Canada Nickel and NetCarb Advance Strategic Partnership to Unlock Zero Carbon Industrial Cluster in Northeastern Ontario

Highlights

• Unlocking additional value from carbon sequestration and mineral by-products from Canada Nickel Company Inc. tailings
  
• Enabling multiple low-carbon industries: blue-green hydrogen, ammonia, urea fertilizer, and magnesium products
  
• Supporting Ontario and Eastern Canada's self-sufficiency in fertilizers and magnesium
  
• Advancing local clean energy and megatonne carbon removal using regional biomass
  

TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - Canada Nickel Company Inc. ("Canada Nickel" or the "Company") (TSXV: CNC) (OTCQX: CNIKF) is pleased to announce the next phase of its strategic partnership with NetCarb, outlining new product opportunities and a path forward for unlocking the potential for a zero carbon industrial cluster in Northeastern Ontario. This collaboration leverages NetCarb's advanced carbon sequestration process which can utilize tailings from the Crawford Nickel Project and the Company's other projects across the Timmins Nickel District to capture and store carbon dioxide while producing valuable by-products.

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Mark Selby, CEO of Canada Nickel, said, "This next phase of collaboration with NetCarb is a pivotal step forward in our strategic partnership. We have completed an initial assessment of high-potential products that leverage the minerals in our tailings, the inherent strengths of Northeast Ontario, and each of our proprietary technologies to identify potential anchor industries for a Northeast Ontario zero-carbon industrial cluster. As we did with our initial development of our patented IPT Carbonation process, we will rapidly assess the technical and economic viability of each opportunity, leveraging available government funding to take each opportunity through each stage from lab scale to pilot scale to full feasibility. This approach will enable the Company to identify and attract potential partners to advance each of these opportunities as the Company continues to focus on advancing its flagship Crawford Project."

Since announcing a strategic partnership on June 9, 2025, Canada Nickel and NetCarb have made progress in understanding how the NetCarb proprietary carbon sequestration process can create value from Crawford tailings. This technology has the potential to sequester up to ten times the amount of CO2 that Canada Nickel's proprietary IPT Carbonation can achieve, while also generating by-products such as hydrogen and magnesium.

Dr. Luke Keeney, Managing Director and CEO of NetCarb, said, "NetCarb's enhanced carbon sequestration technology could significantly extend the value of Canada Nickel's tailings, positioning the Timmins Nickel District as a leading decarbonisation hub in Eastern Canada and unlocking new industries and economic opportunities for the region."

Through lab, pilot, and engineering activities, Canada Nickel and NetCarb will pursue the demonstration of the process through a rapid development program that focuses on three highly prospective by-product focus areas in addition to utilizing the enhanced carbon sequestration capacity.

Blue-Green Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Based Products (Ammonia, Urea, Ammonium Nitrate)

The NetCarb process offers the potential to produce a carbon-neutral hydrogen product using a steam methane reforming (SMR) process that sequesters the carbon dioxide generated in the tailings. This approach, which combines attributes of both blue and green hydrogen, represents a new category of low-carbon hydrogen production.

Hydrogen is a valuable product on its own; however, it is also a key ingredient for the production of other materials, such as urea or ammonia, for Ontario. Ammonia and urea production could improve regional self-sufficiency in fertilizers. The joint development program will focus on three main areas: blue-green hydrogen and low-carbon fertilizers, magnesium-based products, and enhanced carbon removal using local biomass.

Given the extensive ultramafic resources in the Timmins Nickel District, there is potential to generate high-value by-products. NetCarb estimates that each tonne of Crawford tailings has the potential to store approximately 300 kg of carbon dioxide while producing 55 kg of hydrogen, which could be further utilized to produce 310 kg of ammonia or 545 kg of urea.

Magnesium-Based Products and Potential for Distributed Carbon Capture Support

In addition to hydrogen production, NetCarb's technology generates a magnesium material that can be processed into products such as magnesium carbonate (MgCO3) or magnesium oxide (MgO). The potential to produce MgO, which is highly reactive with CO2, is particularly exciting as this material could effectively be distributed as a CO2 scrubbing agent across Eastern Canada.

Local Biomass Energy and Biofuel Production, and Megatonne Carbon Removal

Northeast Ontario possesses significant biomass harvesting capacity. Canada Nickel is already actively exploring the use of local biomass to decrease the carbon footprint of its downstream processing facilities. The NetCarb–Canada Nickel partnership has identified opportunities to utilize primary forestry biomass and agricultural waste to produce biofuels or generate energy. By capturing and sequestering CO2 generated using Crawford tailings and the NetCarb process, the approach has the potential to be net carbon negative and achieve annual megatonne carbon removal.

What is Blue-Green Hydrogen

Blue hydrogen is produced from natural gas through steam reforming, where the resulting CO2 by-product is captured and stored using carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Green hydrogen is produced through electrolysis using renewable energy sources. The NetCarb process enables use of lower cost hydrogen production through steam methane reforming, while CO2 emissions are mineralized and sequestered in the tailings residue. This results in a carbon-neutral hydrogen product with CO2 permanently stored in a geologically stable mineral form.

NetCarb Proprietary Process

Unlike Canada Nickel's IPT Carbonation process, which focuses solely on brucite, the NetCarb technology targets a more complete carbonation of serpentine minerals. This proprietary process involves serpentinite activation followed by hydrometallurgical processing of ore through a CO2 activity swing reactor that effectively dissolves and reprecipitates magnesium as solid carbonate minerals for permanent carbon dioxide sequestration.

Next Steps

Canada Nickel and NetCarb will be submitting a series of funding proposals to various granting agencies through the balance of 2025 with a view to completing lab scale work on targeted processes during 2026. Successfully developed processes will pave the way for identifying potential strategic partners to support pilot-scale demonstrations in 2027, with the goal of advancing each process toward full commercialization.

Arthur G. Stokreef, P.Eng (ON), Manager of Process Engineering & Geometallurgy and a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release on behalf of Canada Nickel Company Inc.

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About NetCarb

NetCarb Pty Ltd is accelerating the global shift to a low-carbon economy with advanced technologies that help businesses reduce emissions and meet their net zero commitments. Through cross-industry collaboration, NetCarb supports the scale-up of sustainable solutions, improves operational efficiency, and brings innovative, eco-friendly products to market—aligning environmental responsibility with long-term economic value. At the core of NetCarb's innovation is its breakthrough in carbon mineralisation, a natural process where atmospheric CO₂ reacts with rock to form stable carbonates. While this process typically occurs over geological timescales and removes around 0.3 billion tonnes of CO₂ annually, NetCarb's technology accelerates it by approximately 100 million times. This advancement enables scalable, permanent carbon storage at economically viable rates, positioning NetCarb as a key player in the multi-gigaton carbon capture market. To learn more, visit https://netcarb.com.au.

About Canada Nickel Company

Canada Nickel Company Inc. is advancing the next generation of nickel-sulphide projects to deliver nickel required to feed the high growth electric vehicle and stainless steel markets. Canada Nickel Company has applied in multiple jurisdictions to trademark the terms NetZero Nickel™, NetZero Cobalt™, NetZero Iron™ and is pursuing the development of processes to allow the production of net zero carbon nickel, cobalt, and iron products. Canada Nickel provides investors with leverage to nickel in low political risk jurisdictions. Canada Nickel is currently anchored by its 100% owned flagship Crawford Nickel-Cobalt Sulphide Project in the heart of the prolific Timmins Cochrane mining camp. For more information, please visit www.canadanickel.com.