Overview

At Clean Air Metals, Sustainability means adopting the leading industry standards for the management of Health, Safety and the Environment in order to properly mitigate impacts associated with exploration and potential future mine development at the Thunder Bay North Project. Sustainability objectives seek to minimize the Company’s footprint in such a way as to preserve the integrity of the project site for future generations. Clean Air Metals utilizes top tier environmental science practitioners and has and will continue to actively engage with local First Nations, municipalities, and other stakeholders with integrity and respect to establish positive and constructive participatory relationships. We create a workplace where employees are valued, engaged and encouraged to succeed. Acting sustainably aligns the Company with its stakeholder’s values – to explore and develop natural resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

Guided by Corporate values of respect, accountability, transparency, inclusion and prosperity, Clean Air Metals, with its employees and service providers, is committed to continual and meaningful engagement with First Nations and Metis communities as well as other stakeholders who may be affected by the Company’s operations as exploration and development unfolds on the Company’s properties and projects. We will achieve this by: 

• Building and maintaining a positive safety culture;
• Encouraging a high level of safety awareness and performance through leadership and training at all levels; 
• Identifying and managing safety, occupational health and hygiene risks; 
• Following Public Health Guidelines at all times to avoid the transmission of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases;
• Integrating safe work systems in the way we operate and assist local communities to enhance their health and well-being.
• Fostering gender and visible minority equity at the Board, senior management and staff levels of the Company;
• Engaging with and monitoring the performance of contractors, suppliers, partners and customers to ensure leading health and safety performance; 
• Investigating and reporting all health and safety incidents, and analyzing this information to prevent future events; and
• Maintaining the highest standards of operational integrity.

Clean Air Metals’ mission and vision is to explore and develop a suite of metals that are vital to reducing global air pollution and critical to a low carbon transportation future around the climate change imperative. For Clean Air Metals, ESG means ensuring that our business is fully and transparently accountable for managing environmental, social and economic risks and opportunities. To deliver a sustainability business strategy, Clean Air Metals will focus and report on long-term measurable and sustainable ESG performance. 

The Corporation is committed to operating in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible manner. At Clean Air Metals, we have put numerous policies and programs in place to better identify and mitigate our social and environmental impacts. For instance, field staff and management have all completed the MIHR Cultural Awareness Training program, Indigenous sensitivity training and review of the PDAC “e3 Plus” sustainable exploration best practices guidelines.

Clean Air Metals recognises that good environmental practice is critical in building community trust and acceptance. Our primary objective is to minimize the potential environmental impacts through implementation of appropriate environmental policies, systems, programmes and training of our employees. We will actively seek to minimize the impact of our activities on the environment through the following measures which include:

• Adopting leading environmental practices and standards throughout all stages of exploration and development by developing a robust environmental baseline database;
• Working to continuously improve our environmental performance through the reduction of harmful emissions to air, water and land;
• Minimizing our direct greenhouse gas emissions and our carbon footprint;
• Preventing the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem function due to our operations;
• Identifying and managing environmental risks and opportunities; and
• Maintaining and continuously advancing a culture of sound environmental stewardship through strong corporate governance and living corporate policy guidance and accountability.

The health and safety of Clean Air Metals' employees, contractors and service providers are a top priority. The Company has had no lost time injuries since its inception in 2020. The safety culture also extends to contractors and service provider personnel, encouraging a safety-first culture and collegial environment.

An environmental baseline study is underway on the Thunder Bay North Project with a mandate to establish a minimum 2-year baseline as exploration proceeds comparing present and historical water quality data, physical environment and aquatic and terrestrial biology and archaeological studies. Historical data has been freely shared with the Participating First Nations, the Fort William First Nation, the Red Rock Indian Band and the Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinaabek, under the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) dated January 9, 2021, and the Exploration Agreement dated April 13, 2022.

Clean Air Metals values its Social License to operate. The Company is committed to principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which ensure the social and economic development of our affected First Nations partners and local municipalities in the Thunder Bay region. We are focused on working closely with our First Nations partners, surrounding municipalities and other stakeholders to develop the Thunder Bay North project in an environmentally and socially responsible manner. Further, we hire and buy local wherever possible to support our local First Nations and municipalities.

Local Community Support

Clean Air Metals actively engages in opportunities that support our community. The Company has participated in various events that effect positive change in our participating First Nation communities and within the City of Thunder Bay, including:

• Participation in a mining industry-led $80,000 donation to Roots to Harvest, a grassroots organization ensuring everyone throughout the Thunder Bay community and region has access to nutritious and fresh food.
• Contribution towards a donation to the Fort William First Nation as part of a community clean-up program.
• Donation to PDAC Mining Matters - a charitable organization dedicated to bringing knowledge and awareness about Canada's geology and mineral resources to students, educators and the general public.
• Clean Air Metals Bursary contributions to post-secondary students from Fort William First Nation and Red Rock Indian Band.
• Staff participated in the City of Thunder Bay Spring Up to Clean Up community clean-up program.
• Donations and participation in Indigenous community Pow Wow events.
• Charitable golf tournament with proceeds going to Elevate NWO, a local charity providing counselling and resources to individuals with HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C, as well as food bank services for individuals in need.
• Donations to Louis Riel Day, an annual event held to honour the Métis leader by the Métis Nation of Ontario.
• Funding agreements with Lakehead University to aid in research on the Mid-Continent Rift.

Community Engagement

The Company has achieved significant progress with its First Nation Partners through a Memorandum of Agreement (January 11, 2021) and an Exploration Agreement (April 13, 2022), establishing a project partnership going forward. The Agreements confirm a framework for a mutually beneficial relationship between the Company and the Fort William First Nation, Red Rock Indian Band and the Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek (collectively the "Cooperating Participants"). The Agreements also establish a foundation for collaborative and respectful communications to facilitate meaningful consultation with the Participating Communities to ensure respect and protection of Indigenous and traditional territorial and treaty rights by identifying:

• Potential impacts of the Thunder Bay North Project;
• Appropriate measures to mitigate and avoid any adverse effects; and
• Opportunities to enhance positive impacts and benefits.

Clean Air Metals is committed to the highest standard of corporate governance practices. The board of directors of Clean Air Metals encourages sound corporate governance practices designed to promote the well being and ongoing development of the Company, having always as its ultimate objective the best long-term interests of the Company and the enhancement of value for all stakeholders.

The Company’s actions are guided by the Company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Mandate of the Board of Directors, Audit Committee Mandate, Sustainability Policy, Ethical Workplace and Reporting Policy and Procedures and the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy. Further, the Sustainability Committee of the Board has also derived a checklist under the care of senior management performance commitments, to assist Board members and management in managing policy compliance.