Mr. Adrian Smith reports

FIRST ATLANTIC NICKEL & COBALT ADDED TO NASDAQ SPROTT NICKEL MINERS INDEX, TRACKED BY THE SPROTT NICKEL MINERS ETF (NASDAQ: NIKL)

First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp. has been added to the Nasdaq Sprott Nickel Miners Index (NSNIKL), effective June 22, 2026, following the index's semi-annual rebalancing.

The Nasdaq Sprott Nickel Miners Index is the underlying index tracked by the Sprott Nickel Miners ETF, which seeks to provide investment results that, before fees and expenses, generally correspond to the total return performance of the index. The index is designed to track the performance of a selection of global securities in the nickel industry, including nickel producers, developers and explorers. Index constituents and weightings are subject to change.

The company's principal focus is the continued exploration and development of its 100-per-cent-owned Pipestone XL nickel-cobalt (nickel-iron-cobalt) alloy project in central Newfoundland. Pipestone XL spans a 30-kilometre ultramafic belt hosting multiple zones of awaruite, a naturally occurring magnetic nickel-iron-cobalt alloy that the company has upgraded to a high-grade nickel-cobalt concentrate using magnetic separation and flotation, without the need for conventional smelting.

Pipestone XL: a district-scale nickel-cobalt alloy project

Pipestone XL is First Atlantic's wholly owned, district-scale project spanning the entire 30-kilometre Pipestone ophiolite complex in central Newfoundland, a belt of ultramafic rock enriched in nickel, cobalt and chromium. The project hosts multiple zones of awaruite (Ni3Fe) mineralization, including RPM, Alloy Max, Super Gulp, Atlantic Lake and Chrome Pond. The RPM zone is the most advanced, where drilling has outlined magnetically recoverable awaruite over more than 1.2 kilometres of strike and more than 800 metres of width. Drilling is continuing at Alloy Max, a second large-scale zone spanning approximately four kilometres of strike and up to 1.5 kilometres of width, larger than the RPM zone.

Awaruite at Pipestone XL is the product of serpentinization, which drives sulphur out of the system and leaves a sulphur-free alloy that carries no acid mine drainage risk and can be concentrated by the company's Onshore Max process without smelting, roasting or high-pressure acid leaching. This smelter-free pathway addresses the mid-stream bottleneck in North America, where the United States has no operating nickel smelters and only two remain in Canada, and supports a vertically integrated supply chain moving directly from mine to downstream battery refining, stainless steel and specialty alloy production. The company is also evaluating secondary chromium mineralization as a potential co-product, along with low-carbon engineered mineral hydrogen (EMH) in partnership with Vema Hydrogen.

Pipestone XL is located in an established infrastructure corridor with year-round road access, nearby high-voltage transmission and clean hydroelectric power from the Bay d'Espoir generating station and lies within approximately 200 kilometres of Gander International Airport and Vale's Long Harbour nickel processing plant. This positioning aligns with growing U.S. and allied policy focus on critical mineral supply chains, including nickel's addition to the U.S. critical minerals list in 2022, the January, 2026, White House proclamation on processed critical minerals, the company's acceptance into the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium, and the June, 2026, G7 Leaders' Declaration naming nickel one of two pilot critical minerals for allied investment and offtake. Newfoundland and Labrador are consistently recognized among the world's leading mining jurisdictions in the Fraser Institute's Annual Survey of Mining Companies, ranking seventh globally on the Policy Perception Index in the most recent survey published in February, 2026, and placing in the global top 10 for overall investment attractiveness in each of the three prior surveys. Pipestone XL is positioned to become a secure and reliable North American source of nickel and cobalt for the stainless steel, electric vehicle, aerospace and defence industries.

Awaruite at Pipestone XL: a smelter-free nickel-cobalt alloy (Ni3Fe)

Awaruite is a naturally occurring, magnetic, sulphur-free nickel-iron-cobalt alloy (Ni3Fe) containing approximately 77 per cent nickel. Because it already exists in a metallic state, awaruite can be concentrated without smelting, roasting or high-pressure acid leaching. Mineralogical and electron microprobe analysis at the company's RPM zone has confirmed the awaruite averages 77.62 per cent nickel and 1.69 per cent cobalt, with grades as high as 86.68 per cent nickel and 6.05 per cent cobalt.

