ILC Critical Minerals closes private placement

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 23, 2026) - ILC Critical Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: ILC) (OTCQB: ILHMF) (FSE: IAH0) ("ILC" or the "Company") announces that the Company has closed its non-brokered private placement financing of common shares (the "Offering") announced on April 8, 2026. On closing, the Company issued 19,125,000 common shares for gross proceeds of $382,500. The Company anticipates that $126,784 or 33.15% of the Offering proceeds will be used for exploration and general working capital purposes, and $255,716 or 66.85% for management, director and professional fees to insiders.

Payments to persons conducting Investor Relations activities will be less than 2% of the gross proceeds of the Offering. Closing of the Offering is subject to acceptance by the TSXV. All securities issued in connection with the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period from the date of issuance under applicable Canadian securities laws.

No finders fees have been payable on the transaction. The Offering constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as four directors and an officer of the Company participated in the Offering. The Company is exempt from the requirements to obtain a formal valuation or minority shareholder approval in connection with the shares in reliance on the exemptions contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, respectively, as the fair market value of the shares to be issued to directors and insiders does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

The Company did not file a material change report 21 days prior to the closing of the private placement as the details of the participation of insiders of the Company had not been confirmed at that time. About ILC Critical Minerals Ltd. ILC Critical Minerals Ltd., formerly International Lithium Corp., has exploration activities in Ontario, Canada, with intentions to expand into Southern Africa. It has projects at various stages, ranging from Preliminary Economic Assessment at Raleigh Lake to Pre-Drilling at Wolf Ridge.

The primary target metals in Canada are lithium, rubidium and copper. There are three projects (two in Ontario and one in Ireland) in which ILC has sold its share, but where the Company stands to receive future payments from either a resource milestone being achieved or from a Net Smelter Royalty. While the world's politicians remain divided on the future of the energy market's historic dependence on oil and gas and on "Net Zero", there is in any scenario an ever-increasing and significant demand for electricity driven by AI and data centres, and by a likely unstoppable momentum towards electric vehicles and grid-scale electricity storage.

All of these contribute to rising demand for lithium, copper, and other metals. Rubidium is also a critical metal, strategic for high-precision clocks, space technology, and improving the performance of certain types of solar panels. ILC has seen the politically driven, increasingly urgent push by the USA, Canada, the EU, and other major economies to safeguard their supplies of critical minerals and to become more self-sufficient.