Mr. Craig Taylor reports

DEFENSE METALS COMPLETES GEOTECHNICAL FIELD DATA COLLECTION FOR WICHEEDA RARE EARTH ELEMENT PROJECT PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY STUDY

Defense Metals Corp. has completed all infrastructure geotechnical field data collection in support of the preliminary feasibility study for its 100-per-cent-owned Wicheeda rare earth element project located near Prince George, B.C., Canada.

Craig Taylor, chief executive officer of Defense Metals, commented: "We are very excited to have completed our 2023 phase 3 geotechnical program. I would like to congratulate the Apex and SRK teams for their safe and professional execution of this work. These multiphase programs started in early summer, and we now have all field geotechnical data in hand necessary for the completion of our PFS study, which we expect to be finished in Q2 2024."

Highlights of the 2023 Wicheeda REE project infrastructure geotechnical programs include:

• 16 helicopter and track sonic overburden geotechnical drill holes totalling 225.5 metres;
• 20 excavated overburden geotechnical test pits totalling 76.8 metres;
• Six diamond drill holes totalling 1,182 metres within the Wicheeda REE deposit pit shell, inclusive of four open-pit geochemical drill holes totalling 920 metres and in-pit exploration holes totalling 262 metres;
• Shipment of a 2,700-kilogram metallurgical sample, collected from drill core, to SGS Lakefield in Ontario for continued flotation and hydrometallurgical optimization test work;
• Initiation of humidity cell test work on 17 samples and 250-kilogram sample selection for on-site kinetic leach (barrel) testing of samples representative of anticipated mine waste rock to assess metal leaching and acid rock drainage potential in support of environmental assessment.

The geotechnical work was completed by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. with the support of Apex Geoscience Ltd.

Qualified person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release as it relates to the Wicheeda REE project has been reviewed and approved by Kristopher J. Raffle, PGeo (British Columbia), principal and consultant of Apex Geoscience of Edmonton, Alta., who is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

About the Wicheeda rare earth element project

Defense Metals' 100-per-cent-owned, 8,301-hectare (approximately 20,534-acre) Wicheeda REE project is located approximately 80 kilometres northeast of the city of Prince George, B.C. (which has a population of 77,000). Wicheeda 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.

About Defense Metals Corp.

Defense Metals is a mineral exploration and development company focused on the development of its 100-per-cent-owned Wicheeda rare earth element deposit located near Prince George, B.C., Canada. Defense Metals trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol DEFN, in the United States on the OTCQB under the trading symbol DFMTF and in Germany on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under 35D.

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