The Board of Alpha HPA Limited provided an update on project activities for its HPA First Project, representing the commercialisation and production of critical high purity aluminium products driving de-carbonisation. The Company's Stage 1, Precursor Production Facility (PPF) in Gladstone, QLD has now been commissioned and is currently in ramp-up phase to full production capacity. The Company is concurrently satisfying the remaining conditions precedent to the full-scale Project Final Investment Decision (FID), with a focus on product sales, offtakes and project financing.

Stage 1 - PPF: Commissioning complete - enters ramp-up phase Production of aluminium nitrate (Al-nitrate) during commissioning phase has now reached approximately 16 tonnes, with assays confirming production at the target 5N (99.999%) purity level. Commissioning is now complete and Alpha has shifted to ramp-up and throughput optimisation with a steady increase in process plant throughput from the current ~70% process rate to a target 100% process rate. Al-nitrate production will be paused for one week over the Christmas period to allow for the tie-in of downstream equipment and the conversion of Al-nitrates to high purity alumina (HPA).

This will facilitate larger volumes of HPA production to service multiple sample orders from Li-ion battery and sapphire glass end-users. Orders placed for key long-lead equipment for Stage 1 HPA circuit: The first $6.82 million tranche of the $15.5 million grant awarded under the Critical Minerals Development Program (CMDP) has been received and funds and are now being applied to placing orders for key long lead equipment, including: Rotary dryer; Boehmite spray dryer; Boehmite filter press; Al-sulphate Centrifuge; HPA tunnel kiln; HPA tablet press; Sinter oven for HPA tablets (for sapphire glass production). Once fully deployed, the CMDP grant funding will have facilitated: The expansion of Stage 1 PPF production capacity of aluminium nitrate and aluminium sulphate; The capability to produce up to 10tpa of additional capacity of HPA production; The capability to produce up to 10tpa of additional capacity of High Purity Boehmite production; Production of HPA tablets for sapphire glass growth; and installation of a large rooftop solar array and battery storage capacity.

Follow-on order for large EU based cathode manufacturer: Following successful low volume (1kg) sample testwork and a related project site visit, Alpha now has received a larger volume (60kg) follow-on order of a specific HPA product for the next stage of qualification with an EU based cathode manufacturer. This order is expected to be completed and shipped by the end of January 2023. Multiple new orders from EU based Li-battery manufacturer: Following a number of meetings and review of Alpha's products and low-carbon process, a large EU based Li-ion battery manufacturer has now ordered four test samples across most of Alpha's product range.

These orders will be shipped over December 2022 and early January 2023. The ability to satisfy demand for multiple high purity aluminium products from a single production source is considered a key advantage of Alpha's process and the PPF facility. First nano-HPA sale order for Lumileds: After multiple rounds of sample product testing with leading global LED manufacturer Lumileds, Alpha has received its first minor sale order of nano HPA (5kg).

A successful production run of this order by Lumileds is expected to lead to substantially larger production order in 2023. Follow-on high purity aluminium trihydrate orders: In November Alpha delivered its first sample orders for a newly developed product, 4N+ purity aluminium tri-hydroxide (ATH) for a potential high volume application. The counterparty has responded rapidly with an additional order.

Another ATH order has been received from an EU battery maker. Each of these samples will be despatched this week. 25kg Al-nitrate order for EU catalysts manufacturer: Alpha supplied quotes for the supply of Al-nitrate to an EU catalysts manufacturer in October 2022.

Alpha has now received and serviced a sample test order for 25kg for a qualification production run to complete in January 2023.