Apex confirms favourable monazite and bastnaesite mineralogy at Rift

Highlights:

Mineralogical analysis confirms monazite and bastnaesite as the dominant rare earth element (REE)-bearing minerals within the Trinity and Neo zones at the Rift Project

Monazite and bastnaesite have well-established mineral processing flowsheets for recovery from carbonatite-type deposits and, therefore, significantly derisk the Rift Project by providing a clear pathway and approach for testwork.

Monazite and bastnaesite are the dominant source minerals for REEs globally , both today and historically, and thus form the backbone of the rare earth raw materials industry.

Mineralogical data will inform preliminary metallurgical testwork anticipated to begin shortly at SGS Canada's Lakefield, ON, facility.

Sean Charland, CEO of Apex Critical Metals, commented: "These mineralogical results are an important confirmation for the Rift Project and validate the historical literature. Monazite and bastnaesite are the same two minerals that underpin the majority of the world's existing REE supply chain. Seeing them as the dominant REE hosts at Rift, rather than a complex assemblage of less-understood phases, is a strong signal for the potential metallurgical simplicity of this deposit as we advance toward our inaugural mineral resource estimate."

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / August 20, 2026 / Apex Critical Metals Corp. ("Apex" or the "Company") (CSE:APXC)(OTCQX:APXCF)(FWB:KL9)(Euronext Access Paris:MLAPX), a mineral exploration company focused on advancing its strategic 100%-controlled Rift Rare Earth Project within the Elk Creek Carbonatite Complex in southeastern Nebraska, U.S.A., is pleased to report quantitative X-ray diffraction (QXRD) results collected across drillholes RIFT26-001A, RIFT26-002, RIFT26-003 and RIFT26-005A.

Key Observations and Takeaways

Mineralogical characterization was completed on representative drill core reject samples selected from drillholes RIFT26-001A, RIFT26-002, RIFT26-003 and RIFT26-005A by Quantified X-ray Diffraction (QXRD). The results demonstrate that REE mineralization at Rift is hosted predominantly within monazite and bastnaesite, the two REE minerals responsible for the substantial majority of global rare earth oxide production. Monazite and bastnaesite have well-documented processing flow sheets which reduce the technical risks when compared with other novel REE mineral species.

Global carbonatite-sourced REE supply is primarily derived from monazite and bastnaesite. Decades of industrial-scale operating history at deposits such as Mountain Pass and Bayan Obo have refined the processing routes for these two minerals, reducing the technical and metallurgical risks typically associated with other, less-established REE mineral phases.

Building on the QXRD results reported herein, the Company has engaged SGS Geochemistry to complete TIMA (TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer) analysis on select samples from the Trinity and Neo Zones. TIMA is an automated mineralogical technique to characterize individual mineral grains, providing quantitative data on REE mineral species, grain size distribution, and degree of liberation from host gangue minerals. Results from the TIMA program are expected to refine understanding of REE mineral speciation. This information is intended to inform the design of preliminary metallurgical testwork at the Rift Project which will be undertaken by SGS Geochemistry following TIMA results.