REG - Ferro-Alloy Rsrcs - Q1 2024 Production Results

Ferro-Alloy ResourcesAnnouncement

26/04/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 1073M  Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited  26 April 2024

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE MARKET
ABUSE REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014 (INCLUDING AS IT FORMS PART OF THE LAWS OF
ENGLAND AND WALES BY VIRTUE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018
("MAR").

 

26 April 2024

Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited

("Ferro-Alloy" or the "Group" or the "Company")

 

 Q1 2024 Production Results

Increased Q1 production year on year

 

Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited (LSE:FAR), the vanadium producer and developer
of the large Balasausqandiq vanadium deposit in Southern Kazakhstan, announces
the production results of the Group's existing operation for Q1 2024.

 

Q1 Production Results

 

                                         2023                                   2024
                                         Q1     Q2       Q3     Q4     FY 2023  Q1     Q1 % change

                                         2023   2023     2023   2023            2024

 Tonnes of concentrate processed         194.1  1,016.6  314.0  703.3  2,228.0  668.6  +244.5%

 Tonnes of vanadium pentoxide produced*  31.3   141.4    47.3   90.5   310.5    81.6   +160.7%

 Tonnes of molybdenum produced**         6.5    14.1     6.4    7.4    34.4     7.1    +9.2%

 Tonnes of nickel produced***            9.7    50.8     15.7   35.2   111.4    33.4   +244%

 

*     partly contained in ammonium metavanadate

**   in ferro-molybdenum

*** in nickel concentrate

 

 

Commentary

Production in Q1 2024 was 160% higher than Q1 2023, but slightly lower than
planned, impacted mainly by severe flooding in Kazakhstan during March which
caused transport delays in country and infrastructure issues at the plant
site. One of the Group's four roasting ovens also required re-lining during
the quarter. The pre-roaster, which reduces the raw material residence time in
the main ovens, was not in operation during the quarter as a result of high
winter winds and general extreme weather.

During the quarter, several improvements were made to the production
facilities, including the installation of new cyclones on two of the roasting
ovens in order to increase recovery and reduce emissions. A reorganisation of
the drying oven and dissociation oven was also undertaken to increase overall
recoveries. Two new drying ovens are currently being installed and will be
commissioned during May.

Production Outlook

The impact of the floods has also affected production at the start of April
but the improvements in the plant described above, together with the expected
operation of the pre-roaster, should increase production to compensate.

The Company has sufficient feedstock in its warehouse for processing over the
next two months and further concentrate deliveries are expected to arrive on
site to enable uninterrupted production.

The Company has also started to source and treat raw materials for processing
on a tolling basis which eliminates the risk of price movements between the
time of purchase of concentrates and the sale of the product.

Commenting on the production results, Nick Bridgen, CEO of Ferro-Alloy
Resources said:

"The first quarter of the year always produces challenging winter weather, but
we are pleased to see a solid increase on the same quarter last year despite
more severe weather. We are hopeful that we will be able to build on the
success of this quarter throughout the rest of the year."

 

For further information, visit www.ferro-alloy.com or contact:

 

 Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited     Nick Bridgen (CEO) / William Callewaert (CFO)  info@ferro-alloy.com

 Shore Capital                     Toby Gibbs/Lucy Bowden                         +44 207 408 4090

 (Joint Corporate Broker)

 Liberum Capital Limited           Scott Mathieson/John More                      +44 20 3100 2000

 (Joint Corporate Broker)
 St Brides Partners Limited        Ana Ribeiro / Charlotte Page                   +44 207 236 1177

 (Financial PR & IR Adviser)

 

Notes to Editors

About Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited:

The Company's operations are all located at the Balasausqandiq deposit in
Kyzylordinskoye Oblast in the South of Kazakhstan. Currently the Company has
two main business activities:

a) the high grade Balasausqandiq vanadium project (the "Project"); and

b) an existing vanadium concentrate processing operation (the "Existing
Operation")

Balasausqandiq is a very large deposit, with vanadium as the principal product
together with several by-products. Owing to the nature of the ore, the capital
and operating costs of development are very much lower than for other vanadium
projects.

The most recent mineral resource estimate for ore-body one (of seven) provided
an Indicated Mineral Resource of 32.9 million tonnes at a mean grade of 0.62%
V(2)O(5) equating to 203,364 contained tonnes of vanadium pentoxide
("V(2)O(5)"). In the system of reserve estimation used in Kazakhstan the
reserves are estimated to be over 70m tonnes in ore-bodies 1 to 5 but this
does not include the full depth of ore-bodies 2 to 5 or the remaining
ore-bodies which remain substantially unexplored.

The Project will be developed in two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2, treating 1m
tonnes per year and an additional 3m tonnes per year. Production will be some
5,600 tonnes of V(2)O(5) from Phase 1, rising to 22,400 tonnes V(2)O(5) after
Phase 2 is commissioned.

There is an existing concentrate processing operation at the site of the
Balasausqandiq deposit. The production facilities were originally created from
a 15,000 tonnes per year pilot plant which was then expanded and adapted to
recover vanadium, molybdenum and nickel from purchased concentrates.

The existing operation is located on the same site and uses some of the same
infrastructure as the Project, but is a separate operation which will continue
in parallel with the development and operation of the Project.

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