Mr. Michael Rowley reports

STILLWATER CRITICAL MINERALS SIGNS MOU WITH US STRATEGIC METALS

Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. has signed a comprehensive, non-binding memorandum of understanding with U.S. Strategic Metals (USSM) for the establishment of a strategic relationship to consider a range of critical-mineral-related business opportunities. The MOU reflects the strong alignment in corporate values between the parties, recognizing both the significance of Stillwater West to the United States and the development of the green economy, as well as USSM's position as a burgeoning leader in U.S. critical mineral production.

The MOU includes, but is not limited to, opportunities related to:

• Marketing support, including lobbying collaboration with particular reference to U.S. government bodies, including the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense;
• Technical support, including metallurgical and mineral processing development;
• Supply chain development;
• Offtake and logistics;
• Potential strategic financing, including an equity or debt investment in Stillwater;
• Collaborating on the introduction of additional strategic partners as deemed necessary for the advancement of one or both of Stillwater or USSM.

Stillwater Critical Minerals president and chief executive officer Michael Rowley stated: "Stillwater West is a special asset and almost entirely unique in the United States at a time when all stakeholders, from the federal government to industry and investors, recognize the overwhelming need for domestic supplies of the very critical minerals this project hosts. We have built a world-class team that includes Glencore at both an equity and management level and are pleased to be aligning ourselves with another very high-quality strategic partner like USSM to continue to advance this world-class project.

"This MOU has the potential to accelerate necessary engineering and metallurgical studies and is an excellent follow-on to our expanding base of government grant funding and partnerships with the U.S. Geological Survey, Cornell University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for CO2 [carbon dioxide] sequestration, hydrogen production and hydrometallurgical studies. This MOU also reflects our broad alignment on ESG [environmental, social and governance] values and a shared vision for a large-scale, low-carbon American critical mineral supply chain based in an iconic and famously metal-rich U.S. mining district that has produced critical minerals for over a century. In addition to our mutual connection with top-tier global miner Glencore, we expect this collaboration will further advance our mutual relationships with OEMs [original equipment manufacturers], vehicle/battery manufacturers, major mining companies, and, perhaps most importantly in the near term, federal government agencies and legislators providing funding opportunities."

U.S. Strategic Metals chief executive officer Stacy Hastie stated: "USSM is a private, USA-focused critical minerals processing business based in Missouri. The company is building a large critical metal supply chain, providing reliable, traceable and conflict-free battery metals to the USA. USSM aims to significantly expand production in the coming years and, as such, is successfully developing relationships with raw materials suppliers to allow it to meet rapidly growing critical metal demand. Stillwater West fits this mandate extremely well, for its scale, grade and suite of critical minerals, nearly all of which the U.S. is heavily reliant upon imports. Stillwater West is clearly one of the most important potential future sources of at least eight critical minerals and its development is perfectly in line with the U.S. government's mandate on securing domestic supply of these materials as well as USSM's internal expansion mandates.

"Our company is managed by an impressive leadership team and also benefits from a long-term global marketing and offtake relationship with global commodities and critical minerals leader, Glencore PLC. USSM recently closed a $230-million debt financing with sophisticated natural resources investor Appian Capital Advisory LLP in December, 2023, and, announced, in August, USSM received an LOI [letter of intent] from U.S. EXIM Bank for a potential $400-million loan for completion of its phase 1 multimetal proprietary processing and recycling battery metal hub.

"We have strong backers who are aligned with our team's goal to expand into one of North America's largest and most important fully integrated producers of key battery and strategic metals with full supply chain from exploration to production -- all based within the United States. In particular, the dearth of nickel and cobalt assets within the U.S. has forced an expanded definition of domestic to include Canada and Australia, but we would expect projects located within the U.S. to be prioritized for funding and support. That puts both USSM and Stillwater Critical Minerals in good stead in terms of development of growth pathways. With USSM's natural advantages like our domestic resource endowment, fully permitted operation on private land, robust community benefits plan, and perfectly centralized location to access major OEMs and defence contractors, USSM is the perfect domestic partner to handle high-quality critical mineral feeds like those that will be produced by Stillwater."

Coming events

Mr. Rowley will be presenting at the following events:

• Red Cloud Fall Mining Showcase -- Toronto, Ont.; Oct. 16 to Oct. 17, 2024;
• Commodities Global Expo 2024 -- Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Oct. 20 Oct. 21, 2024;
• Precious Metals Summit -- Zurich, Switzerland; Nov. 11 to Nov. 12, 2024;
• 121 Mining Events -- London, United Kingdom; Nov. 14 to Nov. 15, 2024.

About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

Stillwater Critical Minerals is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West nickel/platinum group element/copper/cobalt plus gold project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, United States. With the addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team and strategic investments by Glencore, the company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper and chromium, and the continuing production of platinum group, nickel and other metals by neighbouring Sibanye-Stillwater. An expanded National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January, 2023, positions Stillwater West with the largest nickel resource in an active U.S. mining district as part of a compelling suite of nine minerals now listed as critical in the United States. To date, five Platreef-style nickel and copper sulphide deposits host a total of 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt and 3.8 million ounces of palladium, platinum, rhodium and gold at Stillwater West. All of these deposits remain open for expansion along trend and at depth.

Stillwater also holds the high-grade Black Lake/Drayton gold project adjacent to Nexgold Mining's development-stage Goliath gold complex in Northwestern Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining and the Kluane platinum group element/nickel/copper/cobalt critical mineral project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum's Wellgreen deposit in Yukon, Canada.

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