Mr. Gregg Smith reports

GROUNDED LITHIUM ANNOUNCES NON-CORE ACQUISITION OF OIL AND GAS RIGHTS

Grounded Lithium Corp. has entered into a definitive agreement dated Dec. 30, 2025, to acquire a minority interest in oil and gas mineral rights in Saskatchewan with the strategic rationale to supplement cash flow and working capital reserves as the Kindersley lithium project (KLP) continues to advance with the company's partner, Denison Mines Corp. Under the purchase agreement, Grounded will remit approximately $25,000 in cash consideration to a related company and will receive a 30-per-cent mineral interest in approximately four sections located in south-central Saskatchewan near Lloydminster, an area with a history of low-risk, conventional, shallow, medium-to-heavy-oil targets. The related company, Analogy Capital Advisors Inc., is an entity co-owned and controlled by John D. Wright, chairman of GLC. As such, the acquisition is a non-arm's-length transaction. Analogy Capital controls a 70-per-cent working interest in these sections, therefore, after the acquisition, Analogy Capital will retain a 40-per-cent working interest in the lands. The remaining 30 per cent is owned by an unrelated third party corporate entity. No finders' fees were paid on the acquisition.

As a second and immediate step, Grounded and the third party will farm out their combined 60-per-cent interest to a newly created limited partnership, the Saskatchewan Renewal Drilling Limited Partnership No. 1 (SRDLP), which successfully raised $900,000 from various subscribers to invest in oil and gas opportunities. Key terms of the farmout involve the recovery of capital by SRDLP through a share of net operating income (NOI). Until SRDLP has recovered its eligible capital and operating costs associated with various drilling activities, described in greater detail below, from its share of NOI, SRDLP will retain 95 per cent of the 60-per-cent share of NOI. After payout, this percentage will drop to 55 per cent of NOI. From a Grounded perspective, the company receives 1.5 per cent of NOI before payout and 13.5 per cent of NOI after payout. Grounded will provide the operatorship of the drilling and production activities associated with the lands. Time and effort spent managing oil and gas activities as the operator will be formalized through standard joint operating agreements and charged back to the SRDLP and Analogy Capital under such agreements.

The combined group, comprising Grounded, Analogy capital and the third party, has collectively agreed to drill up to two exploratory/development wells into a multiple-zone Mannville sequence on the lands. Wells drilled will be to a shallow depth of less than 700 metres, minimizing capital expenditures. The wells to be drilled offset older legacy wells, which never produced but provide evidence supporting future success. It is anticipated that Grounded may encounter up to three separate zones with oil potential. At these shallow depths and current commodity pricing, it is possible to drill, complete, equip and commence production from these wells, which could generate payback periods of less than one year. Grounded believes the lands can support wells beyond the two wells initially contemplated. Pending government well licensing approval, Grounded anticipates operations to commence early in 2026.

The acquisition constitutes a related party transaction as such term is defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101, Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. In completing the acquisition, Grounded is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements set out in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, as neither the fair market value of the interests acquired nor the fair market value of the consideration therefore exceeds 25 per cent of Grounded's market capitalization.

"Grounded is opportunistically leveraging off our internal oil and gas technical expertise to diversify the resource portfolio of the company and, in doing so, provide a supplemental source of NOI to advance our interests in the KLP," stated Gregg Smith, president and chief executive officer. "We see this low-risk oil and gas venture as complementary to our lithium business. Postpayout, we expect noteworthy cash flows, which will be used to satisfy future working capital requirements, and, should this venture continue and grow, proceeds from it have the potential to fund, in part, our share of future joint venture commitments for the KLP. We fully appreciate our primary public purpose is to provide exposure to critical minerals, and that has not changed -- this transaction, however, provides more certainty that Grounded will have a material seat at the table as the KLP continues to advance through the various project execution states."

The acquisition and the farmout have been conditionally approved by the TSX Venture Exchange. Closing of the transaction is expected to occur pending minor filing requirements.

About Grounded Lithium Corp.

Grounded Lithium is a publicly traded lithium brine exploration and development company that controls approximately 1.0 million metric tonnes of measured and indicated lithium carbonate equivalent mineral resource and approximately 3.2 million metric tonnes of inferred lithium carbonate equivalent resource over the company's focused landholdings in southwestern Saskatchewan as per the company's updated PEA (preliminary economic assessment). The updated PEA, titled "NI 43-101 Technical Report: Preliminary Economic Assessment Kindersley Lithium Project -- Phase 1 Update," dated Nov. 7, 2023, and effective as of June 30, 2023, reports a phase 1 after-tax net present value (discounted at 8 per cent) of $1-billion (U.S.) with an after-tax internal rate of return of 48.5 per cent. Grounded Lithium's multifaceted business model involves the consolidation, delineation, exploitation and, ultimately, development of its opportunity base to fulfill the company's vision to build a best-in-class, environmentally responsible, Canadian lithium producer supporting the global energy transition shift. U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and real-time Level 2 quotes for the company on the OTC Markets website.

Qualified person

Scientific and technical information contained in this press release has been prepared under the supervision of Doug Ashton, PEng, Alexey Romanov, PGeo, Meghan Klein, PEng, Dean Quirk, PEng, Jeffrey Weiss, PEng, Chad Hitchings, PLEng, and Michael Munteanu, PEng, each of whom is a qualified person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and an independent consultant to the company.

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