Critical One Energy discovers gold and antimony at Howells Lake

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 20, 2026) - Critical One Energy Inc. (CSE: CRTL) (OTCQB: MMTLF) (FSE: 4EF) (" Critical One " or the " Company ") is pleased to announce that new assay results have identified additional near-surface antimony ("Sb") mineralization, confirming the Northeast extension of a high-grade antimony zone, and discovered gold ("Au") mineralization at its flagship Howells Lake Antimony-Gold Project ("Howells Lake Project"), located in the Thunder Bay Mining Division and approximately 120 kilometres west of the Ring of Fire access corridor in northwestern Ontario, Canada.

Hole HWL-2026-016 returned more high-grade antimony, extending the footprint approximately 70 metres northeast of HWL-2026-006 and HWL-2026-007 (per news releases issued on May 15, 2026 and July 7, 2026 ) and add substantially greater mineralized core length at direct ship antimony grades. Together with additional near-surface antimony and the new gold discovery, the results improve on the historical geological picture and add important modern data toward the Company's objective of defining a current mineral resource.

Highlights

High-grade antimony: Drillhole HWL-2026-016 returned 31.5 metres ("m") grading 4.9% antimony ("Sb"), including 4.0 m at 21.2% Sb , and a separate interval of 13.9 m grading 6.6% Sb, including 1.0 m at 36.9% Sb .

Near-surface antimony: HWL-2026-003 returned 6.0 m grading 2.9% Sb, including 1.5 m at 6.5% Sb , from 62 m downhole. HWL-2026-005 returned 1.7 m grading 7.0% Sb from approximately 72 m downhole, while HWL-2026-004 intersected multiple additional near-surface antimony intervals.

Proximal gold mineralization : HWL-2026-016 returned 17.0 m grading 1.3 g/t gold ("Au"), including 3.0 m at 2.0 g/t Au , below the principal antimony intervals, with additional gold occurring in partial overlap with the lower portion of the 31.5 m Sb interval. More th