Stillwater Critical Minerals Reports Wide and High-Grade Near-Surface Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Au Sulphide Mineralization Extending CZ Deposit at Stillwater West Project in Montana, USAVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / February 26, 2026 / Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSX.V:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:J0G) (the "Company", or "Stillwater") reports the first results from its 2025 resource expansion drill campaign at the Company's 100%-owned Stillwater West project in Montana, USA. Stillwater West is one of the few U.S. critical minerals projects with a significant nickel and platinum group element ("PGE") resource and is located immediately adjacent to Sibanye-Stillwater's Stillwater mines, the only primary PGE producer in the United States. This release is focused on the CZ deposit area at Iron Mountain where drilling intersected shallow, near-surface sulphide-rich polymetallic nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum-palladium-gold ("Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Au") mineralization that extends beyond the limits of the January 2023 Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE").HighlightsThe 2025 drill program was designed to expand the January 2023 MRE along a 10-kilometer ("Km") mineralized trend at Stillwater West, where a broad zone of sulphide-rich nickel, copper, cobalt, PGE, gold and chromium mineralization has been defined across multiple deposits.Two holes were completed at the CZ deposit and both intersected shallow, near-surface sulphide mineralization. As detailed in Table 1, broad, continuous bulk-tonnage intercepts contain internal higher-grade horizons, demonstrating continuity across a thick mineralized package and confirming significant opportunity for resource expansion beyond current MRE boundaries:CZ2025-01:Bulk tonnage zone: 201.6 meters ("m") @ 0.20% Recovered Nickel Equivalent ("NiEq") from 16.9 m (see Table 1 for full metal grades);Mid-grade zone: 53.3 m @ 0.37% NiEq from 24.4 m;Higher-grade zone: 29.0 m @ 0.44% NiEq from 41.5 m; andHigh-grade zone: 4.0 m @ 0.76% NiEq from 43.3 m.These intercepts include 1.52 m grading 0.92% Ni, 0.27% Cu, 0.085% Co, and 0.58 g/t 3E (Pt+Pd+Au) starting at 43.3 m, and 3.7 m grading 1.0 g/t 3E starting at 44.8m.CZ2025-02:Bulk tonnage zone: 106.1 m @ 0.34% NiEq from 12.2 m (see Table 1);Mid-grade zone: 84.4 m @ 0.38% NiEq from 13.4 m;Higher-grade zone: 30.5 m @ 0.51% NiEq from 60.0 m;High-grade zone: 4.9 m @ 0.73 % NiEq from 75.9 m as 0.40% Ni, 0.23%Cu, 0.042% Co, and 0.48 g/t 3E; andHigh-grade zone: 4.9 m @ 0.72% NiEq from 85.6 m as 0.43% Ni, 0.29% Cu, 0.043% Co, and 0.40 g/t 3E.Results extend known mineralization toward the Central and HGR deposits, confirming strike continuity of the shallow-dipping conductive sulphide target and highlighting potential for meaningful resource expansion east and west along the open Peridotite and Basal Zones.Assays are pending from the remaining six holes, along with rhodium results for the 2025 program.Stillwater is funded and permitted and is finalizing 2026 drill plans focused on resource growth and step-out testing of conductive sulphide targets.Drill core will be on display at core shack 3116B on March 3rd and 4th, 2026, at PDAC.Table 1 - Highlight 2025 drill results from Iron Mountain CZ deposit area. Notes: 1) Highlighted significant intercepts with grade-thickness values over 7 percent-meter recovered NiEq are presented above, except as noted. 2) Recovered Nickel Equivalents ("NiEq") are presented for comparative purposes using conservative long-term metal prices (all USD): $8.00/lb nickel (Ni), $4.50/lb copper (Cu), $15.00/lb cobalt (Co), $1,250/oz platinum (Pt), $1,250/oz palladium (Pd), $3,000/oz gold (Au), and $6,500/oz rhodium (Rh). 3) NiEq is determined as follows: NiEq% = [Ni% x recovery] + [Cu% x recovery x Cu price/ Ni price] + [Co% x recovery x Co price / Ni price] + [Pt g/t x recovery / 31.103 x Pt price / Ni price / 2,204 x 100] + [Pd g/t x recovery / 31.103 x Pd price / Ni price / 2,204 x 100] + [Au g/t x recovery / 31.103 x Au price / Ni price / 2,204 x 100]. 4) In the above calculations: 31.103 = grams per troy ounce, 2,204 = lbs per metric tonne, and 100 and 0.01 convert assay results reported in % and g/t. 5) The following recoveries have been assumed for purposes of the above equivalent calculations: 85% for Ni and 90% for all other listed metals, based on recoveries at similar nearby operations. 6) Total metal equivalent values include both base and precious metals. In terms of dollar value, 0.20% nickel equates to a copper value of 0.36%, or a palladium value of 0.88 g/t, using the above metal values. 7) Intervals are reported as drilled widths and are believed to be representative of the actual width of mineralization.Table 2 - Drill Hole Location and Depths Stillwater's President and CEO, Michael Rowley, said "These results confirm the extension of shallow sulphide-rich mineralization beyond the current CZ deposit resource and demonstrate the effectiveness of our updated geological model. Importantly, continuity of mineralization towards th