AE Fuels Expands Exploration Tenure in South Woodie Woodie Manganese Project

AE Fuels Corporation has expanded its exploration footprint in the South Woodie Woodie manganese project in Western Australia with the grant of a new five-year exploration licence. The new licence, E46/1580, covers an additional 34.95 square kilometers, bringing the total exploration tenure to 533.43 square kilometers. This expansion adds contiguous ground immediately west of the Pearana and Pothole prospect areas, where the company recently identified 44 priority drill targets outside the existing resource area.

The new tenement is located approximately 33 kilometers south of the long-life, high-grade Woodie Woodie manganese mining operation. The area contains geology associated with manganese mineralization, including the Pinjian Chert Breccia, which is linked to manganese deposits at the Woodie Woodie mine and the Pearana-Pothole targets.

Gary Lewis, CEO and Director of AE Fuels, expressed enthusiasm about the strategic expansion. "We already have a manganese resource, a defined beneficiation pathway, and successful downstream process development. The recent gravity results gave us a focused pathway to test Pearana and Pothole, and the grant of E46/1580 now extends our exploration footprint immediately west of those prospects."

The expanded tenure strengthens AE Fuels' broader resource growth strategy around its existing 11.3 million metric tons at 15.0% Mn Inferred Mineral Resource. The company continues to advance its downstream processing pathway, aiming to produce battery-grade High-Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate crystals.

The grant of E46/1580 is part of AE Fuels' dual-track focus on potential resource growth and downstream value creation. Initial work is expected to include integration and review of available geological and geophysical datasets, field reconnaissance, and target validation. The company will also continue advancing the 44 priority drill targets identified at Pearana and Pothole.

John Levings, BSc, Technical Director of AE Fuels, is the Qualified Person responsible for the scientific and technical information in this news release. He has reviewed, verified, and approved the information.

AE Fuels Corporation 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 are essential to multiple high-growth industries including battery materials, semiconductor fabrication, and clean energy technologies.