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;

12:00 Uhr  |  GlobeNewswire

VANCOUVER, 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.

Related News Releases

CLICK HERE for a summary of ValOre's Phase II Metallurgical test work program for Pedra Branca, including highlights of the Phase I test work

CLICK HERE for the Announcement of Engineering Company Lycopodium as lead Process Engineering Consultant in support of a future Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA')

Qualified Person ("QP")

The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Thiago Diniz, P.Geo., ValOre's QP and Vice President of Exploration.

About ValOre Metals Corp.

ValOre Metals Corp. (TSX?V: VO) is a Canadian company with a team aiming to deploy capital and knowledge on projects which benefit from substantial prior investment by previous owners, existence of high-value mineralization on a large scale, and the possibility of adding tangible value through exploration and innovation.

ValOre's Pedra Branca Platinum Group Elements Project comprises 45 exploration licenses covering a total area of 51,096 hectares (126,260 acres) in northeastern Brazil. At Pedra Branca, 7 distinct PGE+Au deposit areas host, in aggregate, a 2022 NI 43-101 inferred resource of 2.198 Moz 2PGE+Au contained in 63.6 Mt grading 1.08 g/t 2PGE+Au. ValOre's team believes the Pedra Branca project has significant exploration discovery and resource expansion potential. (CLICK HERE to download 2022 technical report* and CLICK HERE for news release dated March 24, 2022).

*The 2022 Technical Report is entitled "Independent Technical Report -Mineral Resource Update on the Pedra Branca PGE Project, Ceará State, Brazil" was prepared as a National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on behalf of ValOre Metals Corp. with an effective date of March 08, 2022. The 2022 Technical Report by Independent qualified persons, Fábio Valério (P.Geo.) and Porfirio Cabaleiro (P.Eng.), of GE21, commissioned to complete the mineral resource estimate while Chris Kaye of Mine and Quarry Engineering Services Inc. (MQes), was commissioned to review the metallurgical information. The Mineral Resource estimates were prepared in accordance with the CIM Standards, and the CIM Guidelines, using geostatistical, plus economic and mining parameters appropriate to the deposit. Mineral Resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability, and may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, marketing, and other relevant issues. Mineral Resources are based upon a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t PGE+Au, correlated to Pd_eq grade of 0.35 g/t, and were limited by an economic pit built in Geovia Whittle 4.3 software and following the geometric and economic parameters as disclosed in the 2022 NI 43-101 Technical Report,

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Jim Paterson"

James R. Paterson, Chairman

ValOre Metals Corp.

For further information about ValOre Metals Corp., or this news release, please visit our website at www.valoremetals.com or contact Investor Relations at 778-819-4484, or by email at contact@valoremetals.com.

ValOre Metals Corp. is a proud member of Discovery Group. For more information please visit: http://www.discoverygroup.ca/

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This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Although ValOre believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements have been based on factors and assumptions concerning future events that may prove to be inaccurate. These factors and assumptions are based upon currently available information to ValOre. Such statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could influence actual results or events and cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. A number of important factors including those set forth in other public filings could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include the future operations of ValOre and economic factors. Readers are cautioned to not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this release and, except as required by applicable law, ValOre does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. ValOre undertakes no obligation to comment on analyses, expectations or statements made by third parties in respect of ValOre, or its financial or operating results or (as applicable), their securities.