ACLARA SECURES KEY LOUISIANA AIR PERMIT, ADVANCING PROJECT DYNAMO TOWARD Q1 2027 CONSTRUCTION

Aclara Resources Inc. has secured the State Air Permit from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for Project Dynamo, its planned rare earth separation facility in Vinton, Louisiana. This approval represents the primary permitting milestone required to move the project into the construction phase.

Hatch is currently completing the final stages of basic engineering for the facility. The company is targeting a groundbreaking date in Q1 2027, contingent upon securing the necessary financing. Project Dynamo is designed to process rare earth feedstock from Aclara's Brazilian and Chilean ionic clay deposits into separated rare earth oxides in the United States.

Aclara Resources Inc. (ARA) has secured an air permit, a standard regulatory step in the development of a major industrial facility in Louisiana. This milestone confirms that the company is progressing through the permitting pipeline as previously outlined in its 2026 execution roadmap.

While the permit represents a positive step, it does not de-risk the project's most critical hurdle: securing approximately $750 million in construction financing, as indicated by the recent EXIM Bank letter of interest. The news aligns fully with previous expectations and management guidance, validating Aclara’s execution capability without materially altering the project's capital requirements, timeline, or risk profile.

Given the stock's recent consolidation and the contingent nature of the Q1 2027 groundbreaking, the market impact is expected to be incremental rather than transformative.

Aclara Resources Inc. (ARA) is developing a vertically integrated rare earth supply chain across the Western hemisphere, with a specific focus on heavy rare earths such as dysprosium and terbium. The company’s flagship asset is the Carina Project in Goiás, Brazil. A NI 43-101 feasibility study released in April 2026 outlines an 18-year life-of-mine for the project, projecting an after-tax net present value of $1.7 billion, an internal rate of return of 26.9%, and average annual production of 4,378 tonnes of rare earth oxides.

Aclara’s strategy combines ionic clay mining operations in Brazil at Carina and Chile at the Penco Module with a $277 million separation facility, known as Project Dynamo, located in Louisiana. The company also holds a downstream metals and alloys joint venture with CAP S.A. Technologically, Aclara utilizes patented "Circular Mineral Harvesting" involving ionic exchange, which features high water recirculation and zero tailings. This is followed by proprietary solvent extraction and molten salt electrolysis for alloy production.