Mr. Sean Cleary reports

STRATEGIC RESOURCES INC. TO SUPPLY CONCENTRATE TO THE EUROS17 MILLION FUTSTEEL PROJECT IN FINLAND

The University of Oulu, Finland, has launched the future sustainable electric steel mill project, a 17-million-euro research project in close collaboration with industrial partners including Strategic Resources Inc. The research results will be directly linked to supporting the industrial transformation of steel production. The project will develop the entire steelmaking chain, combining electric arc technology with modernized hot rolling processes. The solutions will support the transformation of the Finnish steel industry and the transition to a low-carbon steelmaking concept at the SSAB Raahe steel mill.

The steel industry is undergoing a global transformation. Traditional coal-fired blast furnace-based production causes significant emissions, and tightening climate targets, changing energy systems and the availability of raw materials are challenging current production methods. Therefore, production is being shifted toward a model based on electricity, recycled steel and hydrogen-based processes.

The FutSteel project will determine how the production system can be renewed without compromising quality or delivery capacity.

"This is essential to maintaining high-quality steel production in Finland," emphasizes Petri Sulasalmi, PhD, from the University of Oulu, who is leading the FutSteel project. "Electrification of the steel industry does not just mean replacing one furnace with another. The entire production chain, from ironmaking to rolling, must be thought of in a new way," said Dr. Sulasalmi.

The FutSteel project is developing a model in which electric arc furnace technology is integrated into the existing hot rolling production chain in a new way. On June 23, 2026, the University of Oulu confirmed that the FutSteel project in collaboration with SSAB and industrial partners has been selected as part of the sustainable world through steels research program, and that the project timeline is 2026 through 2029.

FutSteel has selected Strategic Resources' vanadium-rich magnetite concentrate from the company's Mustavaara project in northern Finland for inclusion in an advanced hydrogen-based ironmaking testing program. This selection underscores the quality and suitability of Strategic Resources VTM material for next-generation direct reduction and fossil-free steel production, and is representative of Mustavaara's concentrate quality and relevance to the growing global green steel supply chain.

"Having Strategic Resources Inc.'s VTM concentrate selected by FutSteel for their fossil-free steelmaking research is validation of what we have always known: Finland hosts a well-developed, high-grade VTM asset (Mustavaara) with potential strategic importance to the future of clean steel production. As the global steel industry transitions away from coking coal toward hydrogen-based processes, the demand for high-quality local iron ore feedstock will only intensify. Our company is well positioned to be part of that supply chain," said Sean Cleary, chief executive officer, Strategic Resources.

Key points In the FutSteel project:

• The entire steel production chain will be renewed: The project will investigate how a new model combines electric steelmaking with modernized rolling mill processes and utilizes fossil-free energy solutions.
• Quality and technology challenges are being solved: Research focuses particularly on steel quality and how new electrical and low-carbon processes can be adapted to demanding special steel production.
• Major impacts on Finland: The steel industry is one of the largest single sources of emissions in Finland, and the transition to electric and hydrogen-based production can reduce emissions in the sector decisively: a change in a single large steel mill can cut up to 7 per cent of the country's carbon dioxide emissions.

About Strategic Resources Inc.

Strategic Resources is a critical mineral development company focused on vanadium, high-purity iron and titanium; metals needed to decarbonize the global economy. Its main projects are the construction-ready BlackRock project in Quebec and the previously operated Mustavaara mine in Finland. Phase 1 of the BlackRock project envisages a four-million-tonne-per-year high-purity iron ore pelletizer at Port Saguenay in Quebec with full access to the St. Lawrence Seaway. The company's head office is in Montreal, Que.

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