Mr. John Lee reports

CLEANTECH EXPECTS TO SUBMIT CAMPBELL-CROTSER FLUORSPAR MINE PERMIT BY YEAR END AT KENTUCKY FLUORSPAR DISTRICT

Cleantech Vanadium Mining Corp. has provided an update on the permitting of its Campbell-Crotser fluorspar mining project located in Livingston county, Kentucky, and to outline the regulatory road map toward the development of Campbell-Crotser and an associated central flotation processing and tailings facility to produce 97 per cent acid-grade fluorspar on site.

In addition to appointing a full-time Kentucky permitting specialist, the company is engaging Synterra Corp., a Kentucky-based engineering firm, to assist the company to prepare and submit the permits for Campbell-Crotser and a flotation processing plant with supplemental technical and environmental studies by the end of 2026.

Permitting program and schedule

The permitting effort is organized around two parallel application packages -- one for the Campbell-Crotser portal and one for the processing plant and tailings facility -- each advanced through a three-phase workflow designed to expedite the overall timeline:

• Phase 1 -- property control and project initiation: confirm mineral and surface title and rights of entry, complete site reconnaissance, and prepare preliminary operations mapping;
• Phase 2 -- permitting, engineering and regulatory review: complete environmental field investigations, prepare the Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement non-coal permit application package, co-ordinate water permitting, manage public notice and agency review cycles, and arrange bonding and financial assurance;
• Phase 3 -- federal mine safety compliance and operational readiness: secure a Mine Safety and Health Administration mine identification number, finalize ground control and safety plans, and complete preoperational readiness.

A central element of the strategy is parallel processing -- advancing water, air and mine safety approvals concurrently with the core DMRE review rather than sequentially -- to reduce potential regulatory delay and position Campbell-Crotser for operational readiness upon permit issuance.

The company is targeting submission of the principal mine and processing plant permit applications by the end of November, 2026, subject to completion of baseline field studies, and issuance of these permits is expected in the first half of 2028.

The processing plant and tailings facility are being designed with optional capacity expansion to support not only Campbell-Crotser but additional mines the company may seek to commission in phases.

Currently, the company is actively engaging in talks of future acid-spar product sales to potential major global consumers. Substantial progress is made thus far, and Cleantech expects to sign the first binding fluorspar offtake agreement by November, 2026, with first acid spar product delivery anticipated in 2028.

Strategic rationale: fluorspar, critical minerals and the semiconductor supply chain

In late 2025, the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency issued an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract to secure acid-grade fluorspar (acidspar) for the national defence stockpile for up to $250-million to reduce import reliance.

Fluorspar (calcium fluoride, CaF2) is included on the U.S. Geological Survey's 2025 list of critical minerals, published in November, 2025, reflecting its strategic importance and U.S. reliance on imports. The United States has reported no significant domestic fluorspar mine production since 1995 and, excluding stockpile sales, was 100 per cent net import reliant for fluorspar in 2025.

Acid-grade fluorspar is the primary feedstock for hydrofluoric acid, the gateway to the broader fluorochemical value chain. Beyond its established roles in aluminum production, steelmaking, refrigerants and high performance fluoropolymers, HF and its derivatives are inputs to several technologies central to the growth of artificial intelligence and buildout of data centres, according to third party industry sources:

• Semiconductor and memory manufacturing: Ultrahigh-purity electronic-grade HF is used to etch and clean silicon wafers at the most advanced process nodes. Fluorine is also the basis for tungsten hexafluoride (WF6), the precursor gas used in chemical vapour deposition and atomic layer deposition to lay down the tungsten interconnects and word lines that form the structural backbone of 3-D NAND flash memory, and that are used in DRAM, high-bandwidth memory and advanced logic. Industry analyses identify 3-D NAND memory as the single largest end use of WF6, with consumption rising as device layer counts increase. Fluorinated gases such as nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) are used to clean deposition chambers between production cycles. In effect, fluorine is the carrier that brings tungsten -- itself a 2025 USGS-listed critical mineral -- into the chamber in volatile form, deposits it on the wafer and cleans the tool between cycles. None of these high-purity steps has a commercial substitute, making fluorspar a non-substitutable input across advanced logic and memory.
• Energy storage: Lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6), the dominant lithium-ion-battery electrolyte salt, and PVDF electrode binders are both produced from HF-derived chemistry, linking fluorspar demand to electric vehicle and grid storage growth.
• Nuclear fuel and energy security: Fluorspar-derived HF and elemental fluorine are the essential reagents for converting uranium concentrate (yellowcake) into uranium tetrafluoride and then uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the gaseous feedstock required for uranium enrichment. Industry literature indicates that roughly 60 per cent of global elemental fluorine (F2) production is dedicated to UF6 for nuclear fuel. As nuclear power is increasingly considered a baseload source for energy-intensive AI data centres, this links fluorspar demand to the power side of the AI buildout as well as to the chip side.

