Mr. Mohammed Jiwan reports

ALBANY GRAPHITE CORP. ENGAGES APPECO FOR INDEPENDENT MARKET RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC ANALYSIS

Zentek Ltd.'s wholly owned subsidiary, Albany Graphite Corp. (AGC), has engaged AppEco Inc., an independent economic research and advisory firm, to complete a comprehensive market research and economic analysis study for the Albany graphite project, located near Hearst, Ont.

Study Mandate and Deliverables

AppEco's work will encompass four core workstreams:

1. Independent price deck: product pricing by grade (concentrate, 4N, 4N+, 5N+) across nuclear, defence, battery and industrial end-markets, with current, five-year and 10-year forecasts;
2. Addressable demand quantification: North American and allied-nation demand segmented by nuclear/SMR, defence/aerospace, IRA/Canadian critical minerals -- eligible battery, and industrial/specialty markets;
3. Supply-side competitive positioning: assessment of Albany's positioning versus the Western and allied-nation graphite pipeline, including synthetic substitution risk analysis;
4. Co-product credit valuation: valuation of 18 critical minerals, including 13 rare earth elements plus lithium, scandium, yttrium, niobium and molybdenum, recoverable from the electrothermal fluidized bed reactor (FBR) scrubber exhaust without the need for additional reactor capital, subject to further engineering and recovery assumptions.

AppEco will deliver an economic memo for each of the above workstreams, followed by a consolidated final report.

Why this matters

The market for high-purity graphite is undergoing a structural shift. Government policy in both Canada and the United States now explicitly prioritizes domestic and allied-nation supply of critical minerals, including graphite. The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, the Canadian critical minerals strategy and recent Department of Energy funding initiatives all point in the same direction: Western economies need secure, traceable sources of advanced carbon materials for nuclear energy, defence systems and next-generation batteries.

At the same time, the rapid buildout of small modular reactors across North America is creating a new demand category for nuclear-grade graphite that did not exist at meaningful scale a decade ago. As previously disclosed by the company on Sept. 22, 2025, Albany's demonstrated ability to produce 5N+ purity graphite (99.9992 weight per cent graphitic carbon (Cg)) at bench scale using a chlorine-free electrothermal FBR process positions the project as potentially relevant to these converging trends.

Yet the pricing and demand data available for ultrahigh-purity, performance-grade graphite remain thin. Most public market studies focus on commodity-grade flake or battery anode material, where pricing bears little resemblance to what nuclear, defence and semiconductor buyers pay. The AppEco engagement is designed to close that gap to produce independent, purity-specific pricing and demand data for the markets Albany is targeting, and to do so with the rigour required for a National Instrument 43-101-compliant PEA (preliminary economic assessment).

The co-product valuation workstream is particularly notable: the same FBR process used to achieve 5N+ graphite purity generates a scrubber exhaust stream that may contain recoverable concentrations of 18 critical minerals potentially at zero additional reactor capital. AppEco will assess the potential value of these co-product credits.

Commentary

"The conventional approach to valuing a graphite deposit starts with commodity pricing for battery-grade material. That framework does not capture what Albany is," said Mohammed (Moe) Jiwan, chief executive officer of Zentek. "When your process produces 5N graphite without chlorine, the relevant comparisons are not commodity flake prices -- they are the procurement budgets of nuclear programs, defence primes and semiconductor manufacturers. These are markets where supply security, purity certification and traceability command pricing that is materially different from what conventional graphite studies assume."

"The purpose of this engagement is to develop independent data to inform and test those assumptions in a form that the PEA requires. That is what AppEco is building: grade-by-grade pricing, end-market demand quantification, competitive context and co-product credit valuations -- all from an independent source, all designed to feed directly into the economic model Micon is constructing. When you combine independent market data with independent engineering, you have the foundation for an economic case that we believe institutional investors and strategic partners can better evaluate."

"We believe it is also important to highlight the co-product opportunity. The same FBR process that purifies graphite to nuclear grade generates a scrubber exhaust that may contain recoverable concentrations of 18 critical minerals -- 13 rare earths, plus lithium, scandium, yttrium, niobium and molybdenum -- potentially without the need for significant additional reactor capital subject to further engineering and recovery assumptions. If the independent valuation supports the preliminary indications, these credits could influence the project's economic profile; however, the magnitude of any impact will depend on recoveries, payable terms, market conditions, and other engineering and economic assumptions."

"We intend to share findings as each workstream is completed and we expect to provide the market with meaningfully more information in connection with the PEA, which we anticipate will be published this summer."

Peter Wood, PEng, PGeo, vice-president, development, of Albany Graphite, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About the Albany graphite project

The Albany graphite project is an igneous-hosted graphite deposit located in Northern Ontario, held through the company's wholly owned subsidiary, Albany Graphite. Independent bench-scale testing conducted in collaboration with American Energy Technologies Company as previously disclosed by the company on Sept. 22, 2025, has confirmed that Albany graphite achieves ultrahigh purity of 99.9992 per cent with an equivalent boron concentration of 2.60 parts per million (ppm), which meets benchmarks for potential nuclear-grade applications, and has demonstrated near-theoretical electrochemical performance for lithium-ion battery anodes. The project is being advanced as a potential domestic North American source of critical-grade graphite for nuclear, battery and defence supply chains. Graphite is designated a critical mineral by both the government of Canada and the United States Department of Energy.

About Zentek Ltd.

Zentek is a Canadian intellectual property development and commercialization company advancing a portfolio of graphene-enabled and advanced material technologies across clean air, next-generation materials and critical minerals. The company's core platforms are Albany Graphite, ZenGUARD and Triera.

About AppEco Inc.

AppEco is an economics consulting firm delivering expert analysis and strategic insights to organizations across the public and private sectors. The firm is committed to producing independent, data-driven studies, combining rigorous economic methodology with clear communication to support decision-makers.

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