Mr. Simon Clarke reports

AMERICAN CRITICAL MINERALS STRENGTHENS ITS SENIOR TEAM WITH THE APPOINTMENT OF, INDUSTRY VETERAN, DEAN PEKESKI AS CEO, PRESIDENT & DIRECTOR

American Critical Minerals Corp. has appointed Dean Pekeski as chief executive officer, president and director of the company with immediate effect. Simon Clarke, current CEO and president, will move to the role of chairman.

Mr. Pekeski has been involved in senior technical and corporate positions across the mining sector for over 33 years with a particular focus on potash exploration and development for over 17 years of that time. In particular, Mr. Pekeski was executive vice-president of Western Potash Corp. from 2008 to 2015 and led discovery and development of the Milestone potash solution mining project in Saskatchewan, which is currently 80 per cent complete. From 2016, Mr. Pekeski has been developing Peak Minerals Inc., a private company developing the construction-ready Sevier Playa potassium sulphate (SOP) brine project in Utah, where he served as project director and CEO, president and director since 2016. He will remain as chief technical officer and director to Peak Minerals.

Mr. Pekeski is intimate with all aspects of potash exploration and development, solution mining, brine evaporation, and processing of brines rich in potassium, magnesium, sodium chloride, bromine and lithium. During his career at Western Potash and Peak Minerals, he has advanced projects through key project milestones, including discovery, technical studies (preliminary economic assessment, prefeasibility study, feasibility study and front-end engineering design), geotechnical and constructability testing, process pilot testing, successful environmental permitting at all government levels, securing key supply and construction contracts and offtake agreements, and financing. Throughout his career, Mr. Pekeski has raised more than $120-million (U.S.) capital at appropriate valuations to enable the companies he has worked for to meet milestones, growth and market share. He has a deep network with a number of equity, debt and royalty investors, is well connected with peer/industry companies across Utah and beyond, and has good connections into local and federal government funding initiatives and state and federal regulators. He is also intimate with global potash supply, demand, pricing and development projects globally.

Mr. Pekeski holds a BSc (honours) in geology from the University of Western Ontario (London, Ont.) (1994), is a PDAC (Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada) member, and has his PGeo registration with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. He is also a director of Fidelity Minerals Corp.

Management commentary

Mr. Clarke stated: "The appointment of Dean as CEO, president and director is a major inflection point for the company. It adds significant strength to our senior team and highly relevant and material operational/technical expertise as we finalize steps to launch our inaugural drill program. There are very few sources of domestic potash in the U.S. and the Paradox basin is believed by many to be a leading deposit. We have the benefit of numerous historic oil and gas wells across and around our acreage, with logs that highlight excellent potash grades and thicknesses, and we are proximate to Intrepid Potash's mine, which has been successfully producing potash for over 50 years. We are also surrounded on two sides by Anson Resources Green River and Paradox lithium projects, which are at an advanced stage. However, it is key that we drill our own wells to fully validate the historic data and the potential of the Green River project.

"Although we will be able to test for potash, lithium and bromine in each well we drill, this is deep and technical drilling and it's great that we are now joined by an industry veteran who has been involved in drilling dozens of similar wells. In addition, the technical, government and financial relationships across the industry and the sector that Dean will bring to bear will add major value as we move to unlock the potential of the Green River project."

Mr. Pekeski stated: "I am delighted to join a project with significant potential and strong strategic importance. Exploration at Green River offers a unique opportunity to advance potash, lithium and bromine development simultaneously at a single project. The U.S. government's recent recognition of all of these minerals as being critical to the U.S. economy further underpins the strength of our story. I look forward to results from our maiden drilling campaign."

About American Critical Minerals' Green River potash and lithium project

The Green River project is situated within Utah's highly productive Paradox basin, located 20 miles northwest of Moab, Utah. It has significant logistical advantages, including close proximity to major rail hubs, airport, roads, water, towns and labour markets. It also benefits from close proximity to the agricultural and industrial heartland of America and numerous potential end-users for its products.

The history of oil and gas production across the Paradox basin provides geologic data from historic wells across the project and the wider basin, validating and derisking the potential for high-grade potash and large amounts of contained lithium. Wells in and around the project reported lithium up to 500 parts per million, bromine up to 6,100 ppm and boron up to 1,260 ppm (Gilbride and Santos, 2012). These data are reinforced by nearby potash production and the advanced stage of neighbouring lithium projects. The Paradox basin is believed to contain up to 56 billion tonnes of lithium brines, potentially the largest such resource in United States.

The company has disclosed targets for further exploration at the Green River project consisting of 500 million to 950 million tonnes of sylvinite (the most important source for the production of potash in North America) grading from 12 per cent to 18 per cent potassium oxide based on elog (eK2O equal to 19 per cent to 29 per cent potassium chloride based on elog (eKCl)). Its target for further exploration for lithium and bromine are 600,000 to 1.7 million tonnes lithium carbonate equivalent grading from 91 to 152 ppm and 3.3 million to 9.1 million tonnes bromine grading from 2,647 to 4,412 ppm.

The company holds a 100-per-cent interest in 11 State of Utah (SITLA) mineral and minerals salt leases covering approximately 7,050 acres, 1,094 federal lithium brine claims (Bureau of Land Management placer claims) covering 21,150 acres and 11 federal (BLM) potash prospecting permits covering approximately 25,480 acres. Through these leases, permits and claims, the company has the ability to explore for potash, lithium and potential byproducts across the entire Green River project (approximately 32,530 acres). The company is authorized to drill a total of seven drill holes across the project (pending bonding the recently approved four drill holes).

Intrepid Potash Inc. is America's largest potash company and only U.S. domestic potash producer and currently produces potash from its nearby Moab solution mine, which the company believes provides strong evidence of stratigraphic continuity within this part of the Paradox basin. Anson Resources Ltd. has advanced lithium development projects contiguous to the northern boundary of American Critical Minerals' Green River Project and neighbouring to the south. Anson has a large initial resource, robust definitive feasibility study and has recently completed successful piloting operations through its partnership with Koch Technology Solutions as well as an offtake agreement with LG Energy Solution. The Anson exploration targets encompass the combined Mississippian Leadville formation and the Pennsylvanian Paradox formation brine-bearing clastic layers, which also underlie American Critical Minerals' entire project area.

In 2022, the United States imported approximately 96.5 per cent of its annual potash requirements, with domestic producers receiving a higher sales price due to proximity to market. In March, 2024, the U.S. Senate introduced a bill to include key fertilizers and potash on the U.S. Department of Interior list of critical minerals, which already includes lithium, and this process is well advanced with potash being added to the U.S. Geological Survey draft critical minerals list. In August, 2025. Recent market estimates suggest that the global potash market is over $50-billion (U.S.) annually and growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of close to 5 per cent. Annual lithium demand is now estimated to be over one million tonnes globally and continuing to grow rapidly.

Qualified person

The scientific and technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Dean Besserer, PGeo, the chief operations officer of the company and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

We seek Safe Harbor.