Critical Minerals & Rare Earths

Environmental Minerals Inc. controls a California natural pozzolan system that hosts a full rare earth element (REE) suite together with sixteen additional elements that are currently designated as critical minerals by the United States government. This critical mineral footprint, integrated with EMI’s Class N pozzolan resource base, underpins the Company’s internal Project Vault strategic minerals initiative.

Rare Earth Elements (REE) Suite

Fusion ICP‑MS analyses (ALS Global, method ME‑MS81) on percussion drill samples confirm the presence of light, middle, and heavy rare earth elements within the pozzolan host sequence. The REE suite includes:

These rare earth elements occur within the same high‑silica volcanic tuff and welded tuff units that have been independently verified as ASTM C618 Class N natural pozzolan, typically showing silica contents in the mid‑60 percent range (SiO₂) with consistent major‑oxide chemistry.

The Sixteen Non‑REE Critical Minerals

In addition to the REE spectrum, multi‑element assays (ALS Global) and independent precious‑metal laboratory work (Iseman Consulting and NSH / Inspectorate) support the presence of the following sixteen non‑REE critical‑mineral elements within EMI’s mineralized material:

Battery and Strategic Metals

Base and Specialty Metals

Platinum Group Metals (PGMs)

Silicon as a Critical Mineral

Together, these sixteen non‑REE critical‑mineral elements, plus the full rare earth element suite and yttrium, align EMI’s resource base with the current U.S. critical minerals list and related domestic supply‑chain objectives.

Alignment with U.S. Critical Minerals Strategy

When EMI’s assay dataset is compared with the official U.S. critical minerals list, California mines pozzolan system is interpreted to contain a full REE spectrum together with at least sixteen additional U.S.‑designated critical minerals. This positions Environmental Minerals Inc. as a potential contributor to U.S. government critical minerals policy, including infrastructure, defense, and energy transition applications, subject to further technical and economic evaluation.

Project Vault – Strategic Minerals Initiative

Project Vault is EMI’s internal designation for its integrated rare earth and critical‑minerals opportunity hosted within the California pozzolan system. The concept is to develop and advance critical‑mineral and REE optionality alongside the Company’s core natural pozzolan business, with the potential for future co‑product or by‑product recovery pathways once sufficient drilling, metallurgical testwork, engineering, and economic analysis have been completed.

The presence of these "critical minerals" elements is supported by multi‑element analytical lab and assay from independent laboratory reports, and is reflected in the Company’s long‑term strategic planning and engagement with institutional investors and infrastructure‑focused capital providers.

For detailed scientific and technical information, including NI 43‑101–style disclosure on the California Mine Project, Qualified Person reports are available to qualified institutional parties on request and will be referenced in Environmental Minerals Inc.’s future technical reporting.