Mr. David Fitch reports

CLASS 1 NICKEL PROVIDES EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS UPDATE

Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Ltd. has provided an update on its nickel exploration and operations for its 100-per-cent-owned Alexo-Dundonald (Ontario) and Somanike (Quebec) nickel projects. Both projects comprise extensive property packages covering past-producing nickel mines, offering near-term production opportunity and excellent exploration upside. The company also holds 100-per-cent interest in its River Valley PGE (platinum group element) project located about 65 kilometres northeast of Sudbury, the world's largest and longest operating nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE mining camp.

The table entitled "Summary of work completed to date by Class 1 Nickel at Alexo-Dundonald and Somanike" provides a summary of the work completed to date by Class 1 Nickel on the highly prospective Alexo-Dundonald and Somanike nickel projects.

The Alexo-Dundonald nickel project (A-D project), is located about 45 km northeast of the Timmins, Ont., covers an area of approximately 1,895 hectares (18.95 square km) and was acquired by the company in September, 2018. The A-D project includes four foundation nickel deposits (Alexo North and South, and Dundonald North and South) of which the Alexo North and Alexo South (also known as Kelex) were small-scale past producers of nickel (that is, 1957 and 2004 to 2005). The deposits are located on a near-continuous folded komatiite-ultramafic rock sequence that extends for at least 14 kilometres within the property. The four mineral resources (see the tables entitled "Summary of Alexo-Dundonald mineral resource estimates as combined from the four deposits (2020)" and "Pit-constrained and out-of-pit (underground) mineral resource estimates from the four deposits (2020)") are open at depth and along strike, and could increase in size with additional drilling.

The Somanike nickel project, located about 25 km north of the mining centre of Malartic and 40 km northwest of Val d'Or, covers an area of approximately 6,882 hectares (68.8 square km) and was acquired by the company in February, 2021. The Somanike includes the past-producing high-grade nickel Marbridge mine which ceased production in 1968.

Operations update

Class 1 has engaged Caracle Creek Chile SpA (Canada/Chile) and its strategic partner, Atticus Geoscience Consulting Ltd. (United Kingdom/Peru) (the consultants), to conduct overarching independent reviews of both the A-D and Somanike nickel projects, but with an initial focus on the Alexo-Dundonald nickel project and its four nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE deposits.

The work at A-D will include compilation and targeting and updating of 3-D geological models with a view to produce revised mineral resource estimates, a preliminary economic assessment, and comprehensive exploration and development budgets for 2024 work programs, to include:

• Compilation and verification of data, assays, inventory and National Instrument 43-101 reporting;
• Generating the company's first comprehensive 3-D geological models (current), mineral resource models (2024) and pit optimization scenarios (2024), looking toward a PEA-level study or studies in 2024;
• Conducting preliminary studies into the economic viability of proposed future nickel production scenarios;
• A review of work done to date, regarding environmental studies and permitting;
• A comprehensive diamond drilling plan to expand current mineral resources.

Looking toward 2024, the company is focused on completing an updated mineral resource estimate on the Alexo South nickel deposit, and a drilling program is being planned to test high-grade nickel shoots, expand resources and upgrade resource categorization at Alexo South. The remaining three nickel deposits will also see new updated mineral resource estimates in 2024. The consultants will also be undertaking a comprehensive review of the Somanike nickel project (Marbridge mine and area) in Quebec, including the integration of recent exciting successful drill hole intercepts and data from 2022 to 2023 exploration programs, which delineated a number of new geophysical targets within the historical Marbridge mine area. Alexandr Beloborodov (PGeo, OGQ No. 01637) is the qualified person with respect to the Somanike nickel project.

Permits

Several provincial environmental permits are in place for the A-D project. These include:

• 2006 Ministry of Environment Conservation and Parks (MECP) industrial sewage works environmental compliance approval (ISW ECA);
• MECP permit to take water (PTTW) for the Alexo North pit; and
• Ministry of Mines (MINES) production-phase closure plan (CP) amendment (2011).

The ISW ECA permits the existing settling and polishing ponds, and allows for the seasonal discharge of effluent to the nearby receiving body of water. However, the regulations governing mine discharges have changed substantially in recent years and site-specific effluent limits will most likely be required for this project. Therefore, an amendment to the ISW ECA will most likely be required based on these new regulatory requirements. The PTTW allows for the dewatering and maintenance dewatering of the Alexo North pit, however, it expires in October, 2024. An application for renewal of this PTTW will be submitted during the first quarter of 2024. The CP amendment (2011) covers production from the Alexo North pit and Alexo South pit (also known as the Kelex pit), but the project is currently in a state of inactivity and MINES only holds approximately $70,000 of financial assurance for the project.

To put the Alexo North pit and Alexo South pit into production, the following would be required:

• An ISW ECA amendment application, including site-specific effluent limits, may have to be prepared and submitted to the MECP for approval (as indicated above);
• A renewal of the PTTW for the Alexo North pit is required from the MECP;
• A PTTW for the dewatering and maintenance dewatering of the Alexo South pit would have to be obtained from the MECP;
• A notice of project status, to take the project from a state of inactivity to production, and notice of material change would have to be submitted MINES;
• A CP amendment would also be required for the new project, with the relevant amount of financial assurance submitted to MINES.

A federal impact assessment and provincial environmental assessments are not anticipated but this will depend on the proposed rate of production.

