Mr. Todd Hanas reports

DEFENSE METALS ANNOUNCES COMMENCEMENT OF PHASE II HYDROMETALLURGICAL PILOT PLANT TESTING

Further to Defense Metals Corp.'s news release dated April 12, 2023, all assays for the hydrometallurgical pilot plant have been received and interpretation of the data is largely complete. Data from phase I have been used to optimize the design conditions for Phase II of the pilot plant.

John Goode, P.Eng., Defense Metals' Consulting Metallurgist, commented as follows: "Phase I of the hydrometallurgical pilot plant operation went very well and gave us the opportunity to explore areas of the flowsheet where we could further improve the efficiency of the Wicheeda hydrometallurgical process. Changes have been incorporated in the Phase II pilot plant campaign which started yesterday and will run for about ten days. The importance of pilot plants like the one we are operating cannot be over-emphasized. It provides the opportunity to see if processes are stable and can be effectively controlled; to determine the effects of in-plant recirculation of solutions and solids; measure recoveries and reagent demands; and generates significant quantities of material that can be used for engineering design and environment-related tests. The data from the pilot plant will be used in the pre-feasibility study."

Minor changes were made during Phase I of the pilot plant testing to investigate the impact on circuit operability, extraction, impurity removal and product quality. The specific changes that were made during Phase I of the pilot plant, and their impacts, are summarized below:

The acid bake kiln was operated at 350oC for much of the run but 250oC was tested in the latter part with no obvious impact on REE extraction which averaged 93% throughout.

Fresh water was used in the water leach circuit for the initial part of the pilot plant run but regenerated water was used for the last portion with no discernable adverse effect.

Industrial grade magnesia was initially used for neutralization and impurity removal in the water leach circuit and proved to be more effective than the regenerated magnesia.

Phase I of the pilot plant run used magnesia as the rare earth precipitant based on bench testwork, but at the pilot plant it was difficult to attain low magnesium content in the rare earth product. Oxalic acid will be used as the precipitant in the next phase of pilot testing.

Defense Metals has selected the engineering company Hatch to undertake parts of the PFS; Hatch will attend the pilot plant.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release, as it relates to the metallurgical aspects of the Wicheeda Rare-Earth Project, has been reviewed and approved by John Goode, P. Eng., metallurgical consultant to the Company and who is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and who has provided the technical information relating to metallurgy in this news release.

About the Wicheeda REE Property

Defense Metals 100% owned, 4,262-hectare (~10,532-acre) Wicheeda Light REE property is located approximately 80 km northeast of the city of Prince George, British Columbia; population 77,000. The Wicheeda Project is readily accessible by all-weather gravel roads and is near infrastructure, including hydro power transmission lines and gas pipelines. The nearby Canadian National Railway and major highways allow easy access to the port facilities at Prince Rupert, the closest major North American port to Asia.

The 2021 Wicheeda Project Preliminary Economic Assessment technical report ("PEA") outlined a robust after-tax net present value (NPV@8%) of $517 million and an 18% IRR1. This PEA contemplated an open pit mining operation with a 1.75:1 (waste:mill feed) strip ratio providing a 1.8 Mtpa ("million tonnes per year") mill throughput producing an average of 25,423 tonnes REO annually over a 16 year mine life. A Phase 1 initial pit strip ratio of 0.63:1 (waste:mill feed) would yield rapid access to higher grade surface mineralization in year 1 and payback of $440 million initial capital within 5 years.

About Defense Metals Corp.

Defense Metals Corp. is focused on the development of its 100% owned Wicheeda Project that contains Rare Earth Elements that are commonly used in the defense industry, national security sector and in the production of green energy technologies, such as, rare earths magnets used in wind turbines and in permanent magnet motors for electric vehicles.

Defense Metals Corp. trades in Canada under the symbol "DEFN" on the TSX Venture Exchange, in the United States, under "DFMTF" on the OTCQB, and in Germany on the Frankfurt Exchange under "35D".

Defense Metals is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: http://www.discoverygroup.ca/

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