Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 12, 2026) - Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. (TSX: AVL) (OTCQB: AVLNF) ("Avalon" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. PJ Juvekar to its Board of Directors, effective June 8, 2026.

Mr. Juvekar is a former top-ranked Wall Street analyst and accomplished business leader with more than 30 years of experience across capital markets, corporate strategy, and industrial sectors. He has developed extensive expertise in chemicals, agriculture, energy transition, climate technology, and broader industrial markets.

During his more than two decades at Citigroup, Mr. Juvekar held several senior leadership positions, ultimately serving as Global Head of Research for Chemicals, Agriculture, and Climate Tech. In this role, he advised institutional investors and corporate executives on industry dynamics, strategic positioning, and long-term value creation, earning recognition as one of Wall Street's most respected sector analysts.

Mr. Juvekar currently serves as a Senior Advisor with Boston Consulting Group ("BCG"), where he advises corporate boards and executive teams on value creation, capital allocation, competitive positioning, and investor communication. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to Nouryon, a Carlyle-owned specialty chemicals company, where he provides strategic guidance focused on long-term shareholder value creation.

Over the course of his career, Mr. Juvekar has advised on numerous IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, strategic transactions, and capital markets initiatives involving both public and private companies, including private equity-backed businesses. His experience spans critical industrial and energy transition markets that are increasingly relevant to Avalon's rare earths and lithium development strategy.

"PJ brings an exceptional combination of capital markets credibility, industrial sector expertise, and strategic advisory experience that is rarely accessible to a company of Avalon's size," said Alan Ferry, Chair of the Board of Avalon Advanced Materials. "As Avalon advances toward the next stage of corporate and project development, including expanded engagement with institutional investors, government stakeholders, and strategic industry participants, PJ's perspective and network will be tremendously valuable. We are delighted to welcome him to the Board."

Scott Monteith, Chief Executive Officer of Avalon, added: "PJ's appointment represents another important step in Avalon's evolution as we work to position the Company as a strategically relevant North American critical minerals platform. His deep understanding of industrial value chains, energy transition markets, capital allocation, and investor expectations will strengthen our Board substantially. PJ has spent decades advising leading global companies and investors, and his insight will be invaluable as Avalon advances the Nechalacho rare earths project, the Lake Superior Lithium project, and broader downstream processing opportunities."

Mr. Juvekar commented: "I am humbled and honored by this appointment. Avalon possesses a unique combination of strategically important critical mineral assets, downstream processing ambition, and long-term alignment with North American supply chain priorities. I believe the Company is positioned to play an increasingly important role in supporting the development of secure and sustainable critical minerals supply chains. I look forward to working with the Board and management team as Avalon advances its next phase of growth and value creation."

Mr. Juvekar holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology, a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maine, and an MBA in Finance and Strategy from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business.

About Avalon Advanced Materials Inc.
Avalon Advanced Materials Inc. is a Canadian critical minerals company focused on advancing lithium and rare earth elements-two of the fastest-growing segments of the global energy transition. The Company is developing strategic assets to participate in high-growth markets and support the build-out of secure North American supply chains. Avalon is advancing the Nechalacho Rare Earth Elements and Zirconium Project in the Northwest Territories, which contains all light and heavy rare earth elements, as well as yttrium, zirconium, tantalum, and niobium-critical minerals used in advanced technologies across the communications, defense, advanced technologies, and energy sectors. The Company is also focused on vertically integrating the Ontario lithium supply chain through the development of Lake Superior Lithium Inc., Ontario's first midstream lithium hydroxide processing facility, located in Thunder Bay. This facility is expected to serve as a cornerstone of North America's integrated battery materials supply chain, transforming northern Ontario lithium into essential inputs for transportation, grid storage, and advanced manufacturing.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "add" or "additional", "advancing", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "appears", "believes", "can be", "conceptual", "confidence", "continue", "convert" or "conversion", "deliver", "demonstrating", "estimates", "encouraging", "expand" or "expanding" or "expansion", "expect" or "expectations", "forecasts", "forward", "goal", "improves", "increase", "intends", "justification", "plans", "potential" or "potentially", "promise", "prospective", "prioritize", "reflects", "robust", "scheduled", "suggesting", "support", "top-tier", "updating", "upside", "will be" or "will consider", "work towards", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "occur", or "be achieved".

Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including those risk factors discussed or referred to in the annual information form of the Company dated November 26, 2025 (the "AIF") under the heading "Description of the Business - Risk Factors". Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information because the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Although the Company 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 information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/301152