Mr. Pat Ryan reports

UCORE ACCELERATES COMMERCIAL PLANNING FOR SAMARIUM AND GADOLINIUM OXIDES AS DEFENSE SUPPLY CHAINS FACE URGENT SHORTAGES

Ucore Rare Metals Inc. has provided an operational and commercialization update on its pathway to samarium and gadolinium security project focused on dedicated production planning for samarium and gadolinium rare earth oxides for allied defence, aerospace and strategic industrial supply chains. The project is being advanced in parallel with Ucore's continuing scale-up toward the Louisiana strategic metal complex in Alexandria.

Samarium and gadolinium have experienced significant price hikes with outsized defence impact. Samarium is essential for high performance samarium-cobalt permanent magnets used in mission-critical applications where coercivity and performance under temperature extremes are required, including guidance and control systems, radar and sonar systems, and other defence electronics. Gadolinium is included among the rare earths now subject to export licensing constraints and has also been identified as a priority material in recent U.S. defence supply chain actions.

The supply chain context has sharpened further in 2026. On March 1, 2026, the U.S. Department of Defence requested proposals to increase domestic production of a list of critical minerals that includes both samarium and gadolinium. In parallel, U.S. defence procurement restrictions impacting covered magnets tighten materially on Jan. 1, 2027, expanding to the full upstream supply chain for samarium-cobalt magnets. Together, these actions underscore a narrowing timeline for defence contractors to qualify secure, Western-aligned sources of Sm and Gd inputs.

Operational update: RapidSX engineering and CDF testwork progressing

Ucore's engineering team is progressing commercial plans for dedicated production of Sm and Gd rare earth oxides. At the Kingston CDF, process flow sheets are being refined, contractor factory acceptance testing is under way to optimize the RapidSX computerized, column-based separation platform, and multiple feedstocks, including ionic clays, have been processed to evaluate separation behaviour and chemical splits achieved between Sm and Gd as part of the production work-up.

RapidSX was designed to operate without reliance on Chinese-sourced equipment or technology transfer. Ucore's approach is intended to support Western qualification requirements and to help rebuild North American mid-stream capacity, the separation and refining bottleneck that sits between mined or recovered rare earth feedstocks, and downstream metallization and magnet production.

"Defence programs do not fail at the front end. They fail at the choke points," said Pat Ryan, chairman and chief executive officer of Ucore. "Samarium and gadolinium are exactly that kind of choke point. Contractors are being pushed to qualify non-covered-nation supply chains ahead of the 2027 compliance cliff, while Chinese export licensing remains a structural constraint. Ucore is advancing a dedicated Sm and Gd refining pathway to support allied readiness timelines."

Since the company's public award of the project at the G7 Economic Summit in October, 2025, Ucore has seen rising inbound interest from defence and aerospace supply chain participants seeking qualification data, production timelines, and commercial structures that can support procurement and stockpile requirements.

About Ucore Rare Metals Inc.

Ucore is focused on rare and critical metal resource, extraction, beneficiation and separation technologies with the potential for production, growth and scalability. Ucore's vision and plan are to become a leading advanced technology company, providing best-in-class metal separation products and services to the mining and mineral extraction industry.

Through strategic partnerships, this plan includes disrupting the People's Republic of China's control of the North American rare earth element supply chain through the near-term development of a heavy and light rare earth processing facility in the U.S. state of Louisiana, subsequent SMCs in Canada and Alaska, and the longer-term development of Ucore's 100-per-cent-controlled Bokan-Dotson Ridge rare heavy REE project on Prince of Wales Island in southeastern Alaska, United States.

Ucore is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol UCU and in the United States on the OTC Markets' OTCQX Best Market under the ticker symbol UURAF.

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