AE Fuels (NRGFF) has joined the Australian Government‑funded A$53 million Critical Metals for Critical Industries Cooperative Research Centre (CMCI CRC) as an industry partner to advance its South Woodie Woodie manganese project toward battery‑grade products.
The partnership provides access to specialist research capability, infrastructure and industry relationships to support downstream refining of South Woodie Woodie concentrate into higher‑value HPMSM, EMD and EMM. AE Fuels has already produced battery‑grade HPMSM in continuous mini‑pilot testing and holds a 100% interest in South Woodie Woodie, which hosts an NI 43‑101 inferred resource of 11.3 million tonnes grading 15.0% manganese at a 10.1% cut‑off. The company also engaged Atrium Research to provide company‑sponsored equity research for an initial 18‑month term at $12,000 per quarter, subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.
AE Fuels (NRGFF) has been granted five-year exploration licence E46/1580 at its South Woodie Woodie Manganese Project in Western Australia, adding 34.95 km² and increasing the company’s exploration tenure there to 533.43 km².
The new tenement lies immediately west of the Pearana and Pothole prospect areas, where 44 priority gravity-based drill targets have been defined outside the existing resource area. E46/1580 is about 33 km south of the long-life Woodie Woodie manganese mine and contains geology and structural trends associated with manganese mineralization elsewhere in the district, though mineralization on this licence has not yet been demonstrated and will require field and drill testing.
South Woodie Woodie currently hosts an Inferred Mineral Resource of 11.3 Mt at 15% Mn. The expanded land position, together with ongoing exploration and a demonstrated beneficiation and downstream processing pathway to battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate, supports AE Fuels’ dual focus on potential resource growth and downstream value creation.
AE Fuels (NRGFF) has qualified to join the U.S. Defense Industrial Base Consortium, gaining a forum to engage on U.S. defense supply-chain priorities.
The company says DIBC membership supports its strategy to build secure U.S. and allied supply chains for manganese and fluorspar, connecting resources to processing, technology, customers and government partnerships. AE Fuels highlights its South Woodie Woodie project in Western Australia, which hosts an NI 43-101 Inferred Mineral Resource of 11.3 million tonnes grading 15.0% manganese, and pilot-scale work in 2026 that achieved 95–99% manganese extraction and produced battery-grade HPMSM crystals within target impurity specifications. At Fluorite Ridge in New Mexico, the company is advancing technical, stakeholder and environmental work across a historic fluorspar district and evaluating ways to support U.S.-based processing. DIBC membership does not itself provide funding, contracts or government endorsements.
AE Fuels (NRGFF) completed gravity modelling at the Pearana and Pothole areas of its South Woodie Woodie Manganese Project, defining 44 Priority 1 drill targets to test for resource expansion beyond the existing Inferred Mineral Resource of 11.3 Mt at 15.0% Mn.
The preliminary reverse circulation program totals 3,280 m in 44 holes, with 31 holes (2,080 m) at Pearana and 13 holes (1,200 m) at Pothole. Pearana hosts high-grade surface manganese over an approximately 3.5 km strike. Gravity anomalies are ranked and will be drill tested after ground-truthing, heritage assessment and access planning with Traditional Owners.
AE Fuels also received conditional TSX Venture Exchange acceptance for $250,000 in unsecured convertible loans bearing 5% annual interest, convertible into up to 1,470,588 shares at $0.17 per share for a one-year term, to fund exploration at the Fluorite Ridge fluorspar project.
AE Fuels (TSXV: AEF, OTCQB: NRGFF) appointed Jason Tong, CPA, CA, CFA as Chief Financial Officer effective August 14, 2026, following the resignation of former CFO Jack Cartmel. Tong has over 15 years of senior financial and advisory experience with public companies on the TSX, TSXV and Nasdaq, including as CFO of venture capital firm Pathway Capital and prior audit work at Deloitte & Touche.
According to AE Fuels, Catapult Consulting Corp., founded and led by Tong, will provide accounting and financial reporting services to the company. AE Fuels describes itself as a US-aligned critical minerals company focused on battery-grade manganese and fluorspar-HF supply chains serving high-growth sectors such as battery materials, semiconductors and clean energy technologies.
AE Fuels (TSXV: AEF, OTCQB: NRGFF) has staked lode mining claims covering the historic Sadler Mine at its 100%-owned Fluorite Ridge Project in Luna County, New Mexico, consolidating the district’s two largest historic fluorspar producers, Sadler and adjacent Greenleaf, under one operator.
The move strengthens AE Fuels’ 85-claim, ~1,756-acre land package and creates a district-scale brownfield exploration opportunity. The company has begun integrated geological interpretation, mapping, sampling, preliminary mineralogical and processing-development work, and parallel permitting, environmental, infrastructure and stakeholder-planning activities across the broader project area.
AE Fuels (OTCQB: NRGFF) launched an integrated technical, permitting and stakeholder program at its 100%-owned Fluorite Ridge fluorspar project in Luna County, New Mexico. The program aims to systematically evaluate the district as a potential US domestic fluorspar source supporting critical fluorine-based supply chains.
Workstreams include LiDAR- and geophysics-supported geological interpretation, detailed mapping and sampling, expanded multi-element geochemistry, mineralogical characterization and preliminary metallurgical testwork. In parallel, AEF is building a permitting, environmental and stakeholder framework and assessing regional infrastructure and possible geothermal energy relevance, without having selected any processing route, facility location or production profile.
Near-term milestones cover initial geological interpretation, receipt of multi-element assays, selection of samples for metallurgical work and establishment of the permitting and stakeholder roadmap. AEF also updated that $250,000 of previously advanced insider convertible loans remain subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.
AE Fuels (OTCQB: NRGFF) reported continuous mini-pilot test results with 95-99% manganese recovery and strong impurity control using CSIRO's purification circuit.
The program produced battery-grade HPMSM crystals, reduced calcium below assessed limits, and supports larger-scale pilot testing, customer qualification programs and feasibility-level studies for the South Woodie Woodie Manganese Project.
AE Fuels (OTCQB: NRGFF, TSXV: AEF) announced its common shares are now DTC eligible in the United States, enabling electronic clearing and settlement through the Depository Trust Company.
This is expected to simplify U.S. trading, reduce costs, accelerate settlement, and potentially enhance liquidity and investor access.
AE Fuels (OTCQB:NRGFF) completed the first phase of a high-resolution gravity survey at the Pearana and Pothole-Sharks Fin prospects within the South Woodie Woodie manganese project in Western Australia. Multiple gravity-high anomalies coincide with previously reported high-grade manganese rock chips.
Because several anomalies remain open beyond the initial grid, AE Fuels has immediately approved a 477-station survey extension to refine targets ahead of 3D inversion modelling and drill targeting, with the strongest anomaly in southeast Pearana now a priority focus area.