IperionX releases plans for largest 100% titanium powder facility by 2025

May 5, 2023

Share to your network:

IperionX Limited, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, has announced that it has completed the detailed engineering design for the planned Titanium Demonstration Facility (TDF), announced in September 2022, and a techno-economic assessment for the company's first Titanium Commercial Facility (TCF-1) with a production capacity of 1,125 metric tonnes per annum (tpa), located at the Southern Virginia Technology Park in Halifax County, Virginia.

The TDF and TCF-1 will utilise Hydrogen Assisted Metallothermic Reduction (HAMR) technologies to produce titanium metal powder. Development of the TCF-1 would furnish IperionX with the largest recycled titanium metal powder production capacity globally, whilst reportedly being the only titanium production facility using 100% titanium metal scrap as a feedstock. This will also reportedly be the only such facility with zero Scope 1 & 2 emissions with the lowest carbon intensity for any commercial titanium metal powder product.

"The pathway for the development of the TDF and TCF-1 build upon the learnings from our current Industrial Pilot Facility operations in Utah where we have been producing circular titanium metal since early 2022," stated Anastasios Arima, co-founder & CEO. "The development of the TDF & TCF-1 will scale our production to commercial quantities of 100% recycled titanium metal while also reducing the cost providing the potential for titanium to compete on price with other metals, including stainless steel and aluminium."

Arima continued, "The US is a tier 1 fiscal and manufacturing operating environment with a large pipeline of government incentives potentially available to IperionX. We look forward to rapidly advancing our developments through 2023 and moving towards scaled-up production to secure a US supply chain of this critical metal."

The TDF is expected to begin commissioning in Q4 2023 and be operational by Q1 2024, targeting a run rate of 125 tpa by Q3 2024. Development of the TDF remains subject to successful board approval for a final investment decision, expected in Q3 2023.

The TDF is projected to initially produce approximately ~15 tpa of spherical titanium metal powder and ~110 tpa of angular titanium metal powder. IperionX then plans to install additional equipment at the facility to allow for the operational flexibility to produce 125 tpa of either 100% angular titanium metal powder or 100% spherical titanium metal powder for an incremental capital cost of $6.9 million. Cash costs for 125 tpa of spherical titanium powder production at the TDF are projected to be approximately $72/kg, before contingencies.

The larger capacity TCF-1 could be operational by Q4 2025 if items with long lead times are ordered in Q3 2024. The TCF-1 is designed to produce 1,125 tpa of angular or spherical titanium metal powder. Capital costs for this expansion would be $70 million, with $48 million needed for long lead time orders and the remaining $22 million needed during commissioning in 2025.

Assuming a conservative spherical titanium metal powder price of approximately $130/kg (vs. current estimated market pricing of approximately $200/kg), and using key operating assumptions, the TCF-1 has the potential to generate revenue of approximately $145 million and EBITDA of approximately $100 million in 2026.

www.iperionx.com

June 7, 2023

June 5, 2023

June 5, 2023

June 7, 2023