Initial metallurgical test work using the company's Onshore Max (magnetic alloy extraction) process upgraded rock samples from the project's RPM zone into a high-grade alloy concentrate averaging 67.4 per cent nickel and grading up to 71.9 per cent nickel and 1.76 per cent cobalt. Low-intensity magnetic separation first produced a magnetic concentrate grading approximately 1.6 per cent nickel, which flotation then upgraded to the final concentrate. By comparison, a typical nickel concentrate grades 10 per cent to 15 per cent nickel, according to the Nickel Institute. This concentrate can move directly to downstream battery chemical refining or the manufacture of specialty alloys and stainless steel.

As stated in the August, 2025, report titled "From Rocks to Power: Strategies to Unlock Canada's Critical Minerals for Global Leadership in Energy Storage, EVs, & Beyond" from the Battery Metals Association of Canada: "Awaruite is not a sulphide nor an oxide nickel ore but a high-content native nickel-iron ore. Simple beneficiation processes after mining could provide 60-per-cent-nickel concentrate, ready for leaching for battery cathode purposes and would yield MHP [mixed hydroxide precipitate] as a byproduct. This process would bypass pyrometallurgy or early hydrometallurgy stages and be among the lowest carbon-intensive nickel production sites in the global nickel market."

The U.S. Geological Survey highlighted awaruite's potential in its Mineral Commodity Summaries 2012, stating: "The development of awaruite deposits in other parts of Canada may help alleviate any prolonged shortage of nickel concentrate. Awaruite, a natural iron-nickel alloy, is much easier to concentrate than pentlandite, the principal sulphide of nickel."

The absence of sulphur reduces the risk of acid mine drainage and certain permitting challenges commonly associated with sulphide mineralization, positioning awaruite to supply North American industries including stainless steel, electric vehicles, aerospace and defence.

Investor information

The company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol FAN, the American OTCQB exchange under the symbol FANCF and several German exchanges, including Frankfurt and Tradegate, under the symbol P21.

Qualified person

Adrian Smith, PGeo, a director and the chief executive officer of the company, is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. The qualified person is a member in good standing of the Professional Engineers and Geoscientists Newfoundland and Labrador (PEGNL) and is a registered professional geoscientist (PGeo). Mr. Smith has reviewed and approved the technical information disclosed herein.

About First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt Corp.

First Atlantic Nickel & Cobalt is a critical mineral exploration company in Newfoundland and Labrador developing the Pipestone XL nickel-cobalt (nickel-iron-cobalt) alloy project. The project spans the entire 30-kilometre Pipestone ophiolite complex, where multiple zones, including RPM, Alloy Max, Super Gulp, Atlantic Lake and Chrome Pond, contain awaruite (Ni3Fe), a naturally occurring magnetic nickel-iron-cobalt alloy of approximately 77 per cent nickel with no sulphur and no sulphides, along with secondary chromium mineralization. Awaruite's sulphur-free composition removes acid mine drainage risk, while its magnetic properties enable processing through magnetic separation and flotation, eliminating the electricity requirements, emissions, and environmental impacts of conventional smelting, roasting or high-pressure acid leaching while reducing dependence on overseas nickel processing infrastructure.

The U.S. Geological Survey recognized awaruite's strategic importance in its 2012 Annual Report on Nickel, noting that these deposits may help alleviate prolonged nickel concentrate shortages since the natural alloy is much easier to concentrate than typical nickel sulphide. In 2026, initial metallurgical test work using the company's Onshore Max (magnetic alloy extraction) process upgraded RPM zone material into a high-grade alloy concentrate averaging 67.4 per cent nickel and grading up to 71.9 per cent nickel and 1.76 per cent cobalt, demonstrating a smelter-free, mine-to-refinery pathway. First Atlantic is a member of the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium. The company is also advancing a parallel geologic hydrogen initiative at Pipestone XL, where the same serpentinization process that formed awaruite also generates natural hydrogen, and has signed a letter of intent with Vema Hydrogen to jointly develop low-carbon engineered mineral hydrogen (EMH) through a proposed 50/50 joint venture. The Pipestone XL project is located near existing infrastructure with year-round road access and proximity to hydroelectric power, providing favourable logistics for exploration and future development and strengthening First Atlantic's role to establish a secure and reliable source of North American nickel and cobalt production for the stainless steel, electric vehicle, aerospace and defence industries. This mission gained importance when the United States added nickel to its critical minerals list in 2022, recognizing it as a non-fuel mineral essential to economic and national security with a supply chain vulnerable to disruption.

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