5E Advanced Materials, Inc. (“5E” or the “Company”), a boron and lithium company with U.S. government Critical Infrastructure designation for its 5E Boron Americas Complex, is pleased to provide an update on its path to becoming a globally significant producer of boron and lithium.

Initial Production of Boron from 5E Boron Americas Complex

Commissioning activities continue with plant and well-field construction substantially complete (see Figure 1 and 2).  The timeline for initial production of boric acid is currently subject to the receipt of a final approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) under the Company’s Underground Injection Control Permit (“UIC Permit”).

On August 13, 2020 the EPA awarded the Company’s UIC (Underground Injection Control) Permit for extraction of boron and lithium.  The permit contained several conditions to be completed prior commencement of mining.

Various conditions included:

1. Posting a bond
2. Installing monitor wells and conduct monitoring
3. Preparation of alert levels to be used during operations
4. Installing the initial injection/recovery wells
5. Conduct testing on both the monitoring wells and injection/recover wells
6. And closing all historic wells within the mining area

Key required reports and documentation were submitted to EPA for their approval in CYQ4 2022.  The Company believes it is in full compliance with the terms of the permit. The EPA is currently reviewing these documents, and the company is responding to any questions. The Company expects to receive authorization to commence mining upon completion of EPA’s review.  Importantly, the well-field and processing plant is on target commence production once the authorization is received by the Company.

Significant Operations Milestone Achieved – No lost time in 2 years

5E Advanced Materials is pleased to report the achievement of a signification operational milestone, passing 2 years recording a no lost-time injury incidents from over 230,000 work hours. This result is the outcome of extremely hard and diligent work from not only a 5E perspective, but also our contractors.