Preliminary data of Butembo Copper prospect, with near surface high-grade

• Appointment of Marketing Manager, Michael Tamlin, to lead product strategy and end-user engagement.
• Partnership with TiPMC Consulting extended, providing strategic titanium market insights.
• Bulk metallurgical testwork progressing well, producing concentrate for downstream processing and larger product samples for end-user evaluation.

Appointment of Marketing Managerto Accelerate Product Development

Empire has appointed Mr. Michael Tamlin as Marketing Manager, which is aligned with the Company’s objective to optimise product development, assess commercial process flowsheet options and progress the Project toward a feasibility study.

Further strengthening the Company’s in-house product development capabilities. Mr. Tamlin is a metallurgist with over 30 years’ experience in the resources sector, including senior roles in marketing and commercialising mineral products. Most recently, he served as Head of Lithium at Neometals Ltd, where he was responsible for managing the pilot development and commercialisation of the ELi™ lithium hydroxide production process in joint venture with Mineral Resources Ltd. His expertise will be instrumental in building Pitfield’s product strategy and engaging with potential end-users in high-value titanium markets.

Continuing Partnership with TiPMC Consulting:

Empire has extended its consultancy agreement with TiPMC, a highly respected, US-based titanium industry consultancy. TiPMC will provide oversight of the titanium pigment and metal markets and provide guidance to the Company’s technical and marketing team as they continue to develop the processing flowsheet and optimise the products.

Commenting on the announcement, Shaun Bunn, Managing Director, said:

“I am delighted to welcome Michael to our team. His extensive marketing expertise will be invaluable as we move toward defining the economic potential and product strategy for Pitfield. This appointment marks an important next step towards building a strong, in-house team, an approach which has been key to our successful and rapid progress.

“We are also very pleased to continue to be working with TiPMC Consulting, whose reputation and experience in the titanium industry is unparalleled.”

Product Development Update

Initial results from the large-scale metallurgical testwork programme, involving mineral separation techniques that required bulk feed samples of between approximately 0.5 to 1.5 tonnes each, was announced on 28 August 2025. The bulk testwork programme is progressing well, focusing on ore scrubbing, desliming and gravity spiral testwork, as well as flotation testwork on both the fines fraction, separated in the desliming step, and whole of ore samples. Large scale scrubbing and spiral gravity testwork has been completed on Thomas and Cosgrove weathered sandstone bulk samples and the screened fines have been sent for flotation testwork. As part of this programme, mineral concentrates will be produced for downstream processing, testing both hydrometallurgical and…