Platinum & Palladium Deficits Set the Price Backdrop for ValOre's First PEA

• ValOre Metals is targeting a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for Pedra Branca by the end of 2026, the first economic study on a platinum, palladium & gold resource last estimated in March 2022.
• ValOre cites year-on-year gains of 161% for platinum and 87% for palladium.
• ValOre's forecasts after 2026 split: platinum stays in deficit through 2029, while palladium moves into surplus from 2027.
• Pedra Branca reports a single combined grade of 1.08 grams per tonne, so the project's exposure to each metal outlook depends on a metal mix and recoveries not broken out in its October 2026 presentation.
• With less than $0.8 million in cash as of October 1, 2026, the study gives ValOre its first project economics to take to partners, but does not itself fund permitting or development.

What Has Happened

ValOre Metals Corp. (TSXV: VO | OTCQB: KVLQF) is targeting its first preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for the 100%-owned Pedra Branca project in Ceará State, Brazil, by the end of 2026. The resource was estimated in 2022, and precious metal prices have since risen. Through the study, ValOre will assess whether Pedra Branca's metal mix, processing performance, and development costs add up to an economic case at current prices.

The NI 43-101 inferred resource is 2.2 million ounces of platinum, palladium & gold in 63.3 million tonnes grading 1.08 grams per tonne, effective March 8, 2022. ValOre drilled more than 6,000 meters across 5 new exploration zones in 2023. That drilling is not in the 2022 estimate, and ValOre plans to add it through a resource update before the PEA. ValOre shows year-on-year gains of 161% for platinum and 87% for palladium. 

Chief Executive Officer Nick Smart, who spent 21 years with Anglo American and De Beers before joining ValOre a little over a year ago, described what the study will combine.

"The PEA wraps in an update to the resource (our last resource update on Pedra Branca was back in 2022, and we have about 6,000 meters of drilling to incorporate since then), updates to economics reflecting changed precious metal prices, and significant metallurgical advancements."

Why the Platinum & Palladium Outlooks Diverge

The project's 2 main metals do not share a single forecast. ValOre cites the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) forecast, which keeps platinum in deficit each year through 2029, while palladium moves into surplus from 2027. Pedra Branca reports platinum, palladium & gold as a single combined grade, so its sensitivity to either forecast will depend on individual metal distribution and recoveries. 

Both metals are in deficit now. ValOre puts the multi-year shortfall across platinum & palladium at 500,000 to 700,000 ounces, and the annual platinum deficit alone at about 700,000 ounces. Above-ground stocks have been cut by 42%, leaving less than 5 months of coverage, according to data ValOre cites alongside the WPIC figures.

Vehicles account for about 40% of platinum demand and about 80% of palladium & rhodium demand. A hybrid uses 10% to 20% more platinum group elements (PGEs) than a conventional engine vehicle, and hybrids were the fastest-growing segment at 20% of global new vehicle sales in 2025. Platinum also has an investment channel: demand for physical platinum bars and coins in China grew from almost nothing in 2019 to more than 400,000 ounces in 2025.

A Thin Pipeline of New PGE Supply

Mine supply is concentrated. South Africa holds about 90% of the world's PGE reserves, and several major platinum operations have closed or been suspended since 2016. By ValOre's count, only 2 major greenfield PGE mines are expected to produce in the near term. With so few new mines coming, the deficits have little new supply to offset them.

ValOre compares Pedra Branca with 4 Canadian-listed PGE developers at different study stages. Bravo Mining's Luanga project in Pará, Brazil, reached the PEA stage in 2025. Platinum Group Metals' Waterberg joint venture in South Africa completed a definitive FS in 2024, and Generation Mining's Marathon project in Ontario completed a FS in 2025. Stillwater Critical Minerals' Stillwater West project in Montana is listed at the mineral resource estimate stage (2023), as is Pedra Branca (2022).

The projects differ from Pedra Branca in jurisdiction, scale, and metal mix, and ValOre notes that the peer figures come from each issuer's own disclosure and are not directly comparable. Pedra Branca's PEA would give the market its first economic figures to compare the project with that group.

What the PEA Has to Define

Pedra Branca has 7 near-surface resource zones defined by more than 40,000 meters of drilling. The 4 core deposits (Esbarro, Curiu, Cedro & Cana Brava) hold more than 1 million ounces, and the southern zones at Trapia & Massape hold more than 1 million ounces. The 5 zones drilled in 2023 include the Salvador discovery. The 51,096-hectare property is a 4-hour drive on paved highway from the Fortaleza deep-water port and international airport.

Processing remains the main technical input under development. ValOre is running flotation & leaching testwork with the University of Cape Town, relogging historical core at Curiu, Esbarro & Cedro to refine geological controls and mine planning assumptions, and running preliminary water & power supply studies. Smart's time at Anglo Platinum covered mining productivity and processing across the platinum & palladium value chain. 

Smart described the metallurgical work completed since he joined.

"Within the year I've been here, we've advanced the project and are doing interesting metallurgy work with my alma mater, the University of Cape Town in South Africa, developing processing methods for platinum and palladium."

ValOre has not published capital costs, throughput, or the metal prices the PEA will assume, and it provides no recovery rates, so the effect of higher prices on project value cannot be measured before the study is released. ValOre will publish those figures for the first time in the PEA.

Broader Context & What to Watch Next

The first input to watch is the resource update incorporating the 2023 drilling, which will set the ounces the PEA works from. The PEA follows, targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026. ValOre then lists licensing and an environmental impact assessment for the first quarter of 2027. The weight of platinum relative to palladium in the PEA will show how closely project value tracks the platinum deficit forecast through 2029, as opposed to the palladium surplus forecast from 2027.

As of October 1, 2026, ValOre had 255 million shares outstanding (304.2 million fully diluted), less than $0.8 million in cash and a market capitalization of $16.5 million. The fully diluted count includes 29.2 million warrants at $0.10 expiring October 8, 2027. The PEA would give ValOre its first project economics to put in front of partners, but the study itself does not fund permitting, development or construction. ValOre is also evaluating advanced-stage gold acquisitions in northeast Brazil alongside Pedra Branca.

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