[Ferro-Alloys.com] Element 25 Receives Firm Commitments For $10m Placement to Fund Expansion of Butcherbird, WA

HIGHLIGHTS:

Element 25 receives firm commitments for $10 million Share Placement at AU$0.28 per share to fund expansion of its Butcherbird Manganese Project (Butcherbird) in WA and for working capital.

Butcherbird is a world-class manganese resource with an Ore Reserve of 101Mt at 10.4% Mn for 10.5 million tonnes of contained manganese.

The Butcherbird Expansion Project (BBX) is designed to increase Butcherbird’s production capacity to 1.1 million tonnes per annum with the January 2025 Feasibility Study update estimating a capital cost of AU$64.8 million with a pre-tax Net Present Value (NPV) of AU$561 million and 96% pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR).

Increased production capacity via BBX will support Element 25’s planned high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) production facility in Louisiana, USA.

$10 million Placement follows Element 25 securing AU$50 million senior debt facility from Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF).

BBX fully approved under WA Regulatory Framework including WA Department of Water (DWER) and Environmental Regulation and WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS).

Element 25 Limited (E25 or Company) (ASX: E25; OTCQX: ELMTF) is pleased to announce it has received firm commitments for a $10 million Share Placement (Placement) to fund expansion of its Butcherbird Manganese Project in Western Australia (WA).

The Placement follows Element 25 securing a senior debt facility of up to AU$50 million from Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) for the BBX expansion, as announced in June 2025.

Element 25 plans to expand Butcherbird’s production capacity to 1.1 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of manganese oxide concentrate 2. Butcherbird’s expansion will enable it to supply manganese concentrate feedstock for Element 25’s planned battery grade, high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) processing facility which it plans to build in Louisiana, USA, as well as securing concentrate sales to other customers.

Under the Placement, Element 25 will issue 36,323,146 shares (13,461,906 under ASX Listing Rule 7.1 and 22,861,240 under ASX Listing Rule 7.1A) at a price of AU$0.28 per share, representing a 13.4% discount to the 10-day volume weighted average price (VWAP) of AU$0.323/share and a 16.4% discount to the last close price of AU$0.335/share.

Element 25 Managing Director Justin Brown said: “We are extremely pleased with the support from new and existing Shareholders in this Placement, which will allow us to move forward with our fully approved Butcherbird expansion following the AU$50 million secured from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund. Expanding Butcherbird is an important part of our strategy to produce HPMSM, with our first facility planned for Louisiana, USA and a development strategy that is backed by General Motors, Stellantis and the US Department of Energy. Funds raised under the Placement will allow key orders to be placed for long lead equipment items and will fund the acceleration of detailed engineering design activities to progress the project in line with the project plan.

The Placement is anticipated to settle on 18 September 2025 with shares to be issued on or around 19 September 2025. Petra Capital was Sole Lead Manager and Sole Bookrunner to the offer.

A Feasibility Study for BBX updated in January 2025 estimated a capital cost of AU$64.8 million with a pre-tax Net Present Value (NPV) of AU$561 million with a 96% pre-tax Internal Rate of Return (IRR), generating an average of AU$70.5 million per year cashflow over a mine life of more than 18 years.

Finalising the $10 million Placement follows Element 25’s awarding of a Grant Agreement for US$166 million (AU$268 million) from the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) under the Battery Materials Processing Grant Program to support construction of its HPMSM facility in Louisiana, which will bring domestic production of a key critical battery raw material to the USA. Element 25 also secured US$115 million from its offtake partners General Motors LLC (GM) and Stellantis N.V. (Stellantis).

Using manganese ore sourced from Butcherbird and shipped to Louisiana, Element 25 will leverage its innovative, advanced processing flowsheet to convert Butcherbird manganese concentrate into HPMSM, a critical raw material for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. The proprietary flowsheet reduces energy consumption, virtually eliminates waste and delivers the lowest reported carbon intensity HPMSM globally.

Recent industry developments include a potential industry shift towards lithium manganese rich (LMR) battery chemistry, rather than a high nickel formulation, with Element 25’s offtake partner GM one of the first automakers looking to adopt this technology, after spending more than a decade on research10. While high nickel battery cells typically use about 10% manganese, LMR battery cells use around to 50-70% manganese11 increasing the required manganese by a factor of around 10.

Element 25’s process offers a pathway to the delivery of expanding volumes of ethically sourced, traceable, transparent HPMSM supply to US markets. Element 25 plans to produce up to 135Kt per annum of HPMSM for US electric vehicle (EV) supply chains in a first-of-its-kind processing facility in Louisiana.

NEXT STEPS

The Company continues to work with potential financiers to secure the balance of funding to finance the construction of the BBX project. Potential structures include royalty streams, offtake prepayments and subordinated debt structures.

Key work streams in relation to engineering and procurement will now be initiated and run in parallel, to ensure that the project continues to advance towards completion as quickly and cost effectively as possible.

• [Editor:tianyawei]