Mr. Gary Lewis reports

AE FUELS EXPANDS SOUTH WOODIE WOODIE MANGANESE FOOTPRINT WITH GRANT OF STRATEGIC TENEMENT

AE Fuels Corp. has been granted exploration licence E46/1580 at the South Woodie Woodie manganese project in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The new licence covers 34.95 kilometres, increasing AEF's tenure to 533.43 km and adding contiguous ground immediately west of the Pearana and Pothole prospect areas. Pearana and Pothole are outside the areas supporting the company's existing Inferred Mineral Resource and were the subject of AEF's recently completed high-resolution gravity program, which defined 44 priority drill targets for systematic testing (Sept. 2, 2026).

The combination of an established mineral resource, defined exploration targets outside the existing resource area and an expanded contiguous land position provides AEF with multiple opportunities to test the broader scale of the South Woodie Woodie manganese system.

"South Woodie Woodie is moving beyond a single-resource proposition toward a broader project-scale opportunity," said Gary Lewis, chief executive officer and director of AE Fuels. "We already have a manganese resource, a defined beneficiation pathway and successful downstream process development. The recent gravity results gave us a focused pathway to test Pearana and Pothole, and the grant of E46/1580 now extends our exploration footprint immediately west of those prospects. The new tenement contains prospective geology associated with manganese mineralization elsewhere in the district and structural trends comparable to Pearana. Our objective is to test the broader resource potential of South Woodie Woodie while advancing the downstream pathway toward high-purity manganese products for allied and U.S.-aligned supply chains."

Strategic expansion of South Woodie Woodie

E46/1580 lies immediately west of E46/1521 and E46/1387, which contain the Pearana and Pothole prospect areas. Pearana and Pothole are being advanced as potential sources of additional manganese resources separate from the areas supporting the company's existing inferred mineral resource. The new tenement extends AEF's tenure immediately west of these prospects and provides additional ground for regional geological, structural and geophysical assessment. Importantly, this additional ground complements the pipeline of exploration targets outside the areas currently supporting the South Woodie Woodie mineral resource.

Established manganese district

E46/1580 is located approximately 33 km south of the long-life, high-grade Woodie Woodie manganese mining operation. Regional mapping identifies Pinjian chert breccia within E46/1580, a rock formation associated with manganese mineralization at the Woodie Woodie mine, the Contact deposits and the Pearana-Pothole targets.

Two interpreted structural trends, east-west and northwest-southeast, intersect within the tenement. This geometry is analogous to the interpreted structural setting at Pearana, where intersecting structures are considered an important exploration control. The mapped geology and structure provide a clear basis for follow-up exploration but do not demonstrate the presence of manganese mineralization, which requires field investigation and drill testing.

Building scale at South Woodie Woodie

South Woodie Woodie hosts an inferred mineral resource of 11.3 million tonnes at 15 per cent Mn. The recently identified Pearana and Pothole targets lie outside the areas supporting the existing mineral resource, providing AEF with opportunities to test the potential scale of the broader manganese system. AEF has also demonstrated a beneficiation pathway and, through continuous minipilot testwork, produced battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate crystals.

The grant of E46/1580 expands the area available to test the broader scale of the manganese system while the company continues to advance its processing pathway. Together, these initiatives support a dual-track focus on potential resource growth and downstream value creation.

Next steps

The company will incorporate E46/1580 into its broader South Woodie Woodie exploration strategy. Initial work is expected to include integration and review of available geological and geophysical datasets, field reconnaissance and target validation, followed by assessment of priority areas for additional geophysics and drill targeting. In parallel, AEF will continue advancing the 44 priority drill targets identified at Pearana and Pothole and its downstream manganese processing pathway.

Qualified person

John Levings, BSc, FAusIMM, technical director, AE Fuels, is the qualified person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, responsible for the scientific and technical information in this news release. Mr. Levings has reviewed, verified, and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Mr. Levings is not independent of the company for the purposes of NI 43-101.

About AE Fuels Corp.

AE Fuels is a U.S.-aligned critical minerals company focused on battery-grade manganese and fluorspar-hydrofluoric acid (HF) supply chains. The company's strategy connects allied-country manganese supply (Pilbara, Western Australia) and domestic U.S. fluorspar supply (New Mexico, U.S.) with U.S. mid-stream processing and downstream supply chains. Manganese and fluorspar are designated critical minerals in the U.S., Australia and European Union, and are essential to multiple high-growth industries including battery materials, semiconductor fabrication and advanced electronics, nuclear fuel processing, and clean energy technologies. AE is advancing development activities aimed at delivering reliable, allied-sourced supply of these materials to reduce foreign dependency and strengthen U.S. industrial base resilience across these key industries.

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