Arizona Tribune - 5E Advanced Materials Welcomes U.S. Designation of Boron as a Critical Mineral, Strengthening Fort Cady Project

HESPERIA, CA / ACCESS Newswire / November 7, 2025 / 5E Advanced Materials, Inc. ("5E" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:FEAM)(ASX:5EA), a U.S. development-stage company focused on becoming a vertically integrated global leader and supplier of refined borates and advanced boron derivative materials, today announced that the United States Department of the Interior has released the Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, formally adding boron as a critical mineral vital to the U.S. economy and national security.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) compiled the list, which will appear in the Federal Register on November 7, 2025, identifies 60 minerals deemed essential to national security, economic growth, and supply chain stability. Boron's addition highlights its prominent role in energy technologies, advanced materials, defense systems, and critical infrastructure.

"The designation of boron on the U.S. Critical Minerals List marks a pivotal milestone for 5E and the nation's supply chain," said Paul Weibel, Chief Executive Officer of 5E Advanced Materials. "Our Fort Cady project is uniquely positioned to advance domestic production of boron, an essential input to energy technologies, defense, and high-performance manufacturing. This recognition validates the strategic importance of boron and reinforces our objective to establish 5E as a trusted U.S. supplier to rapidly expanding high-growth markets."

The federal recognition of boron as a critical mineral creates key strategic advantages for 5E Advanced Materials and its Fort Cady operation in Southern California:

• Strategic U.S. Asset: As one of the only advanced-stage boron projects in the United States, 5E's Fort Cady operation aligns directly with federal objectives to strengthen domestic supply chains for critical minerals and reduce dependence on foreign sources.

• Federal Program Access: Boron's inclusion on the 2025 U.S. Critical Minerals List enhances 5E's eligibility to engage with U.S. government funding programs, including programs administered by the U.S. Department of War Office of Strategic Capital and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation, that support the development, processing, and refining of critical minerals. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 authorized $5 billion for investments in critical minerals supply chains made pursuant to the Industrial Base Fund and up to $100 billion in principal amounts of direct loans and guaranteed loans for critical minerals and related industries and projects. 5E currently has a $285 million letter of interest for a potential project finance debt guarantee from the U.S. Export-Import Bank as part of the Make More in America Initiative.

• Investment and Market Positioning: The designation reinforces 5E's standing as a strategic partner in the energy, defense, and advanced-manufacturing sectors, markets where boron's unique chemical and thermal properties play an essential role in next-generation technologies.

• Alignment with U.S. Policy Priorities: The addition of boron underscores growing recognition of its importance to national defense, advanced materials innovation, energy independence, and the high-tech sectors, areas directly aligned with 5E's mission and development strategy.

Together, these factors strengthen 5E's position within the U.S. critical-materials landscape and highlight its contribution to building secure, resilient, and sustainable mineral supply chains that support national priorities.

Under the Energy Act of 2020, the USGS updates the Critical Minerals List at least every three years. The 2025 review used enhanced modeling of over 1,200 supply-disruption scenarios across 84 commodities and 402 industries, leading the Secretary of the Interior to confirm boron's inclusion alongside copper, nickel, lithium, uranium, phosphate, and metallurgical coal.

The full text of the notice, "Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals," is available on the Federal Register website under docket number 2025-19813 and at www.regulations.gov under docket number USGS-2025-0039.

About 5E Advanced Materials, Inc.
5E Advanced Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:FEAM)(ASX:5EA) is focused on becoming a vertically integrated global leader and supplier of refined borates and advanced boron materials, complemented by calcium-based co-products, and potentially other by-products such as lithium carbonate. The Company's mission is to become a supplier of these critical materials to industries addressing global decarbonization, energy independence, food, national security, and the defense sector. The Company believes factors such as government regulation and incentives focused on domestic manufacturing and supply chains and capital investments across industries will drive demand for end-use applications like solar and wind energy infrastructure, neodymium-ferro-boron magnets, defense applications, lithium-ion batteries, and other critical material applications. The business is based on the Company's large domestic boron resource, which is located in Southern California and designated as Critical Infrastructure by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and with the U.S. Government's 2025 Critical Minerals List following boron's inclusion.

Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release may contain "forward-looking statements" that are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release may be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "could," "intend," "target," "project," "contemplate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential" or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions, and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's development plans, production capabilities, commercialization strategy, offtake discussions, customer qualification processes, market demand for boron and lithium, the potential applications of its products across energy, defense, and industrial markets, and ability to access and secure any government-based financing. Any forward-looking statements are based on 5E's current expectations, forecasts, and assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's development plans, production capabilities, commercialization strategy, offtake discussions, customer qualification processes, market demand for boron and lithium, and potential applications of its products across energy, defense, and industrial markets, and ability to access and secure any government-based financing. For a discussion of other risks and uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in 5E's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements contained in this announcement are based on information available to 5E as of the date hereof and are made only as of the date of this release. 5E undertakes no obligation to update such information except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing 5E's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged not to rely on any forward-looking statement in reaching any conclusion or making any investment decision about any securities of 5E.

For further information contact:
Michael MacMillan or Paola Ashton
PRA Communications
[email protected]
Ph: +1 (604) 681-1407

SOURCE: 5E Advanced Materials, Inc.

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