Mr. David Watkinson reports

AMERIWEST CRITICAL METALS ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF FIRST TRANCHE OF ITS PRIVATE PLACEMENT

Further to its news release dated Dec. 4, 2025, announcing a non-brokered private placement of up to eight million units for gross proceeds of up to $2-million, Ameriwest Critical Metals Inc. has closed the first tranche of the private placement.

Under the first tranche, the company has now issued an aggregate of 2.64 million units of the company at a price of 25 cents per unit for gross proceeds of $660,000. Each unit consists of one common share in the capital of the company and one non-transferable common share purchase warrant of the company. Each warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional share of the company at an exercise price of 40 cents per warrant share and is exercisable for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance.

The net proceeds from the first tranche will be used in the manner previously disclosed, including financing exploration activities at the company's critical metals projects, as well as for general corporate and working capital purposes.

No finders' fees or finder warrants were paid or issued in connection with the first tranche. No insiders of the company participated in the first tranche and, as a result, the first tranche does not constitute a related party transaction under Multilateral Instrument 61-101, Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions.

All securities issued in connection with the first tranche are subject to a statutory hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance, expiring on April 20, 2026, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws and any applicable exchange hold periods.

The company may complete one or more additional tranches of the private placement up to the maximum amount previously announced. Any such additional closings will remain subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange and all other necessary regulatory approvals.

About Ameriwest Critical Metals Inc.

Ameriwest Critical Metals is a diversified critical-metals-focused exploration company with mineral properties in Oregon, British Columbia, Nevada and Arizona. The company's near-term focus is the Bornite copper project in Oregon, a breccia-pipe copper-gold-silver system that has been the subject of extensive historical drilling, metallurgical test work, a prefeasibility study and environmental baseline programs. Ameriwest has acquired the historic core and data and intends to carry out modern 3-D modelling, verification work and confirmation drilling to assess the potential of the system. At Xeno, in Northern British Columbia, the company has an interest in a rare earth/yttrium project associated with alkaline intrusives and carbonatite-style mineralization. Its Thompson Valley and Railroad Valley projects provide lithium exposure through claystone and brine targets, respectively. Collectively, these projects give Ameriwest leverage to metals that are important to electrification, defence, infrastructure and data centre development. Ameriwest's strategy is to advance these assets through disciplined, staged exploration and technical evaluation.

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