First systematic AI-driven integration of Austria’s centuries-deep mining archive reveals significant exposure to EU critical raw materials
VIENNA, Austria – June 11, 2026 – Ekometall Inc. (“Ekometall” or the “Company”), through its wholly owned subsidiary, Ekometall Exploration GmbH, today announced the completion of a portfolio-wide program that has applied AI-driven processing to centuries of Austrian mining and geological literature, identifying 4,566 ranked exploration hotspots among 10,891 georeferenced points of interest across the Company’s land position, a significant expansion from the approximately 1,500 points previously catalogued in Austria’s public IRIS database for the same area. The dataset reveals significant exposure to commodities on the EU critical raw materials list, including copper, antimony, cobalt, nickel, and tungsten, and provides Ekometall with what is, to the Company’s knowledge, the most comprehensive structured exploration dataset ever assembled for any single land position in Austria. A dedicated AI platform built on the dataset is operational and in active daily use by Ekometall’s technical team.
Highlights
- 10,891 georeferenced points of interest identified across 21,398 km² of Austrian Alpine terrain, covering the Company’s full ~10,000 km² licensed land position, a more than 7x expansion over the public IRIS database baseline of approximately 1,500 catalogued sites for the same area.
- Significant exposure to EU Critical Raw Materials Act commodities, including copper (4211 occurrences) antimony (559), cobalt (736), nickel (924), and tungsten (274), with additional occurrences of germanium and lithium.
- 3,378 historical documents and 79,186 pages systematically translated from German, processed, and structured, the first time Austria’s centuries-deep mining archive has been integrated at this scale, with source material spanning 1765 through 2022.
- Distinct mineral signatures identified across each of Ekometall’s four project groups, providing clear logic for differentiated exploration-target prioritization across the portfolio.
- Dedicated AI query platform, developed by GexplOre and built on the structured dataset, operational since March 2026 and in active use by Ekometall’s technical team.
Figures are accurate as of 11 June 2026. The dataset is continuously enriched; subsequent disclosures may reflect updated values.
“Two years ago, generating an exploration dataset at this scale and confidence in Austria would have taken years of literature research and millions of dollars in greenfield spend. We’ve compressed that into a structured, queryable picture of mineralization across nearly 10,000 sq km in months,” said Ryan Finlay, Chief Executive Officer of Ekometall. “The critical minerals signature within the data is exactly the exposure European industrial buyers and strategic partners are looking for, and the differentiation across our blocks gives us clear logic for how to prioritize this ground. This is the foundation our forward exploration programs will be built on.”
Strategic Context
Austria’s mining history spans thousands of years and has produced some of the most extensive geological and mining records in the European Alpine region. The vast majority of that knowledge has remained inaccessible to modern exploration, locked in German-language publications, hand-drawn maps, and scanned archive files, a knowledge gap that Ekometall’s engagement of GexplOre, announced in December 2025, was specifically designed to close. The completion of this program coincides with the European Union’s accelerating push to secure domestic primary supply of strategic raw materials under the Critical Raw Materials Act, in force since 2024, which sets binding 2030 benchmarks for European extraction, processing, and recycling of materials including antimony, cobalt, nickel, tungsten, lithium, and germanium, all of which are now represented in Ekometall’s datasets.
Methodology
GexplOre’s pipeline transformed raw archival material into a structured, queryable dataset through a two-phase workflow: a data processing phase that digitized, translated, geocoded, and structured the historical archive into a georeferenced spatial database; and an operational phase that built a specialized AI platform on top of that dataset, enabling natural-language querying, per-claim spatial filtering, cross-block comparison, and export of research-ready outputs. Each document was processed through a seven-stage quality framework. A detailed companion whitepaper and a full technical reference document are available at www.ekometallgroup.com.
What Comes Next
The completion of this program marks the transition from data aggregation to active target generation. The historical dataset will operate as an independent validation layer alongside Ekometall’s separate geophysical and geochemical exploration work, a deliberate separation that ensures previously undocumented anomalies are not overlooked in favor of areas already well-represented in the historical record. Ekometall’s technical team is now using the dataset and AI platform to advance exploration field work on prioritized targets, building on the execution framework the Company established in 2025. Further details will follow in subsequent announcements.
About GexplOre
Founded in 2012, GexplOre is a French geosciences company specializing in mineral exploration services across Europe, Africa and the Americas. The company delivers geological, geophysical, borehole logging and data science support from early-stage exploration through to advanced project development, combining field capability, technical interpretation, project management and digital workflows for the structuring, analysis and use of complex geoscientific data. Working in line with international standards including JORC, NI 43-101 and PERC, GexplOre helps exploration and mining clients build robust geological understanding and accelerate technical decision-making.
About Ekometall
Ekometall is an emerging critical minerals exploration company focused on unlocking Austria’s significant precious and base metal potential across the country’s historic mining districts. The Company has assembled a specialized, Austria-based technical team that applies AI-assisted analysis to centuries of previously inaccessible geological records, transforming archival data into actionable exploration targets. With a first-mover land position approaching 10,000 km² and an established framework for permitting and executing drilling programs in Austria, Ekometall offers global mining partners a compelling entry point into a favorable European jurisdiction aligned with the strategic objectives of the EU Critical Raw Materials Act. For more information, visit www.ekometallgroup.com.
Contact
For more information on Ekometall’s projects or for investor relations inquiries, please contact:
Ryan Finlay
Chief Executive Officer
rfinlay@ekometallgroup.com
+1 703.229.2312
Disclaimer
The 10,891 points of interest referenced in this release are historical references compiled from archival sources. They do not represent proven or measured mineralization and are presented for the purpose of exploration target generation and contextualization. Modern technical work, including sampling, drilling, and geological modelling, is required before any of these references can be characterized as economic mineralization.
This release contains statements regarding Ekometall’s plans, exploration activities, and the strategic implications of the dataset described, including statements about drill permit applications, the expected utility of the AI platform, and the significance of identified critical raw materials occurrences. These statements reflect management’s current expectations as of the date of release and are not guarantees of future performance. Actual outcomes may differ from those described, and Ekometall undertakes no obligation to update these statements as circumstances change.
