Mr. Martin Turenne reports

FPX NICKEL CONFIRMS OPTIMIZATION OF BAPTISTE PROCESS FLOWSHEET, IMPROVING RECOVERY BY 4% FOR UPCOMING PRELIMINARY FEASIBILITY STUDY

FPX Nickel Corp. has completed the preliminary feasibility study (PFS) metallurgical test work campaign, with key results supporting the updated concentrator flowsheet and providing a materially improved understanding of the process characteristics of the Baptiste nickel project. The robust test work campaign involved multiple bench- and pilot-scale programs, with the resultantly improved process design basis increasing the Davis tube recoverable (DTR) nickel recovery by 4 per cent in comparison with the recovery assumed in the 2020 preliminary economic assessment (PEA).

Highlights:

• PFS test work program is complete and results will be fully incorporated into the PFS expected in September, 2023.
• The updated concentrator flowsheet increases DTR nickel recovery by approximately 4 per cent to 88.7 per cent, in comparison with the 84.7 per cent DTR nickel recovery assumed in the 2020 PEA.
• DTR nickel is further validated as a geometallurgical screening tool, which heightens confidence in the PFS projected metallurgical recovery and resultant metal production profile.

"Our completed metallurgical test work campaign has further optimized the process flowsheet and improved the recovery basis for the Baptiste PFS, which remains on schedule for delivery in September, 2023," commented Andrew Osterloh, FPX Nickel's senior vice-president of projects and operations. "The scale and depth of our test work is more analogous with feasibility study-level test work and reflects FPX's commitment to the development of this new, yet simple and robust, metallurgical process. These results further validate awaruite's processing advantages to produce a unique, high-grade product with unparalleled flexibility to feed into the stainless steel or battery material supply chains."

FPX has recently completed the PFS metallurgical test work campaign, with objectives and key results from each campaign phase presented in "PFS metallurgical test work program summary." The over all objectives of the program were to validate and improve the PEA process design basis, provide a robust dataset to support process and engineering optimization for the PFS, and to confirm the consistent metallurgical response of the very large Baptiste deposit. For further information on each of the test work phases, see the referenced FPX news releases in the table entitled "PFS metallurgical test work program summary."

While the overall PEA processing strategy has remained consistent and takes advantage of awaruite's unique characteristics, unit operations in the concentrator flowsheet have now been refined.

Based on the optimized flowsheet and the subsequent PFS design, the estimated life of mine recovery for the PFS is summarized in the table entitled "Life of mine DTR nickel recovery - PEA versus PFS." The table also highlights key circuit design changes relative to the PEA, as follows:

• The PFS design has split cleaning magnetic separation into two stages, cleaning and recleaning, as an engineering optimization to maximum grinding energy efficiency with no significant impact on nickel recovery.
• A flotation tails treatment section, combining the leaching of flotation tailings and the recovery of dissolved nickel, has also been added to the PFS design. This leaching stage accounts for approximately 6.5 per cent of the over all DTR nickel recovery.

As seen in the table entitled "Life of mine DTR nickel recovery - PEA versus PFS," based on a PFS average feed grade of 0.13 per cent DTR nickel, the optimized PFS flowsheet predicts an 88.7 per cent DTR nickel recovery for the life-of-mine, representing an increase of 4 per cent from the PEA. On a total nickel basis, and based on PFS mineral resource average grade of 0.21 per cent total nickel, the optimized PFS flowsheet achieves 54.9 per cent total nickel recovery.

Qualified person

Jeff Austin, PEng, president of International Metallurgical and Environmental Inc. and FPX's qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical content of this news release.

About the Decar nickel district

The company's Decar nickel district represents a large-scale greenfield discovery of nickel mineralization in the form of a naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy called awaruite (Ni3Fe) hosted in an ultramafic/ophiolite complex. FPX's mineral claims cover an area of 245 square kilometres west of the Middle River and north of Trembleur Lake, in central British Columbia. Awaruite mineralization has been identified in several target areas within the ophiolite complex, including the Baptiste deposit and the Van target, as confirmed by drilling, petrographic examination, electron probe analyses and outcrop sampling. Since 2010, approximately $28-million (U.S.) has been spent on the exploration and development of Decar.

Of the four targets in the Decar nickel district, the Baptiste deposit has been the focus of increasing resource definition (a total of 99 holes and 33,700 metres of drilling completed), as well as environmental and engineering studies to evaluate its potential as a bulk-tonnage open-pit mining project. The Baptiste deposit is located within the Baptiste Creek watershed, on the traditional and unceded territory of Tl'azt'en nation and Binche Whut'en first nation, and within several Tl'azt'enne and Binche Whut'enne keyohs. FPX has conducted mineral exploration activities to date subject to the conditions of its agreements with the nations and keyoh holders.

About FPX Nickel Corp.

FPX Nickel is focused on the exploration and development of the Decar nickel district, located in central British Columbia, and other occurrences of the same unique style of naturally occurring nickel-iron alloy mineralization known as awaruite.

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