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FINAL CESIUM TEST WORK SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED AT CASE LAKE

Power Metals Corp. has produced technical grade cesium chemicals for the Case Lake cesium project with the confirmation of cesium chloride and cesium formate.

Major highlights

• Results from the world's leading testing, inspection and certification (TIC) company, SGS, confirms outstanding cesium extraction of 97 per cent from the Case Lake pollucite concentrate material:
  • Produced technical grade cesium formate with 2.23-gram-per-millilitre density and 99.8-per-cent purity;
  • Produced technical grade cesium chloride with very low impurities, achieving 99.6-per-cent purity.
• Confirms ability to produce technical-grade cesium chemicals, following the recent metallurgical testwork on Case Lake cesium concentrate;
• Successful completion of all testwork from West Joe signals;
• The results are a major milestone in de-risking the West Joe pegmatite zone at Case Lake:
  • XRT ore sorting phase I, production of cesium concentrate (Cs2O);
  • XRT ore sorting phase II, bulk sample production of cesium concentrate (Cs2O);
  • Production of lithium concentrate material (Li2O);
  • Production of tantalum concentrate material (Ta);
  • Production of technical grade cesium chemicals (CsCl and HCOOCs).
• A two-stage crystallization and recrystallization process successfully produced low-impurity cesium alum crystals, grading 21.4 per cent Cs (cesium), 4.7 per cent Al (aluminum) with 0.01 per cent Rb (rubidium), 0.01 per cent Si (silicon) as the main impurities;
• Case Lake remains the only global cesium project with near-term production capacity.

The production of technical grade chemicals further to the company's recent maiden MRE confirms the viability of Case Lake to produce industry standard cesium chemicals for the oil and gas industry, solar and battery technology, military applications, and medical industry.

The company remains focused on delivering high-grade critical minerals from Case Lake with recent testwork highlighting the company's ability to produce clean cesium, tantalum and lithium products to the critical minerals market.

Haydn Daxter, chief executive officer of Power Metals, commented:

"The completion of our metallurgical testwork with cesium chemical production marks a significant milestone for the company, confirming Case Lake as a near-term cesium operation with a low impurity and cost-effective processing to the North American market.

"The latest results align with the recent completion of our maiden MRE and metallurgical testwork at Case Lake, positioning the company as a first mover in this rapidly evolving market."

Johnathan More, chairman of Power Metals, commented:

"I am very pleased to see the final round of metallurgical testwork results with the production of technical grade cesium chemicals from Case Lake. The project offers three viable avenues for critical minerals as the global demand continues to grow.

"This final round of metallurgical testwork and recent MRE has been compiled from over 7,000 m of exploration drilling, demonstrating a strong amount of confidence to our shareholders and the market as we continue to derisk the project in preparation for production."

Cesium chemical production

The company has successfully produced cesium formate and cesium chloride, two globally highly sought cesium chemicals, from pollucite concentrate samples generated during phase I ore sorting testwork the company completed in 2024 (see Dec. 3, 2024, press release). The cesium chemicals conversion testwork was conducted at SGS Canada, a leading metallurgical and testing laboratory located in Lakefield, Ont., Canada.

The testwork used a blended concentrate sample with an average feed grade of 19.5 per cent Cs2O, created from pollucite concentrates 24-036-01P and 24-036-03P, produced during phase I ore sorting. The composite sample was crushed to 100 per cent passing 106 micron and then underwent a series of tests including hot acid leaching, cesium alum crystallization and liquor treatment, resulting in production of technical grade cesium formate and cesium chloride with purities of 99.8 per cent and 99.6 per cent, respectively.

The pollucite concentrate exhibited a favourable response to hot sulphuric acid leaching, achieving 97 per cent cesium extraction efficiency (Table 1). A two-stage (50 degrees Celsius and 20 degrees Celsius) cesium alum crystallization was completed on the leach liquor to generate a high-quality crystal in the first stage, followed by residual cesium crystallization in the second stage low temperature crystallization (along with some rubidium and other impurities). The majority of the cesium (up to 71 per cent) was recovered at 50 degrees Celsius, with additional recovery achieved upon cooling to 20 degrees Celsius, resulting in crystallization efficiency rates between 95 per cent and 98 per cent.

The crystals from 50 degrees Celsius stage were redissolved and subjected to similar two-stage recrystallization. Up to 89 per cent of the material recrystallized at 50 degrees Celsius, with final efficiencies reaching up to 98 per cent following the 20 degrees Celsius step (Table 3).

