Mr. Brian Savage reports

ELECTRIC METALS LAUNCHES PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC ASSESSMENT FOR NORTH STAR MANGANESE PROJECT DOWNSTREAM HPMSM AND EMM PROCESSING FACILITIES

Electric Metals (USA) Ltd. has formally kicked off the preliminary economic assessment engineering study for the planned high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate and electrolytic manganese metal processing facilities that form the downstream processing platform of the company's North Star manganese project, a strategy focused on establishing a fully domestic U.S. manganese supply chain and building foundational industrial infrastructure for America's critical mineral and advanced manufacturing sectors.

The processing plant PEA is being led by Hargrove Engineers & Constructors, a leading U.S. engineering and EPC firm ranked the No. 1 firm in the chemical sector by Engineering News-Record in 2025 and among the leading firms in industrial process engineering.

High-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) is a critical raw material used in lithium-ion-battery cathodes for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and other advanced battery applications, while electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) is used in specialty steel, aluminum alloys, defence systems and advanced technologies. Manganese is increasingly important in next-generation battery chemistries due to its ability to improve performance, safety and cost-competitiveness.

The United States currently has no domestic production of manganese ore, HPMSM or EMM, and remains heavily dependent on foreign-controlled supply chains, particularly China, which controls approximately 96 per cent of global HPMSM production and 98 per cent of global EMM production. As a result, establishing a domestic manganese supply chain is increasingly viewed as a strategic national priority critical to defence readiness, industrial resiliency, advanced manufacturing and the electrification of everything.

The North Star manganese project is designed to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign entities of concern for manganese refining and chemical processing while supporting the reshoring of critical mineral processing capacity to the United States.

Electric Metals believes the North Star manganese project represents more than a mining project -- it is strategic industrial infrastructure designed to support long-term U.S. critical mineral independence through an integrated domestic mine-to-processing platform.

The processing plant PEA will evaluate a processing flow sheet developed by Kemetco Research Inc. that includes manganese ore concentration at the company's Emily manganese deposit in Minnesota, transportation logistics, and downstream refining into battery-grade HPMSM and EMM at a proposed U.S. Gulf coast processing facility. The Gulf coast location was intentionally selected because it represents the longest potential transportation route from the Emily deposit, providing a conservative assessment of logistics and transportation economics for the project, an assumption used in the North Star manganese project.

The processing plant PEA leverages off the North Star manganese project PEA, filed on SEDAR+ on Oct. 6, 2026, highlighting a posttax net present value discounted at 10 per cent of $1.39-billion (U.S.), an after-tax internal rate of return of 43.5 per cent and a rapid payback of only 23 months from the start of production operations. The processing plant PEA is a more detailed engineering analysis of the HPMSM processing plant and adds an EMM processing facility to the North Star manganese project.

The processing plant initial design basis contemplates a production capacity of:

• 100,000 tonnes per year of HPMSM;
• 10,000 tonnes per year of EMM.

The study will also evaluate infrastructure and design considerations to support a future expansion to 200,000 tonnes per year of HPMSM production capacity.

The PEA scope includes:

• Preliminary basis of design;
• Heat and material balances;
• Process flow diagrams;
• Utilities and process equipment summaries;
• Preliminary site layouts;
• Capital cost estimating;
• A plus-or-minus 50-per-cent total installed cost estimate for the processing facilities.

Brian Savage, chief executive officer of Electric Metals, commented: "The kickoff of the PEA represents another major milestone in advancing the North Star manganese project and our strategy to establish a fully domestic U.S. supply chain for high-purity manganese chemical and metal products. We are extremely pleased to be working with Hargrove, one of the leading chemical and process engineering firms in the United States, on this important study. The United States currently has no domestic production of HPMSM or EMM while China controls approximately 96 per cent of global HPMSM production and 98 per cent of global EMM production. We believe the North Star manganese project has the potential to become foundational U.S. industrial infrastructure, supporting the electrification of everything, national security and advanced manufacturing, while helping reduce America's dependence on foreign-controlled critical mineral supply chains."

The North Star manganese project is centred around the company's Emily manganese deposit in Minnesota, the highest-grade manganese deposit in North America.

The company believes the project aligns with expanding U.S. government and industry initiatives to reshore critical mineral processing capacity and strengthen domestic supply chains for battery material and advanced industrial applications.

The company believes rebuilding domestic critical mineral supply chains requires long development timelines and that strategic material infrastructure must be advanced before future supply disruptions occur.

About Electric Metals (USA) Ltd.

Electric Metals is a United States-domiciled critical mineral and advanced material company developing the North Star manganese project to support the electrification of everything. The company's principal asset is the Emily manganese deposit in Minnesota, the highest-grade manganese deposit in North America. The North Star manganese project is a 100-per-cent-U.S. domestic project, comprising a manganese mine in Emily, Minn., and a high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate and electrolytic manganese metal plant in the U.S. It has been the subject of extensive technical work, including a preliminary economic assessment prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects).

Electric Metals' mission is to establish a fully domestic U.S. supply of high-purity manganese chemical and metal products for the North American electric vehicle and energy storage battery, defence, technology, and industrial markets. With manganese playing an increasingly important role in lithium-ion-battery formulations and with no current domestic U.S. production of manganese ore, HPMSM or EMM, the development of the North Star manganese project represents a strategic opportunity to strengthen America's critical mineral independence and domestic supply chain security.

The company believes manganese should be viewed as a strategic industrial mineral essential to battery manufacturing, defence applications, infrastructure, specialty alloys and advanced industrial technologies.

We seek Safe Harbor.