5N HPA Manufacturing Plant

Advanced Energy Minerals(UK)Limited将利用其母公司AEMI Group Limited(AEMI‘s)的世界领先专利技术，以英格兰西南部开采的高岭土(可能是康沃尔)为原料，完成英国一家高纯氧化铝(HPA)制造厂的技术可行性研究(“研究”)。这家工厂将为英国提供自己的、完全在国内供应的材料，作为防止电动汽车锂离子电池(EV-Lib)过热和起火的陶瓷涂层隔膜的关键输入，预计随着对EV-Lib的需求增长，全球将出现供应短缺。未来5年，由于对电池的更大需求和电池中HPA使用量的增加，HPA市场预计将强劲增长。2019年全球对HPA的需求为30,000 TPA，预计到2025年将增加到125,000 TPA，复合年增长率接近27%。AEMI已在其位于魁北克省Cap Chat的工厂证明了其技术在生产5N(99.999%纯度)HPA方面的有效性，这是14年研发的产物，涉及2.5亿加元的支出。这项研究将确定德文郡和康沃尔的哪些已知高岭土矿藏最适合作为这项技术的原料，以及需要对该技术进行任何修改，以优化其与选定原料的性能。这项研究是一项计划的一部分，该计划将于2023年初在英国的一家工厂生产5N HPA，地点由研究决定。该工厂预计将成为世界上成本最低的HPA生产商之一，处于向英国和欧盟迅速扩张的EV-Lib千兆工厂网络供应的绝佳位置。

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.