IperionX Limited announced that the U.S. Department of Defense (U.S. DoD) has advised that it has contracted to award IperionX USD 12.7 million in funding awarded under the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III authorities to address U.S. titanium supply chain vulnerabilities. The combination of the non-dilutive USD 12.7 million U.S. DoD grant and the potential for a further USD 11.5 million in equipment financing under the previously announced Export-Import Bank of the United States ("EXIM Bank") initiatives provide an outstanding platform for IperionX to accelerate the re-shoring of U.S. domestic titanium production through the development of its titanium production facility in Halifax County, Virginia. The U.S. DoD has undertaken extensive due diligence of IperionX's titanium metal technologies through the application and contracting process, including U.S. DoD representatives undertaking a site visit to IperionX's operating pilot plant in Utah.

The United States has limited domestic primary titanium metal (titanium sponge) capacity and currently imports over 95% of the titanium sponge required for the U.S. defense sector. IperionX intends to re-shore a full titanium supply chain to the U.S. to reduce the acute reliance on titanium imports from foreign nations and strengthen the titanium supply chain for critical defense and advanced industries. IperionX will apply the USD 12.7 million U.,S. DoD grant funding towards building a 125 metric tons per annum titanium production facility in Halifax County., Virginia, with first production expected in 2024.

Once commissioned, IperionX intends to rapidly scale the capacity of this advanced titanium production facility - in a modular development approach - to 1,125 metric tons per annum on the same site in Virginia. titanium has been mass produced in the same way since the 1940s when the existing 'Kroll Process' was developed. The Kroll Process is energy intensive, high cost and produces high levels of greenhouse gas emissions.

In contrast, IperionX's titanium product ion technologies use less energy to produce high-strength titanium, at lower costs, with zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions.