Mineral Road Updates on Australian Critical Metals Projects

EXECUTIVE HIGHLIGHTS: UNLOCKING WORLD-CLASS CRITICAL ASSETS

• Industry Consolidation as a Game-Changer: The multi-billion-dollar takeover proposal by global giant RHI Magnesita to acquire Vesuvius plc provides concrete, real-world proof of an acute structural shortage of premium-grade 97%+ MgO magnesia outside China, dramatically elevating the strategic importance of Leigh Creek.
• The AI-Energy Nexus Driving Vanadium Electrolyte Demand: Behind-the-meter Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs) are increasingly locking up primary supplies as grid-scale energy storage systems drink massive volumes of vanadium electrolyte to manage the volatile, high-power loads generated by AI data centers. This intense upward pressure on demand will create intense upstream pressure for secure, primary projects.
• Exceptional Co-Product & Heavy Rare Earth Upside: Allaru's potential polymetallic by-products include molybdenum as well as high-value High-Purity Alumina (HPA).
• The Non-Chinese Supply Imperative: Both projects sit squarely within top-tier, stable Australian jurisdictions, offering vital, secure alternative potentially-developable feedstocks for Western industrial supply chains prioritizing critical mineral independence.

LEIGH CREEK MAGNESIUM PROJECT OVERVIEW

Leigh Creek is a cryptocrystalline magnesite project with a historical resource base and historical exploration, metallurgical, and technical information.

• Historic Resource: The historical JORC 2012 Mineral Resource at Mount Hutton Central comprises approximately 12.1 million tonnes Measured grading 40.1% MgO and 5.5 million tonnes Indicated (with no Inferred component), grading 40.3% MgO. This estimate was prepared by Mr. Wade Bollenhagen, MAusIMM, for Archer Exploration Ltd. (the previous operator of the Leigh Creek Magnesium Project) in April 2016 based on 56 drill holes at Mount Hutton Central and 328 density readings. Ordinary Kriging was the estimation methodology used, with search ellipses of 300 metres by 100 metres by 40 metres. It is unclear what would be required to make this historical mineral resource meet the current Canadian Mining Institute standards. The Company is not treating this resource as current.
• Historical Scale: Historical resource estimates for the wider Leigh Creek project include the following:

• These historical estimates are historical, prepared under JORC 1999 reporting by Colin Arthur, MRC, in August 1999. Historical Measured Resources at Witchelina and Termination Hill were estimated using wireframes in Micromine. Indicated and Inferred Resources used a volumetric method, with Indicated requiring two drill intercepts and Inferred requiring one intercept. It is unclear what would be required to make these historical mineral resources to meet the current Canadian Mining Institute standards. The Company is not treating these resources as current.
• Historical Metallurgical Foundation: Historical calcination and beneficiation testwork by SAMAG demonstrated that, if confirmed, has the potential to produce high-purity magnesia products with reported MgO grades of approximately 95-97%, silica reduction to ≤3%, and low iron levels. Approximately 100 tonnes of material was historically mined as part of SAMAG's studies, completed by AMDEL Laboratories, Report N015LH99, dated 15 April 1999. Mineral Road intends to utilise available historical drill core and modern testwork to validate and optimise these results.

Mineral Road has received market and industry input that has advised Mineral Road that the industry is facing an acute, structural shortage of premium-grade magnesia at the 97%+ MgO level, particularly from secure, non-Chinese sources. Mineral Road believes this market dynamic provides an important strategic backdrop.

ALLARU VANADIUM & MULTI-PRODUCT POTENTIAL: ENTERING STRUCTURAL DEFICIT

Complementing Leigh Creek in the critical-metal space is the Allaru Vanadium Project in Queensland, located within the Julia Creek vanadium province, hosts a historical resource estimate of 618 million tonnes Inferred Resources at a grade of 0.45% V₂O₅, along with a Conceptual Exploration Target with a range of 850 million to 1.1 billion tonnes, with a potential grade range of 0.36% to 0.50% V₂O₅. These estimates were made by Adrian Buck of John T. Boyd Company on 17 August 2018, utilizing Maptek Vulcan grid reserves in situ tools applied to the BOYD 2018 Structural and assay models, with a 100 m by 100 m grid mesh and using a fixed Relative Density of 1.85 on a zero-moisture basis as generally established for the Toolebuc Formation. It is unclear what would be required to make this historical mineral resource meet the current Canadian Mining Institute standards. The Company is not treating this resource as current. The conceptual exploration target is conceptual in nature; has insufficient exploration to define a Mineral Resource, and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the targets being delineated as a Mineral Resource.

