Mr. Mohammed Jiwan reports

ZENTEK PRE-QUALIFIES UNDER CANADA'S DEFENCE DRONE INITIATIVE MARKETPLACE

Zentek Ltd. has been prequalified under the government of Canada's Defence Drone Initiative Marketplace and issued Supply Arrangement CW2467305 under solicitation W8703-270055. The arrangement runs from Aug. 26, 2026, to July 31, 2031. The Defence Investment Agency is the supply arrangement authority and the sole identified user, on behalf of the Department of National Defence.

Why this matters

Zentek is eligible to respond to task solicitations issued under the marketplace for the term of the arrangement. The marketplace reopens to new applicants every three months until July, 2027, and every six months thereafter to July, 2031, so the qualified supplier pool may continue to grow over the term. ZEN-EMI-01 is at the laboratory stage and has not been tested or qualified for any defence application, and the company has no customer agreements relating to any such application. There is no certainty that the opportunity described will result in a material benefit to the company.

What Zentek brings

Zentek's qualification relates to its capabilities in graphene and graphite-based coatings, advanced materials and related technologies. The company develops and manufactures coatings and specialty materials supported by its intellectual property portfolio. Certain of these technologies incorporate purified Albany graphite, including ZEN-EMI-01, a water-based electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding coating for which the company filed a provisional patent application on Aug. 17, 2026. The Albany graphite deposit, located in Northern Ontario, is 100 per cent owned by Zentek's wholly owned subsidiary, Albany Graphite Corp.

How the marketplace works

The Marketplace is a prequalified supplier pool covering uncrewed and autonomous systems, counteruncrewed system capabilities, communications and data systems, engineering and integration services, testing and training, and innovation and experimentation. Canada issues task solicitations to qualified suppliers rather than running a new procurement qualification process for each requirement. A supply arrangement is not a contract and carries no committed value.

Management commentary

"Budget 2025 committed $81.1-billion to rebuild and rearm the Armed Forces, and every system acquired depends upon the materials and technologies behind it," said Mohammed (Moe) Jiwan, chief executive officer of Zentek. "We are in that ecosystem now, prequalified on the materials: the coatings, the specialty materials and the patents behind them. This is the first step in a longer process and we are moving on it."

About Zentek Ltd.

Zentek is a Canadian intellectual property development and commercialization company advancing a portfolio of graphene-enabled and advanced materials technologies across clean air, next-generation materials and critical minerals. Core platforms are Albany graphite, ZenGUARD and Triera. Albany is the company's principal critical minerals asset.

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