Diamond Creek Drilling Provides Successful Results

COEUR D'ALENE, ID - Idaho Strategic Resources Vice President of Exploration, Rob Morgan, said, "In total we drilled 12 holes on an area representing less than half of our land position at Diamond Creek in Lemhi County, Idaho. These results far exceeded my expectations and I consider this drill program to be an overwhelming success. The results of this drill program will add greatly to the geologic information in the USGS, IGS and other publications."

Diamond Creek is a well-recognized rare earth element (REE) occurrence, which is listed as a top ten domestic source of REE's in various USGS documents. Although it has a published resource, it is based on surface sampling only and is unverified. Previous to this year's drilling only two shallow core holes were completed in 2012 with unknown results. Our objective this year was to verify the existence of REE mineralization, assess the grades and examine the extents of this potential resource.

The deposits in the Diamond Creek area are of two types: fracture filling and replacement, with the replacement bodies being composed of bright and varied oxides. Much of the core drilling was in the Lucky Gem area where strong REE mineralization at surface was also encountered A rough geometry developed from drillholes 5, 6 and 7; placed drillhole DC 22-8 in position to drill down dip through the shallow dipping replacement body. The drillhole collared into a fault and encountered REE mineralization immediately after the fault, which continued for 50.3 meters before the hole was lost.

The intercept highlights below are in percent total rare earth oxide (TREO) and in percent Niobium (Nb) with drilled thickness, as vein orientations have yet to be determined.

DC 22-8 Rare Earth Elements highlights: 1.3% TREO over 11.3 m from 2.9 m to 14.2 m including the following higher-grade interval - 2.2% TREO over 1.1 m from 13.1m to 14.2m, and 1.0% Nb over 0.5 m from 9.6 m to 10.1 m

DC 22-8 Niobium highlights; and 0.7% (Nb) over 10.1 m from 2.9 m to 13.0 m including the following higher-grade interval: An appealing characteristic with Diamond Creek and other properties in the Idaho Rare Earth Element-Thorium Belt (Idaho REE-Th Belt) is the abundance of neodymium (Nd). We had three assays that were greater than 3000 ppm or 0.3% neodymium. In addition to the validation of REEs through the drill bit, another equally important discovery was made; the strong occurrence of Niobium (Nb). Core hole DC 22-8 showed intense enrichment of Niobium, with 0.7% Nb over 10.1m, including 10,000 ppm Nb (1%) over 0.5m. While Niobium is an equally important critical mineral, it is not one of the 17 rare earth elements and not included in TREO calculations. It is considered a positive addition and its potential value to the project (and possibly to the value of a future mineral concentrate) is not yet known. We plan to build upon this discovery.

The known rare earth element mineralization occurs along a 2-mile length of the Diamond Creek Fault. The project consists of four distinct areas identified as, from north to south: Contact, Lucky Gem, Cymer, and Frank Burch. The 2022 drill program tested two areas: the Contact and Lucky Gem areas in the north. The next phase of drilling at Diamond Creek has been planned and submitted for approval to the USFS. The next phase drill plan will extend to the Cymer area in the southern portion of the property.

With the success of the program, we are able to provide mineralized samples for research material to the University of Idaho for the IGEM program, which works to develop Idaho-Sourced Rare Earth Elements from drilling to extraction. We also expect to have additional assay results from a trench done on this drill pad shortly.

President and CEO, John Swallow, said, "As someone involved in the mining industry for decades, it is very satisfying to be on the forefront of making a rare earth element discovery that advances the potential for production in the United States. And the presence of Niobium only adds to our excitement. We have strong feelings that 2023 will be the year quality domestic REE and critical mineral companies become more mainstream and evaluated for investment portfolios. Our team has assembled/consolidated the second largest portfolio of nationally recognized rare earth elements occurrences in the US and IDR is one of the few companies that conducted a REE drill program in 2022. This has been a great start to 2023."