VO.V · 2026-03-26 12:00:00

ValOre Reports Positive Leaching Results from Ongoing Metallurgical Program for Pedra Branca PGM Project, Brazil; 73% Platinum and 74% Palladium Achieved Extraction from Weathered Material and 66% Platinum and 79% Palladium from Chromitite;

Drill Results Metallurgy & Processing

ValOre Reports Positive Leaching Results from Ongoing Metallurgical Program

for Pedra Branca PGM Project, Brazil; 73% Platinum and 74% Palladium

Achieved Extraction from Weathered Material and 66% Platinum and 79%

Palladium from Chromitite;

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 26, 2026 -- ValOre Metals Corp. (“ValOre” or the “Company”) (TSX ‐V: VO; OTCQB:

KVLQF; Frankfurt: KEQ0) today provided an update on metallurgical test work underway at its 100%-owned Pedra Branca

Platinum Group Elements (“PGE”) Project, located in Ceará State, Brazil.

ValOre’s testwork has focused on bioleaching and caustic pre-treatment followed by cyanidation demonstrating reproducible

and encouraging extractions across both the weathered and chromitite composite materials.

In the latest phase, bioleaching achieved recoveries extractions of up to 73% platinum (“Pt”) and 74% palladium (“Pd”) from

weathered material, while caustic pre-treatment tests on chromitite material returned extractions of up to 66% platinum and

79% palladium, supporting the potential for processing pathways for these important near-surface materials at Pedra Branca.

Highlights

• Bioleaching pre-treatment followed by cyanidation achieved extractions of 72.88% Pt and 74.07% Pd from weathered

Esbarro deposit material over a 22-day leaching period;

• Consistent PGE extraction rates achieved by bioleaching support its continued evaluation as a promising processing

pathway for the shallow, higher-grade weathered material, which comprises approximately 30% of the total inferred

resource PGE ounces at Pedra Branca ( CLICK HERE to download 2022 NI 43-101 Resource Estimate Technical

Report*);

• Caustic cracking followed by cyanidation achieved total extractions of 66.42% Pt and 78.81% Pd, highlighting the

potential for a dedicated processing route for high-grade chromitite material; Massive chromitite material currently

modelled represents approximately 5% of the total inferred resource at 2PGE+Au ranging from 6.4 to 8.5 g/t 2PGE+Au,

reinforcing the importance of developing an effective treatment pathway;

• Upcoming test work will include stirred tank reactor testing and heap leach simulation trials to further evaluate both

bioleaching and caustic cracking flowsheets in support of the planned PEA ( CLICK HERE for for a summary of ValOre’s

Phase II Metallurgical test work program).

ValOre’s ongoing metallurgical testwork programs aim to identify optimal processing pathways to recover PGEs from the

Pedra Branca deposits as part of a planned Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) study, targeted for completion at the

end of 2026.

Management Commentary

ValOre’s CEO Nick Smart commented:

“These results provide an important technical validation for the bioleach processing pathway at Pedra Branca. Achieving PGE

extractions above 70% from weathered material through successive test programs, with a notably shorter leaching period in

the current round, demonstrates the reproducibility and potential of this approach. Bioleaching is a process that may also offer

advantages in terms of reduced processing cost and environmental footprint. We look forward to further evaluating its potential

as we advance toward our Pedra Branca Preliminary Economic Assessment.”

Metallurgical Program Overview

ValOre’s metallurgical program, conducted by the University of Cape Town’s Department of Chemical Engineering (“UCT”) is

evaluating two pre-treatment approaches —bioleaching and caustic cracking — as potential methods to liberate PGEs from

silicate and chromite-hosted mineral matrices prior to cyanide leaching. These tests are designed to reproduce earlier

laboratory findings and advance process selection for weathered and chromitite material sourced from the Esbarro deposit at

Pedra Branca. Two pre-treatment routes were evaluated: bioleaching, in which controlled bacterial activity breaks down mineral

matrices prior to cyanidation; and caustic cracking, in which the material is leached in a hot caustic solution followed by

cyanide leaching of the residue. Each method was benchmarked against a control test consisting of cyanide leaching only,

with extractions measured by head grade-to-leachate comparisons for platinum and palladium.

Results and Summary

Bioleaching Pre-treatment: Bioleaching prior to cyanidation achieved extractions of 72.88% Pt and 74.07% Pd over a 22-

day leaching period, consistent with previous results obtained over a 60-day leaching period. The rapid kinetics, high precious

metals recoveries and reproducibility of these strong outcomes establish bioleaching as a promising pathway for enhanced

PGE recovery from weathered material.

Caustic Pre-treatment: Caustic cracking followed by cyanidation on chromitite material achieved extractions of 66.42% Pt

and 78.81% Pd, demonstrating strong performance and highlighting caustic cracking as a potentially effective and targeted

processing route for high-grade chromitite mineralization. In contrast, caustic pre-treatment applied to the weathered material

yielded extractions of 69.88% Pt and 12.81% Pd, confirming its limited effectiveness for this material type.

Next Steps

Building on these results, ValOre, together with lead process engineering consultant Lycopodium Ltd. will continue to advance

metallurgical evaluation of the bioleaching pathway through additional test phases, including:

• Larger-scale tests utilizing stirred tank reactors, and assessment of alternative lixiviants to improve post-bioleaching

PGE recovery (expected completion: Q3 2026);

• Column tests for heap leach simulation (expected completion: Q4 2026);

• Additional variability and scale-up caustic cracking testwork, including assessment of integration into a standalone or

hybrid processing circuit;

• Evaluation of process economics and scalability for flowsheet development and preliminary design (expected

completion: Q4 2026).

Sampling and Preparation

A Phase II metallurgical testwork program will be conducted on fresh and weathered composite samples derived from

mineralized material selected from ValOre’s recent Trado® auger drilling campaigns over the Esbarro deposit (see news

release dated July 2, 2025), together with selected mineralized drill core intervals from twin diamond drill holes completed by

ValOre at the Curiu deposit in 2021 (see news release dated October 4, 2021).

Sample material has been selected to be broadly representative of both weathered and fresh mineralization domains within the

Esbarro and Curiu deposits. The samples are intended to be indicative only of the specific mineralization types tested and

may not be representative of the overall mineral resource present within the Pedra Branca project area.

Head grade determination and chemical characterization of the composite samples were completed by SGS Geosol

Laboratories Ltda. (SGS Brazil) prior to shipment of the prepared material to the University of Cape Town’s Centre for Minerals

Research (CMR), South Africa, for Phase II bioleaching and downstream metallurgical testwork.

The Esbarro and Curiu deposits host NI 43-101 compliant inferred mineral resources, as disclosed in ValOre’s news release

dated March 24, 2022, of 403,000 ounces grading 1.16 g/t 2PGE+Au in 10.8 million tonnes and 150,000 ounces grading 2.20

g/t 2PGE+Au in 2.1 million tonnes, respectively.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”)

CLICK HERE for a summary of ValOre’s policies and procedures related to QA/QC and grade interval reporting.