Mr. Ross Carroll reports

COMMERCE PRODUCES HIGH-GRADE RARE EARTH MINERAL CONCENTRATE (36% REO) AT STRONG RECOVERY IN FLOTATION LOCKED-CYCLE TESTING

Commerce Resources Corp. has successfully completed flotation locked-cycle testing on whole rock material from the Ashram rare earth and fluorspar deposit. The Ashram deposit is located central to the Eldor property, is unencumbered (royalty free), is wholly owned by the company and one of the largest undeveloped rare earth deposits in the world.

The locked-cycle test (LCT) program was completed on the Ashram deposit's simplified flotation-only beneficiation flowsheet (see news release dated March 4, 2024) and has demonstrated improved grade and recovery compared with the prior bench-scale test program. Monazite dominate rare earth mineral concentrates grading 35.8 to 36.8 per cent rare earth oxide (REO) at 65 to 68 per cent overall recovery were achieved through the LCT test work on the flotation-only beneficiation flowsheet. The locked-cycle test was carried out by SGS Canada at its Lakefield, Ont., facility and utilized bulk sample material (approximately 2.1 per cent REO head grade) collected from an outcrop of the Ashram deposit.

A locked-cycle test is an iterative laboratory-scale batch flotation test which recycles the tailings material between flotation stages to best simulate a continuous closed-circuit operating process plant. The test evaluates the influence of recirculation on flotation recovery and is a laboratory test which provides more relevant data of anticipated commercial operation performance compared to a bench-scale test. The locked-cycle test also provides insight on potential buildup of reagents within a circuit and optimizes reagent dose rates. The locked-cycle test on Ashram whole rock was performed with nine cycles using one kilogram (kg) of feed material stage-ground to 80 per cent passing 25 micrometres (mum).

The LCT results (the high-grades of rare earth mineral concentrate) will be incorporated into a pending updated preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Ashram rare earth and fluorspar deposit, which remains on schedule for Q2 2025. The historical PEA completed in 2012 was based on a rare earth mineral concentrate grade of only 10 per cent REO. Therefore, the simplified flotation-only flowsheet with more than triple the mineral concentrate grade is anticipated to have a significant positive impact on the pending PEA update.

A higher-grade mineral concentrate has the benefit of resulting in a smaller downstream hydromet plant size, smaller footprint, reduced reagent consumption, reduced shipping requirements, simpler logistics, and reduced overall technical and project risk. Further, Ashram's flotation-only mineral processing flowsheet will permit an operator to leverage the size of the deposit and optimize mining for effective recovery into a high-grade monazite dominant concentrate in order to significantly simplify and thereby reduce project mineral processing and downstream hydromet capital and operating expenditures.

Variability testing and pilot plant testing is scheduled for the first half of 2025 as next steps. Additionally, following the positive LCT results, which further confirm the robustness of the flotation-only beneficiation flowsheet, the company has initiated a program to evaluate fluorite recovery from the rare earth mineral concentrate tailings. Fluorspar (or fluorine) is recognized as a critical/strategic mineral by Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States, and is also a key input into lithium-ion batteries.

National Instrument 43-101 disclosure

Jordan Zampini, PEng, process manager -- Montreal for DRA Americas Inc., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information, and verified the data, contained in this news release.

About Commerce Resources Corp.

Commerce Resources is a junior mineral resource company focused on the development of the Ashram rare earth and fluorspar deposit located within its Eldor property, in northern Quebec, Canada.

We seek Safe Harbor.