Demand for high-purity HF and fluorinated specialty gases is growing, driven by semiconductor node miniaturization, the expansion of memory capacity for artificial intelligence and data centre applications, and the electrification of transport. The company believes these dynamics underscore the strategic rationale for advancing a domestic North American source of fluorspar.

Campbell-Crotser summary

Campbell-Crotser covers approximately 275 acres in Livingston county, Kentucky, within the heart of the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district, a region long recognized as North America's most prolific fluorspar-producing belt. This mineral belt spans approximately 540 square miles across western Kentucky and southern Illinois.

Commercial mining began in the 1870s, and the IKFD region went on to produce approximately 30 million tons of raw fluorspar, along with byproducts including zinc, lead and barite. Fluorspar-rich veins in the region are hosted in Mississippian-aged limestones, controlled by steep normal faults, and are often accompanied by sphalerite, galena and calcite.

A historic (non-National Instrument 43-101 compliant) mineral resource estimate performed by Boyce Moodie III in 1974 for Cerro Spar Corp. on the Campbell-Crotser, supported by a 66-hole drill program, reported the resource set out in the table below, as classified in the source report.

The category terms shown are those used in the historical estimate. These categories predate, and were not defined in accordance with, the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum definition standards, and should not be assumed to have the same meaning as the current CIM mineral resource categories of the same name. The company has planned a drill program at Campbell-Crotser to start in late August, 2026.

Historical data disclaimer

The mineral resource figures for Campbell-Crotser set out above are historical estimates prepared by Boyce Moodie III in 1974 for Cerro Spar, based on a 66-hole drill program completed on the property. The historical estimate is presented using the historical category terminology of the source report, which predates and does not conform to the current CIM definition standards on mineral resources and mineral reserves.

The company considers the historical estimate to be relevant as an indication of the historical exploration results on the property and as a guide for designing current and future exploration programs, but to be of limited reliability for the purpose of classifying current mineral resources. The historical estimate predates modern quality assurance and quality control procedures. The drill core, assay records and underlying geological data have not been independently verified by the company or by a qualified person, and the company is unable to confirm the sampling, analytical and data verification procedures employed in its preparation.

To the extent known to the company, the historical estimate was calculated using estimates of true widths of mineralized zones from drill core and assumed a 15-per-cent dilution of the mineralized zones. Grades are reported for calcium fluoride (CaF2), zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb). The physical volumes and specific gravities of the mineralized zones were not provided in the source report.

The company is not aware of any more recent mineral resource or mineral reserve estimate for the Campbell-Crotser property. To verify or upgrade the historical estimate as a current mineral resource, the company would need to complete confirmation and infill core drilling under modern QA/QC protocols, twin selected historical drill holes, resample and reassay available material where possible, validate the historical drill hole database, and prepare a new mineral resource estimate in accordance with the CIM definition standards under the supervision of a qualified person. The company's planned drill program at Campbell-Crotser, scheduled to commence in late August, 2026, is intended to advance this verification work.

A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves, and the company is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.

Qualified person

The technical contents of this news release have been reviewed and approved by Michael Hendrickson, PGeo (3254), who is a member of the Professional Geoscientists of Ontario. Mr. Hendrickson is a consultant to the company and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

About Cleantech Vanadium Mining Corp.

Cleantech is a mining company focused on critical mineral resources in the United States. The company has an option to acquire more than 17,550 acres of mineral rights with historic fluorspar resources across multiple projects in the Illinois-Kentucky fluorspar district. Cleantech also owns a 100-per-cent interest in the Gibellini vanadium mine project in Nevada.

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