and exploration plans and the strategic alternatives available thereto; growth prospects and outlook of the business of Arras; and the ability to advance Arras' projects and its proposed exploration program; risks inherent in mineral exploration including risks related worker safety, weather and other natural occurrences, accidents, availability of personnel and equipment, and other factors; aboriginal title; failure to obtain regulatory and permitting approvals; no known mineral resources/reserves; reliance on key management and other personnel; competition; changes in laws and regulations; uninsurable risks; delays in governmental and other approvals, community relations; stock market conditions generally; demand, supply and pricing for uranium; and general economic and political conditions in Canada, Kazakhstan and other jurisdictions where Arras conducts business. Other factors which could materially affect such forward-looking information are described in the filings of Arras with the Canadian securities regulators which are available on Arras' profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual results or developments may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by Arras in this release is based only on information currently available and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Arras undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise.

SOURCE Arras Minerals Corp.

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