Mining Inspectorate Recommends Mining Lease Approval FOR Leading Edge Materials’ Norra Kärr Heavy Rare Earth Elements Project - Submits to the Swedish Government FOR a Final Decision
NEWS RELEASE March 10, 2026
LEADING EDGE MATERIALS CORP.
14th Floor 1040 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, V6E 4H1
[email protected] | www.leadingedgematerials.com
TSX.V: LEM | Nasdaq First North: LEMSE | OTCQB: LEMIF | FRA: 7FL
MINING INSPECTORATE RECOMMENDS MINING LEASE APPROVAL FOR LEADING EDGE
MATERIALS’ NORRA KÄRR HEAVY RARE EARTH ELEMENTS PROJECT - SUBMITS TO THE
SWEDISH GOVERNMENT FOR A FINAL DECISION
Vancouver, March 10, 2026 – Leading Edge Materials Corp. (“Leading Edge Materials ” or the
“Company”) ( TSXV: LEM ) ( Nasdaq First North: LEMSE ) ( OTCQB: LEMIF ) (FRA: 7FL ) is pleased to
announce that The Swedish Mining Inspectorate (Sw. Bergsstaten) has chosen to submit the Company’s
100% owned Swedish subsidiary Greenna Mineral AB’s (“GMAB”) application for an Exploitation
Concession for Norra Kärr to the Swedish Government for a final decision.
The Mining Inspectorate itself recommends in its decision that the application (Norra Kärr K nr 2) should
be approved. This follows the positive consultation responses from the County Administrative Boards
(“CABs”) of Jönköping and Östergötland in December last year.
Key Facts
• Norra Kärr is a globally significant source of HREEs with the economic advantage of valuable
industrial minerals, specifically nepheline syenite. Today, Europe relies almost exclusively on
China for its imports of HREEs. China dominates the rare earth elements supply chain.
• Developing Norra Kärr is of great importance not only for Sweden, but for Europe. Geopolitical
tensions and unstable global trade flows mean that it is more important than ever to produce
HREEs in the region and establish supply chain resilience.
• The Swedish Geological Survey (“SGU”) discovered Norra Kärr in the 1900s and, in 2011,
designated it as being of National Interest due to the significance of its rare earth elements
(“REEs”) for Sweden and Europe.
• With the respect to the Company’s application for an Exploitation Concession, SGU in its capacity
as an expert authority for issues relating to geology and minerals in Sweden has stated that the
deposit at Norra Kärr is very important for Sweden's and the EU's supply of rare earth metals,
and that Norra Kärr is one of Europe's richest deposits for these minerals – especially with regard
to HREEs.
• Norra Kärr is estimated to produce approximately 248 tonnes of Dysprosium and 36 tonnes of
Terbium oxides annually over an initial 26 -year mine life - covering only 30 percent of the
currently defined resource.
• Dysprosium and Terbium are HREEs that are essential to European manufacturing of permanent
magnets, which in turn are crucial for the development of components for electric vehicles, wind
turbines and military applications.
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For more detailed information on the Norra Kärr refer to the Preliminary Economic Assessment dated
August 2021:
https://www.leadingedgematerials.com/_files/ugd/f9767f_bd96a0d7d9c04b95b43b18a1ab157d98.pdf
Kurt Budge CEO comments:
"We are ple ased that all government agencies involved in this permitting p rocess so far have
recommended approval of our application. Developing Norra Kärr is essential to building European
supply chain resilience for Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREE), which is crucial for Swedish and European
security as well as the energy transition.
We note that while there may be differing views on the specific conditions to be included in the
Exploitation Concession, these details can be worked through and addressed constructively and quickly.
With the Mining Inspectorate confirming that all requirements are met and the CABs having previously
endorsed the application, we are excited to progress our work to fully permit and develop Norra Kärr.”
___________________________________________________________________________________.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Leading Edge Materials Corp.
Kurt Budge, CEO
For further information, please contact the Company at:
www.leadingedgematerials.com
Vancouver Corporate Head Office at: 778-686-5357
About Leading Edge Materials
Leading Edge Materials is a Canadian public company focused on developing a portfolio of critical raw
material projects located in the European Union. Critical raw materials are determined as such by the
European Union based on their economic importance an d supply risk. They are directly linked to high
growth technologies such as lithium -ion batteries and permanent magnets for electric motors , wind
turbines and defence applications. The Company’s portfolio of projects includes the 100% owned Woxna
Graphite mine (Sweden), 100% owned Norra Kärr Heavy Rare Earth Elements project (Sweden), and the
51% owned Bihor Sud Nickel Cobalt exploration alliance (Romania).
Additional Information
The information was submitted for publication through the agency of the contact person set out above,
on 10 March 2026, at 11:00 AM Vancouver time.
Leading Edge Materials is listed on the TSXV under the symbol “LEM”, OTCQB under the symbol “LEMIF”
and Nasdaq First North Stockholm under the symbol “LEMSE”. Svensk Kapitalmark nadsgranskning
(“SKMG”) is the Company’s Certified Adviser for the Nasdaq First North Growth Market (Stockholm) and
may be contacted via email [email protected] or by phone +46 (0)8 913 008.
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