Mr. Mark Selby reports

SWISS STEEL GROUP AND CANADA NICKEL COMPANY ANNOUNCE INTENTION TO ESTABLISH AN EXCLUSIVE LONG-TERM LOW-CO2 STEEL PARTNERSHIP

Swiss Steel Group and Canada Nickel Company Inc. intend to establish a long-term strategic partnership for the supply of low-carbon semi-finished steel products from Canada. The companies signed an agreement on Oct. 23, 2026, outlining the framework for the envisaged co-operation, combining Canadian resources and energy advantages with Swiss Steel Group's specialty steel manufacturing expertise and established European customer networks.

The intended partnership would provide Swiss Steel Group with access to low-carbon billets and blooms to be further processed for its specialty steel production. An initial supply concept has been developed and technically validated for the American, Canadian, German, Swiss and French facilities. The envisaged partnership would provide Swiss Steel Group with exclusive access to approximately one million tonnes of semi-finished steel products per year from 2030.

"This intended partnership supports an important element of our strategy: focusing our own industrial footprint while securing flexible access to competitive, low-carbon prematerial," said Frank Koch, chief executive officer of Swiss Steel Group. "It would strengthen our ability to serve our customers with high-quality specialty steels while increasing flexibility across our production network. Together with Canada Nickel Company, we will now work towards translating this concept into a commercially and technically viable long-term partnership."

"As Canada prepares to host the European Union later this week, this partnership demonstrates how we can translate our shared economic and industrial priorities into tangible commercial opportunities. Canada's mineral resources and competitive, low-carbon energy advantages, combined with Swiss Steel's manufacturing expertise and European market access, create an opportunity to build secure, low-carbon supply chains that benefit both economies. Rather than simply exporting energy, Canada Nickel is using this energy for value-added production here at home, strengthening Canada's industrial base while effectively exporting Canada's natural gas and electricity advantages to support Europe's competitiveness and long-term supply security. We look forward to working together, along with our existing partners, to unlock European critical minerals funding support for the project as we advance Crawford towards a construction decision in 2027," said Mark Selby, chief executive officer of Canada Nickel Company.

George Pirie, Minister of Northern Economic Development and Growth, said: "Northern Ontario continues to demonstrate its strength as a leader in responsibly produced critical minerals and low-carbon industrial development. This is a perfect example of how Northern Ontario transforms energy into value-added products that benefit the world. The proposed partnership between Canada Nickel and Swiss Steel highlights the growing global demand for Ontario's resources, expertise and competitive advantages. Initiatives like this reinforce Northern Ontario's role in building secure supply chains, driving long-term economic growth and strengthening Canada's position in global markets."

Canada Nickel Company is developing its Crawford Nickel project and intends, through its wholly owned subsidiary NetZero Metals, to transform the concentrates produced by the mine into a finished nickel product and the nickel-chromium magnetite concentrate into low-carbon and potentially net-zero-carbon semi-finished stainless and specialty steel products.

About Canada Nickel Company Inc.

Canada Nickel Company is advancing the next generation of nickel-sulphide projects to deliver nickel required to feed the high-growth electric vehicle and stainless steel markets. Canada Nickel Company has applied in multiple jurisdictions to trademark the terms NetZero Nickel, NetZero Cobalt and NetZero Iron and is pursuing the development of processes to allow the production of net-zero carbon nickel, cobalt and iron products. Canada Nickel provides investors with leverage to nickel in low-political-risk jurisdictions. Canada Nickel is currently anchored by its 100-per-cent-owned flagship Crawford nickel sulphide project in the heart of the prolific Timmins-Cochrane mining camp.

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