About the Alexo-Dundonald nickel project

The Alexo-Dundonald nickel project is located within the long-established Timmins mining camp of Northern Ontario, Canada, about 45 kilometres northeast of Timmins. The project covers an area of approximately 1,895 hectares consisting of a total of 95 Boundary cell mining claims, single cell mining claims, leased claims and patented claims.

Previous exploration activity and results in the Alexo-Dundonald project area have been extensively reviewed and documented by historical NI 43-101 technical reports (Montgomery, 2004; Harron, 2009; and Puritch et al., 2010 and 2012), by a previous NI 43-101 technical report prepared for the company (Donaghy and Puritch, 2020), and in the current NI 43-101 technical report and mineral resource estimate (Stone et al., 2020). Significant drill core intersections reported therein represent the latest rounds of drilling by the last companies to drill on the various target areas within the project (that is, Canadian Arrow at Alexo-Kelex in 2004 to 2005, and 2010 to 2011; First Nickel at Dundonald in 2004 to 2005; and Falconbridge at Dundeal in 1989), and are presented as an indication of nickel grade and continuity of mineralization typical of the komatiite-hosted nickel sulphide mineralization on the property.

The Alexo-Dundonald nickel project contains current mineral resources in four separate deposits: Alexo North, Alexo South, Dundonald North and Dundonald South (see company news release dated Dec. 17, 2020).

The current mineral resource estimates were prepared by Yungang Wu (PGeo) and Eugene Puritch (PEng, FEC, CET) of P&E Mining Consultants Inc., both independent qualified persons as defined by NI 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

For more information, please refer to the current NI 43-101 technical report and mineral resource estimates on the Alexo-Dundonald nickel project (Stone et al., 2020) posted to the company's SEDAR+ profile on Dec. 17, 2020.

About Somanike nickel sulphide project

The Somanike nickel sulphide project is located in the prolific and mining-friendly Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec approximately 25 kilometres north of the mining centre at Malartic, 40 km northwest of Val d'Or and 60 km east of Rouyn-Noranda. The project consists of 148 mining titles (6,882 hectares) over the large northwest-trending La Motte ultramafic complex, within the Abitibi greenstone belt. The ultramafic rocks host several nickel sulphide occurrences, recognized nickel targets (geophysical and geological) and areas of historical high-grade nickel production (Marbridge Ni-Cu mine).

The Somanike nickel sulphide project includes Quebec's first nickel mine, the historical Marbridge Ni-Cu mine, operated by Falconbridge Nickel from 1962 to 1968, which produced high-grade nickel and secondary copper. The Marbridge occurs within the northwest-trending La Motte ultramafic complex which comprises deformed and altered ultramafic rocks. Falconbridge Nickel reported production of 702,366 tons grading 2.28 per cent Ni and 0.10 per cent Cu, prior to being placed on care and maintenance in 1968 (source: SIGEOM, MERN Quebec government website).

The Marbridge consists of two shafts that accessed four separate mineralized zones (horizons) over a combined strike length of 1,000 metres. During production, mineralized material was trucked 25 km south to the Canadian Malartic processing plant. Mining in 1968 ceased in mineralization and the four nickel sulphide zones or mineralized horizons (Mine 1, Mine 2 and mines 3 to 4) remain open to expansion along strike and down-dip/plunge.

Quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) and assay protocols

Core and QA/QC samples from the Alexo-Dundonald drilling program were sent to AGAT Laboratories in Mississauga, Ont. At AGAT Laboratories, the analytical methods employed consisted of four-acid digest followed by sodium peroxide fusion and ICP-OES (inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry) finish for multielement analysis (including Ni, Cu, Co and S (sulphur)); fire-assay collection and ICP-OES finish for palladium, platinum and gold; and nickel collection fire assay and ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) finish for the platinum-group elements, including rhodium. AGAT is recognized by the industry and accredited with Standards Council of Canada (SCC), Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation (CALA), British Standards Institution Canada (BSI), and for specific tests by ISO/IEC 17025:2017 standards and certified to ISO 9001:2015.

Core and QA/QC samples from the Somanike drilling programs were sent to Impact Global Solutions Inc.'s (IGS) laboratory in Delson, Que., for analysis by a 50-element assay package of four-acid digestion, ore-grade metals package, with ICP-OES finish and precious metals (Pt, Pd, Au) by fire assay. IGS is recognized by the industry and accredited with the Standards Council of Canada and certified for specific tests by ISO/IEC 17025 standards.

In addition to the QA/QC employed by the commercial laboratories, Class 1 Nickel uses its own rigorous QA/QC protocols for sampling, which includes the insertion of certified reference material standards, sample duplicates and coarse silica blanks into the sample stream on a systematic basis. In all cases, core samples were collected from NQ-size drill core, sawn in half using a diamond saw, with one-half of the core sent to the laboratory and the other half stored at a secure site for future reference.

Qualified person

Technical information and data in this news release have been reviewed and approved by Dr. Scott Jobin-Bevans, PGeo, PGO No. 0183, a geological consultant to the company, and a qualified person under the definitions established by National Instrument 43-101.

About Class 1 Nickel and Technologies Ltd.

Class 1 Nickel and Technologies is a mineral resource company focused on the exploration and development of its 100-per-cent-owned komatiite-hosted Somanike Ni-Cu sulphide project in Quebec, which includes the historical Marbridge Ni-Cu mine. The company also owns the Alexo-Dundonald Ni-Cu-Co sulphide project, a portfolio of komatiite-hosted magmatic sulphide deposits located near Timmins, Ont.

We seek Safe Harbor.