• Vanadium Market Tailwinds & Strategic Significance: Driven by expanding adoption in grid-scale Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs) for long-duration renewable energy storage and high-strength alloy demand, the global vanadium market is facing deepening structural supply deficits and tightening primary production outside of traditionally concentrated jurisdictions. With global supply heavily constrained, Western-backed, large-scale vanadium projects are surging in strategic importance as governments and industrial players prioritize secure, non-Chinese supply chains for grid-scale energy storage and advanced high-strength steel applications.
• The AI-Energy Nexus & Power Spikes: As surging power demands and massive electrical loads from AI data centers drive an unprecedented need for grid-scale energy storage, behind-the-meter Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries (VRFBs) are becoming critical resilience layers. Because artificial intelligence semiconductors and continuous data processing create sudden, massive power surges and fluctuating loads, high-power energy storage systems are increasingly locking up supplies—with grid-scale energy storage consuming vanadium electrolyte the exact way AI data centers consume power.
• The Byproduct Bottleneck & Supply Reality: Unlike conventional mined commodities, approximately 75% of global vanadium output is recovered as a blast-furnace side-stream or byproduct from steelmaking (heavily concentrated in complexes like Panzhihua in Sichuan). This means supply responds primarily to steel production economics rather than vanadium demand, leaving no simple primary mining levers to ramp up when shortages occur.
• Degraded Ex-China Supply Pillars: Traditional ex-China supplies have contracted sharply by roughly 25%. European ferrovanadium converters have faced disrupted feedstock pipelines following EU sanctions on Evraz (such as the Kachkanar complex), while primary South African supply has stalled as flagship operations like Bushveld's Vametco entered business rescue and winding-up proceedings.
• Geographic Price Bifurcation: Western and domestic Chinese markets are fracturing along regional lines. While headline spot prices in China have lagged, US ferrovanadium prices have surged dramatically and outpaced global movements to reflect intensive competition among import-dependent Western buyers scrambling for a shrinking ex-China pool.
• Increase in Chinese Demand & Electrolyte Bottlenecks: Major Chinese electrolyte producers—including Rongke Power, Hunan Yinfeng New Energy, and Zhejiang Xingchen—have scaled planned production capacity exceeding 4.5 million cubic metres of electrolyte per annum. Operating at standard concentrations of 1.5 to 2 moles of vanadium per litre, this massive manufacturing pipeline alone demands roughly 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes of V₂O₅ equivalent per year when fully utilised which is multiple times greater than total global annual primary vanadium production of 120,000 tonnes per annum. This mismatch will likely cause intense upstream pressure for secure, primary projects that could prevent severe supply constraints.
• CRU Group Market Forecast & Price Recovery Timeline: Institutional analysis from CRU Group highlights that the vanadium market has reached a critical cyclical inflection point. Following a prolonged low-price environment that strained producer balance sheets and forced widespread output cuts, CRU forecasts that vanadium prices will begin a sustained recovery starting from late 2026, with mounting upward price pressure extending firmly through 2027 and 2028. This anticipated market pivot is driven by persistent supply contraction meeting a rapidly expanding demand floor from both traditional steel production standards and the accelerating build-out of grid-scale energy storage.
• Significant Co-Product Upside (HPA & Molybdenum): Beyond its scale as a premier Australian vanadium project, technical reviews highlight substantial additional upside potential for High-Purity Alumina (HPA), and molybdenum, hosted within the Toolebuc Formation of the Carpentaria Basin sequence, providing Mineral Road with a multi-commodity suite that if developed, would align perfectly with future-facing green technology.

Mineral Road plans to continue detailed market and technical research, and additional metallurgical studies while optimizing each project's digital database, maximizing the Company's optionality as it focuses its immediate attention on its 100% owned Bergslagen Tungsten Project in Sweden.

The technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Derrick Strickland, a Contractor and Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.