Earthworks Launches Critical Minerals Feedstock Network to Address Copper and Rare Earths Shortages

Vancouver, British Columbia – September 2, 2026 – Earthworks Industries Inc. (TSX-V: EWK, OTCQB: EAATF) (“Earthworks” or the “Company”), a critical minerals recycling and recovery company advancing modular systems designed to recover critical minerals and strengthen Western critical mineral supply chains, announces the launch of the Earthworks Critical Minerals Feedstock Network, a strategic initiative designed to identify, secure, and allocate sources of end-of-life products and industrial materials as well as tailings and waste rock projects for the Company’s planned critical minerals recycling and recovery operations.

The Earthworks Critical Minerals Feedstock Network will initially focus on building supply relationships around end-of-life and industrial material streams associated with copper and rare earths, the initial priority recovery areas being advanced by the Company.

The Network is intended to connect Earthworks with organizations that generate, aggregate, dismantle, recycle or otherwise control potentially suitable end-of-life products, industrial material streams, or unprocessed critical mineral ore across Canada and, over time, other North American and allied markets.

David Atkinson, CEO of Earthworks, commented:

“Feedstock is a foundational component of any successful recycling and recovery operation. The Earthworks Critical Minerals Feedstock Network is intended to build the relationships and supply channels necessary to support our planned operations while creating a scalable sourcing platform that can grow alongside the Company.”

“There are significant quantities of valuable materials already above ground in equipment, infrastructure and products reaching the end of their useful lives, as well as old mining projects that were not historically viable.

Our objective is to establish a network capable of identifying source materials, creating productive relationships with the organizations that control them, and ultimately returning recovered critical minerals to Western supply chains.”

Earthworks’ initial feedstock development efforts are focused on material streams associated with its planned copper recycling and rare earth recycling and recovery initiatives.

Rather than relying on a single source or category of material, the Company intends to develop a diversified network of generators, aggregators and strategic partners capable of providing materials from multiple end-of-life, industrial, and legacy channels.

The Company’s broader recovery strategy is based on identifying valuable materials already present above ground and creating scalable pathways to recover and return those materials to productive use. This approach forms part of Earthworks’ strategy to complement traditional primary mineral supply with domestically sourced recycled and recovered materials.

The Company’s underlying recovery platform contemplates modular processing systems capable of operating across multiple feedstock and critical-mineral categories as the business develops.

Earthworks intends to evaluate feedstock opportunities across a range of volumes, from smaller initial or trial quantities through recurring commercial-scale material streams.

Depending on the nature of the material and the counterparty, potential commercial relationships may include direct purchasing, contracted supply, revenue-sharing arrangements, toll processing, material removal arrangements and longer-term strategic partnerships.

These structures are consistent with the Company’s broader strategy of developing flexible commercial models around feedstock acquisition and recovery.

The Company is also evaluating specialist sourcing and origination relationships to assist in expanding the Network and identifying prospective feedstock opportunities.

Earthworks invites organizations that generate, manage, aggregate or control potentially relevant end-of-life products or industrial material streams to contact the Company regarding potential inclusion in the Earthworks Critical Minerals Feedstock Network.

Organizations interested in discussing potential feedstock supply, recycling or strategic partnership opportunities can contact: info@earthworksinc.com

Additional information regarding materials currently being sought by the Company is also available through the Earthworks website: https://earthworksinc.com/feedstock-network

The establishment of the Earthworks Critical Minerals Feedstock Network represents another step in the Company’s development of a distributed critical minerals recycling and recovery platform.

The Company’s broader platform contemplates scaling through distributed feedstock relationships rather than dependence on a single material source or centralized supply stream. Earthworks intends to leverage the Network not only to identify near-term material for testing and initial operations, but to develop a growing database of long term material sources, supply relationships and strategic partners.

David Atkinson added:

“Securing critical minerals isn’t only about finding new deposits. It is also about becoming better at recovering the valuable materials that already surround us. We believe building the relationships that connect those materials to recovery infrastructure is an important part of strengthening domestic and allied critical mineral supply chains.”

The race to build and power artificial intelligence infrastructure, electrify transportation, modernize defense systems and expand advanced manufacturing has created an unprecedented and accelerating demand for critical minerals, including copper, rare earth elements, lithium, cobalt, nickel, tungsten, titanium and many other materials that form the physical foundation of the 21st-century economy.

The problem is supply.

Refining and processing capacity for many of these materials is heavily concentrated in foreign jurisdictions, most significantly China, creating vulnerabilities in Western supply chains that are no longer theoretical, but active and urgent.

Both Canada and the United States have responded with major policy commitments, including Canada’s Critical Minerals Strategy and initiatives under the United States Defense Production Act and CHIPS and Science Act, directed at building domestic supply chain resilience.

Primary mining alone cannot close the supply gap quickly enough. New mine development frequently requires a decade or more to advance from discovery through permitting, financing, construction and production.

This is where recycling and secondary recovery become strategically essential.

Many of the materials required by Western economies already exist above ground in significant quantities within end-of-life electronics, industrial scrap, manufacturing byproducts, legacy mine waste, tailings, waste rock and other previously processed materials.

Urban recycling and secondary recovery can provide a faster, lower-impact and potentially more capital-efficient path to production than greenfield mine development. However, domestic recovery infrastructure across North America remains fragmented and undersupplied, creating a need for modular, deployable and digitally managed recovery capacity.

Through its acquisition of the Critical Minerals Recovery System, Earthworks holds a full-stack platform developed to address that need, beginning with copper and rare earth elements, and expanding into battery metals, precious metals and defense-related materials across Canada and the United States.

Earthworks Industries Inc. (TSX.V: EWK, OTCQB: EAATF) is a critical minerals recycling and recovery company advancing modular systems designed to recover strategic metals and strengthen Western critical mineral supply chains. The Company is developing scalable recycling and recovery infrastructure to help address the growing need for domestic critical minerals production.

For further information, contact: Earthworks Industries Inc. David Atkinson President/CEO 604-669-3143 Info@earthworksinc.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this News Release.

Statements made in this news release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company’s future plans and objectives or expected results, may include forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company’s plans to develop and deploy modular critical minerals recycling and recovery systems; the establishment, expansion and composition of the Earthworks Critical Minerals Feedstock Network; the Company’s ability to identify, secure and allocate suitable feedstock; the potential commercial structures that may be entered into with feedstock counterparties; the potential expansion of the Critical Minerals Recovery System into additional locations and material streams; and the Company’s objective of contributing to more secure and resilient Western critical mineral supply chains.

Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in the development, financing, construction and operation of recycling and resource recovery projects. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the Company’s ability to obtain sufficient financing, secure suitable feedstock, identify and acquire an appropriate facility location, procure and commission required equipment, obtain permits and regulatory approvals, enter into strategic partnerships and offtake arrangements, validate anticipated processing performance and successfully commercialize the Critical Minerals Recovery System.

As a result, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions change.