Further purification and conversion tests were conducted on the 50 degrees Celsius pure cesium alum product, including the removal of aluminum (and some sulphate), and the subsequent conversion to cesium hydroxide. Cesium formate and cesium chloride were subsequently synthesized from the cesium hydroxide, meeting industry-standard specifications for low impurity levels in both compounds (tables and 4). Additionally, the cesium formate solution demonstrated a density of 2.23 g/mL, which falls within the industry standard range of 2.2 g/mL to 2.4 g/mL for cesium formate.

These initial tests show that the pollucite concentrate from Power Metals West Joe deposit can be efficiently converted into cesium formate and cesium chloride using established methods, with samples meeting industry specifications and low impurities.

Case Lake property

The Case Lake property is located 80 kilometres east of Cochrane in Northeastern Ontario, near the Ontario-Quebec border. It comprises 586 cell claims across Steele, Case, Scapa, Pliny, Abbotsford and Challies townships within the Larder Lake mining division. The property is 10 km by 9.5 km in size with 14 granitic domes.

The Case Lake pegmatite swarm consists of six spodumene dikes known as the North, Main, South, East and Northeast dikes on the Henry Dome, and the West Joe dike on a new dome, collectively forming mineralization trend that extends for approximately 10 km.

Power Metals has completed several exploration campaigns leading to the discovery and expansion of new and historic spodumene-bearing LCT pegmatites at Case Lake. The company has drilled a total of 23,976 metres of core between 2017 and 2024 at the property. The Case Lake property is owned 100 per cent by Power Metals Corp. A National Instrument 43-101 technical report has been prepared on Case Lake property and filed on July 18, 2017.

Decelles property

The Decelles property contains 247 claims, covering 14,229 hectares of LCT prospective ground near the mining centres of Val d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda, approximately 600 km from Montreal.

Power Metals acquired the Decelles and Mazerac properties from Winsome Resources in 2023 in a deal that increased Winsome equity stake to 19.59 per cent (refer to press release announced on Aug. 24, 2023), the transaction remains subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. The geology of Decelles property is part of the Archean Pontiac subprovince where S-type LCT prospective, pegmatite bearing, granitic Decelles batholith intrudes into metasedimentary units of the Pontiac Group.

Spodumene- and beryl-bearing pegmatites have been reported historically within the Pontiac subprovince in association with S-type garnet-muscovite granite. The Decelles property is adjacent to Vision Lithium's Cadillac property where discovery of high-grade lithium pegmatites was reported in 2022.

Mazerac property

The Mazerac property is located approximately 30 km east of Power Metals' Decelles property near well-established mining camps in the Abitibi region of Canada and is accessible by network of mining-grade forestry roads. The Mazerac property contains 115 claims that cover 6,653 hectares of LCT prospective ground near the mining centre of Val d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda. The regional geology of Mazerac is similar to Decelles where S-type LCT prospective, pegmatite bearing, granites of Decelles batholith intrude into metasedimentary units of the Pontiac Group. Spodumene- and beryl-bearing pegmatites have been reported historically within the Pontiac subprovince in association with S-type garnet-muscovite granite.

Pollucite and cesium

Pollucite is a rare mineral that hosts high-grade cesium and is associated with highly fractionated, rare element pegmatites. The main source of cesium known globally is pollucite. Currently there is no operational mining of high-grade cesium from pollucite occurring globally.

Scientific and technical disclosure

The scientific and technical disclosure included in this news release for hydrometallurgical test work has been reviewed and approved by James Brown, MASc, PEng, manager of extractive metallurgy at SGS Canada, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and a member in good standing with Professional Engineers Ontario (100114888).

SGS Canada is independent of the company.

The scientific and technical disclosure included in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Amanuel Bein, MSc, PGeo, vice-president of exploration for Power Metals, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 -- Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and a member in good standing with Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (3524).

About Power Metals Corp.

Power Metals is a Canadian exploration company focused on developing high-quality critical mineral projects.

Its flagship Case Lake property in Ontario -- 100 per cent owned by Power Metals -- is a high-grade cesium, lithium and tantalum asset, poised to become one of only four cesium mines globally.

Beyond Case Lake, the company's portfolio includes the Decelles and Mazerac properties near Val d'Or, Que. Together, these assets cover 947 claims spanning more than 330 square kilometres of lithium-cesium-tantalum (LCT) prospective ground.

As global demand for critical minerals continues to grow global, and particularly in North America, Power Metals is strategically advancing its projects to support the continent's growing supply needs.

We seek Safe Harbor.