5N HPA Manufacturing Plant

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Advanced Energy Minerals (UK) Limited will leverage its parent, AEMI Group Limited's (AEMI's) world leading patented technology to complete a Technical Feasibility Study ("Study") for a High Purity Alumina (HPA) manufacturing plant in the UK, using kaolin clay mined in South West England, likely Cornwall, as its feedstock. This plant would provide the UK with its own, totally domestic supply of a material that, as a key input for the ceramic coated separators that prevent Electric Vehicle -- Lithium Ion Batteries ("EV-LIB's) from overheating and catching fire, is forecast to experience global supply shortages as the demand for EV-LIBs grows.The HPA market is expected to grow strongly over the next 5 years driven by both greater demand for batteries and increased use of HPA in battery cells. Global demand for HPA was 30,000 tpa in 2019 and is forecast to increase to 125,000 tpa by 2025, representing a compound annual growth rate of nearly 27%.AEMI has already demonstrated the efficacy of its technology in manufacturing 5N (99.999% pure) HPA at its plant in Cap Chat, Quebec, which is the product of 14 years of R&D involving C$250 million of expenditure. The Study will determine which of the known deposits of kaolin in Devon and Cornwall is most suitable as a feedstock for this technology and any modifications needed to the technology to optimise its performance with the selected feedstock.The Study is part of a plan leading to the production of 5N HPA at a plant in the UK by early 2023 in a location to be decided by the Study. The plant is expected to be one of the world's lowest cost producers of HPA, excellently placed to supply the UK's and the EU's rapidly expanding EV-LIB Gigafactory network.