Major Contracts Awarded to Advance Lac Rainy High-Grade Flake Graphite Project

Metals Australia Ltd (ASX: MLS) is pleased to announce a series of major project study agreements have been awarded to advance development of the Company’s flagship Lac Rainy high-grade flake- graphite project in the Tier 1 mining jurisdiction of Quebec, Canada (see Figure 1). The various study agreements approved and initiated include:

• A Metallurgical & Laboratory Services Agreement with SGS Laboratories in Lakefield, Ontario and the appointment of specialist client advisor Metpro Management to oversee metallurgical test-work programs for the design of a flake-graphite concentrate plant.
• A Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the design of a 100,000 tonnes per annum flake-graphite concentrate plant awarded to integrated engineering, design, and construction group Lycopodium. The PFS includes the flake-graphite concentrate plant and associated site infrastructure. It builds on the 2021 Scoping Study results¹ that demonstrated Lac Rainy’s potential to generate high operating margins over a 14-year mine life – based on the current resource alone.
• A downstream battery-grade spherical graphite (SpG) concentrate purification options assessment, plant location and Scoping Study awarded to world-leading, German based, metallurgical test-work and process engineering design group ANZAPLAN. These programs will substantially build on the outstanding results of previous downstream product test-work that produced battery grade (99.96% Cg) spherical graphite (SpG) with excellent battery charging and discharge performance².
• A drilling and full-service support contract signed with Magnor Exploration to complete the drilling and other exploration programs for Mineral Resource expansion and to test new regional targets at Lac Rainy, where the current resource is contained within only 1km of a demonstrated 36km strike-length of high-grade graphitic trends³ which have been tested to date.

Metals Australia CEO Paul Ferguson commented:

“We are delighted to have locked in a series of critical project development and test-work contracts with leading global service providers as we continue our efforts to grow the Lac Rainy resource and accelerate the development of what we believe is a world-class flake-graphite project, located in one of the world’s best mining jurisdictions.

Significantly, Metals Australia’s strong cash balance, which stood at $17.8 million at the end of the March quarter⁴, gives us the financial strength to rapidly advance our pipeline of development studies at Lac Rainy, while also continuing exploration programs across our suite of other highly prospective projects in Canada and Australia.

We believe these studies will help unlock the significant value of the Lac Rainy project, which is not reflected in the current share price. This is despite the fact Lac Rainy has already demonstrated compelling and robust economics, as outlined in the 2021 Scoping Study¹.

The work we are now advancing will significantly de-risk the project and bring it closer to development – at an ideal time when North America is seeking reliable supplies of critical minerals to establish or reorient its manufacturing base and supply logistics.”

Figure 1: Lac Rainy Graphite Project, key high-grade graphite electro-magnetic (EM) trends and targets with planned drilling locations4

Metallurgical & Laboratory Services Agreement for metallurgical test-work with SGS Laboratories

Metals Australia has awarded the metallurgical test-work and laboratory services requirements for its PFS level flake-graphite metallurgical test-work program5 to SGS Laboratories in Lakefield, Ontario, Canada.

Two approximately 200kg bulk-samples have been prepared from existing drill-core and despatched to SGS for comminution and flotation test-work and characterisation to provide key inputs to the flake-graphite concentrate production PFS. The program is estimated to take approximately four months and will include all sample preparation, chemical characterisation, mineralogy testing, comminution and flotation testing and reporting.

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