Mr. Marc Roy reports

FOCUS GRAPHITE AWARDED $350,000 GRANT FROM THE QUEBEC GOVERNMENT TO DEVELOP A GEOMETALLURGICAL MODEL OF ITS MOGC GRAPHITE DEPOSIT, AT LAC TETEPISCA, QUEBEC

Focus Graphite Inc. has been awarded a grant of up to $350,000 by Quebec's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (MERN). The grant will be used to finance a geometallurgical study of the company's Manicouagan-Ouest graphitic corridor (MOGC) graphite deposit at its Lac Tetepisca project. The Lac Tetepisca project is located in the southwest Manicouagan reservoir area of Quebec's Cote-Nord region on the Nitassinan of the Pessamit Innu First Nation.

The grant award is part of the MERN's program to support mineral exploration for minerals needed for green and renewable energy technologies as outlined in its 2020 to 2025 plan for the development of critical and strategic minerals.

"We are delighted to receive the financial support of the Quebec government as we endeavour to advance our MOGC graphite deposit to the next stage of the mineral resource appraisal process," said Marc Roy, president and chief executive officer of Focus Graphite.

The funding will be used to conduct a series of mineralogical, metallurgical and geoenvironmental tests, the results of which will be integrated with geological, geochemical and geostatistical information to create a spatially based predictive model of the MOGC deposit. Potential applications of the predictive model include mapping the in situ distribution of flake sizes and flake value, mapping the distribution of potentially acid-generating (PAG) sulphide minerals, and identifying metallurgical processing attributes that will affect the purity of the graphite concentrates along with the recovery of value-added coarse (48-mesh) flake.

"By developing the geometallurgical model, we hope to advance our understanding of our MOGC graphite deposit and determine what it will take to develop it as a source of high-quality high-purity flake graphite materials to supply the expanding electric vehicle (EV) battery market, as well as other applications for which graphite concentrates of the highest quality are required," added Mr. Roy.

In its press release of Feb. 17, 2022, Focus Graphite announced the results from its maiden resource estimate (MRE) at Lac Tetepisca, which include indicated mineral resources of 59.3 million tonnes grading 10.61 per cent graphitic carbon (Cg), equivalent to 6.3 million tonnes of in situ graphite, a quantity which suggests the deposit has the potential to become one of the largest sources of high-grade flake graphite in North America.

Focus Graphite has commissioned IOS Services Geoscientifiques Inc. of Saguenay, Que., to design and conduct the geometallurgical test work program, which is expected to begin this summer using drill core samples taken from the Lac Tetepisca project in 2021.

Qualified person

Marc-Andre Bernier, geo (Quebec), PGeo (Ontario), MSc, senior geoscientist for Table Jamesienne de Concertation Miniere (TJCM), a consultant to the company, a qualified person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects), has reviewed and approved the technical information provided in this news release.

About Focus Graphite Inc.

Focus Graphite is an exploration and development company that seeks to produce flake graphite concentrate at its wholly owned Lac Knife and Lac Tetepisca flake graphite projects located in the Cote-Nord administrative region of Quebec. As part of its mission to build long-term, sustainable shareholder value, Focus Graphite is also evaluating the feasibility of producing value-added specialty graphite products, including battery-grade spherical graphite.

Focus Graphite is a technology-oriented graphite development company with a vision for building long-term, sustainable shareholder value. Focus Graphite also holds an equity position in graphene application developer Grafoid Inc. Focus Graphite is committed to operating in a socially, environmentally and ethically responsible manner.

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