Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - September 9, 2026) - AE Fuels Corporation (TSXV: AEF) (OTCQB: NRGFF) ("AEF" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has qualified to join the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium ("DIBC"), providing the Company with a platform to engage with U.S. Government, industry and other participants focused on strengthening the U.S. defense industrial base.
DIBC membership aligns directly with AEF's strategy to develop secure critical-minerals supply chains combining U.S. domestic resources, allied feedstocks and U.S. midstream and downstream processing, focused on manganese and fluorspar.
Gary Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of AEF, commented: "Joining DIBC is an important step in the evolution of AEF. We have deliberately built the Company around minerals where the United States and its allies face significant supply-chain vulnerabilities, and around a strategy that extends beyond simply developing mines.
"Our objective is to connect strategic resources in the United States and allied jurisdictions with processing, technology, customers and government partnerships. South Woodie Woodie in Western Australia provides an established manganese resource and an increasingly advanced pathway towards higher-value manganese products, while Fluorite Ridge in New Mexico provides the foundation for a meaningful U.S. domestic fluorspar position.
"The strategic value in critical minerals increasingly sits beyond the mine gate. DIBC provides another avenue for AEF to engage with the organisations working to address those vulnerabilities."
AEF's U.S. and Allied Critical Minerals Strategy
AEF is building a critical minerals platform designed to connect resources in the United States and allied jurisdictions with the processing capability, technology, customers, government relationships and capital required to produce materials industry actually needs.
The Company is focused on manganese and fluorspar, two strategically important minerals where supply-chain concentration and import dependence create urgent opportunities for new secure sources and processing capacity.
AEF's objective is not simply to discover more tonnes. It is to systematically increase the strategic and commercial value of those tonnes by advancing resources alongside processing, product development and commercial pathways.
Building on Progress During 2026
At the South Woodie Woodie Manganese Project in Western Australia, AEF has an NI 43-101 Inferred Mineral Resource of 11.3 million tonnes grading 15.0% manganese within an approximately 533 km² landholding. Continuous pilot-scale purification work during 2026 demonstrated 95-99% manganese extraction and produced battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate ("HPMSM") crystals within target impurity specifications.
AEF has also completed a high-resolution gravity program at the Pearana and Pothole prospect areas comprising 3,839 gravity stations and defining 44 priority drill targets, providing a focused pathway to test the potential for additional manganese resources beyond the Company's existing resource base.
At Fluorite Ridge in New Mexico, AEF is advancing technical, stakeholder and environmental work across a historic fluorspar mining district with multiple former producing mines and documented high-grade mineralisation. The Company is also evaluating opportunities to expand its regional footprint and examining how domestic and other secure feedstocks could ultimately support U.S.-based processing and higher-value fluorine products.
Experience to Execute the Strategy
AEF has assembled Board, management and advisory capability spanning U.S. Government and critical-minerals policy, mining and project development, battery materials, processing, offtake, capital markets and strategic partnerships.
Chair Melissa Sanderson brings senior U.S. diplomatic, mining and critical-minerals policy experience, including with Freeport-McMoRan; CEO Gary Lewis brings a track record of building resource companies globally; director Mitchell Smith brings battery-metals, offtake and capital-markets experience; and director Derek Marshall brings extensive mining, project development and operational experience, including direct knowledge of the South Woodie Woodie manganese district.
Together with AEF's technical and commercial advisers, this provides the Company with something many junior resource companies do not have: the capability to move beyond exploration into processing, strategic partnerships and supply chain execution.
Our 2-3 Year Strategy
Over the next two to three years, AEF's strategy is to convert its two strategic assets into a fundable critical minerals platform. That means advancing South Woodie Woodie toward higher-value battery-grade manganese products, positioning Fluorite Ridge as a domestic U.S. fluorspar supplier, and building the "above-ground" elements that turn resource projects into development opportunities: processing, product qualification, customers, permits, government alignment, funding pathways and strategic partnerships.
These are the factors that can reduce risk, attract capital and create commercial value. AEF is pursuing appropriate strategic partnerships, research programs and non-dilutive funding opportunities, while maintaining strong shareholder alignment through Board and management ownership.
AEF is being built for where critical minerals markets are heading, not where they have been. We believe the next phase will increasingly be shaped by government policy, processing capability, security of supply and access to trusted allied jurisdictions. AEF is positioning the Company at the juncture of those emerging U.S. and allied supply chains.
DIBC Membership
DIBC membership provides AEF with a platform to monitor relevant consortium opportunities, evaluate potential collaboration pathways and engage with participants focused on U.S. defense industrial base priorities.
DIBC membership does not constitute a grant, funding award, government contract, project approval, procurement decision or endorsement by DIBC or the U.S. Government. There can be no assurance that AEF will submit any proposal through DIBC, that any proposal will be selected, or that any funding, contract, collaboration, award or other agreement will result from the Company's membership.
On behalf of the board of directors of the Company:
Gary Lewis,
CEO and Director
About AE Fuels Corporation
AE Fuels Corporation (TSXV: AEF) (OTCQB: NRGFF) is a US-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 US fluorspar supply (New Mexico, USA) with US midstream processing and downstream supply chains. Manganese and fluorspar are designated critical minerals in the US, Australia and EU, and essential to multiple high-growth industries including battery materials, semiconductor fabrication and advanced electronics, nuclear fuel processing and clean energy technologies. AEF is advancing development activities aimed at delivering reliable, allied-sourced supply of these materials to reduce foreign dependency and strengthen US industrial base resilience across these key industries.
For further information please contact:
Gary Lewis, CEO and Director
T +61 422 880 055 E gl@aefuels.com W www.aefuels.com
Susan Assadi, Public Affairs
T +1 347 977 7125 E sa@aefuels.com
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