Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. announced the start of 2023 expansion drilling at its Stillwater West nickel-PGE-copper-cobalt and gold project in Montana, USA, in addition to providing an update on other initiatives including work already underway. Highlights: Drilling will focus on expansion of the NI 43-101-compliant resources announced January 25, 2023 which demonstrated world-class grade and scale with 1.6 billion pounds of nickel, copper and cobalt and 3.8 million ounces of palladium, platinum, rhodium, and gold ("4E") in a base case study totaling 255 million tonnes ("Mt"), with a high-grade component of 11.6 Mt grading 1.05% recovered nickel equivalent (as 0.56% Ni, 0.33% Cu, 0.03% Co,0.54 g/t Pd, 0.27 g/t Pt, 0.15 g/t Au and 0.019 g/t Rh).

Priority is on expansion of high-grade mineralization at the DR-Hybrid deposit at Chrome Mountain, including: Drill hole CM2021-05, which returned 13.2 meters grading 2.89% Recovered Nickel Equivalent1 ("NiEq") (2.31% Ni, 1.51 g/t 4E, 0.35% Cu, and 0.115% Co), starting at 37.6 meters. This high-grade mineralization, contained within 400.8 meters of continuous battery and precious metal mineralization, is of a type not previously identified in the Stillwater district and appears to be related to 8.5 meters of similar high-grade, high-tenor nickel sulphide returned in hole CM2020-04, approximately 125 meters downdip to the west. See news releases from May 03, 2022, and March 03, 2021.

Drilling is also expected to expand on high-grade targets at the CZ and HGR deposits at Iron Mountain, up to nine kilometers east of Chrome Mountain, as step-outs from the following intercepts: Drill hole CZ2021-01, which returned 63.7 meters grading 0.86% NiEq (0.47% Ni, 0.42 g/t Pd, 0.27% Cu, and 0.04% Co as well as significant Pt and Au values), within 367.6 meters of continuous mineralization. This hole was a step-out from hole CZ2019-01 which returned 62.0 meters grading 0.56% NiEq and also 3.54 meters of 2.67% NiEq (as 1.53% Ni, 0.49% Cu, 0.099% Co, and 3.45 g/t 4E) within 399 meters of continuous mineralization, starting at surface. The CZ deposit benefits from a historic resource and positive preliminary metallurgical work completed by AMAX in the 1970s.

See news releases from December 20, 2021, and January 21, 2020. Drill hole IM2021-05 in the HGR deposit area returned 7.3 meters grading 0.70% NiEq (as 0.45% Ni, 0.51 g/t 4E, 0.17% Cu and 0.026% Co), and 2.4 meters 2.04% NiEq (as 1.55% Ni, 0.85 g/t 4E, 0.17% Cu, and 0.087% Co), within 379.2 meters of continuous battery and precious metal mineralization starting at surface. This hole was a step-out from hole IM2019-03 which returned 26.8 meters grading 0.85% NiEq (as 0.34% Ni, 0.15% Cu, 0.019% Co, and 1.24 g/t 4E) within 272.5 meters of continuous mineralization.

See news releases from July 07, 2022, and December 18, 2019. The 2023 campaign will be the first to apply updated geological models which incorporate similar geology from South Africa's Platreef district under the direction of Dr. Danie Grobler, who joined the team in May of 2022 as Vice-President Exploration. This campaign is funded by the recent 9.99% strategic equity investment by Glencore and is expected to consist of approximately 5,000 meters of diamond core drilling.

Metallurgy, US Geological Survey, and Other Initiatives: Sample collection for more detailed metallurgical testing is on-going as part of the expanding development of Stillwater West, with a view to including full metallurgical assessment in future studies. Preliminary metallurgical assessments by Stillwater returned strong nickel tenor in sulphides drilled by the Company to date. In addition, favorable historic bench-scale metallurgical results completed historically by AMAX at the Iron Mountain target area demonstrate the potential for effective nickel and copper sulphide flotation and PGE recovery.

2023 fieldwork surface programs including geophysical and geological prospecting and mapping surveys are also planned as part of the 2023 campaign. Some of these programs commenced earlier this year with a view to detailing priority drill targets. In addition, the Company report its continuing and expanding engagement with the US Geological Survey which includes new technical programs in addition to ongoing consultation and data sharing following multiple onsite meetings, with some programs eligible for funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and other government initiatives.

Carbon Capture: All five deposits in the 2023 Resource contain desirable nickel sulphide mineralization that has been shown to require a much lower environmental footprint in subsequent processing to nickel metal or nickel sulphate in comparison to the laterite nickel ores that dominate global production. As part of Stillwater's commitment to global sustainability initiatives, the Company is also examining the potential for large-scale carbon sequestration with the objective of further reducing and possibly eliminating the carbon footprint of a potential mining operation at Stillwater West. Carbon sequestration studies are ongoing in two channels as reported previously.

The first, led by Dr. Greeshma Gadikota at Cornell University with funding by the Department of Energy under the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program, is focused on novel hydrometallurgical techniques and carbon capture with the objective of increasing the extraction of critical minerals using reduced energy for a carbon negative mining future. The second is via ARCA Climate (formerly Carbin Minerals Inc) and the University of British Columbia with focus on investigating the potential to exploit the presence of certain ultramafic minerals that are known to have high capacity to bind carbon dioxide by a natural process known as mineral carbonation for carbon capture as part of a potential mining operation at Stillwater West. This work strongly aligns with Stillwater's Environmental, Social and Governance guidelines and principles, and the incorporation of carbon uptake may bring financial benefits via initiatives such as the 45Q Tax Credit for Carbon Oxide Sequestration that is now in place in the US.