5E Advanced Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: FEAM) (ASX: 5EA) (“5E” or the
“Company”), a boron and lithium company with U.S. government
Critical Infrastructure designation for its 5E Boron Americas
Complex, today announced the Company’s operations team has
successfully achieved first production of boric acid and the
Company amended its outstanding senior secured convertible notes to
extend the waiver of the notes’ cash covenant.
First Production and Next
Steps
With the first production batch of boric acid
now achieved, 5E will continue to refine operating parameters to
meet and exceed customer specifications. 5E anticipates beginning
the customer qualification process with a variety of customer
prospects. The customer qualification process will include 5E
providing samples of boric acid for customers to validate their
customer-established qualification criteria. Upon successful
feedback from customers that the product meets their
specifications, 5E will then deliver larger volumes of boric acid
from the SSF, to the customer production facilities for product
validation.
Figure 1: Boric Acid from 5E’s Boron
America Complex – April 25, 2024
Figure 2: The 5E team filling a “super
sack” of Boric Acid - April 25, 2024
Susan Brennan, Chief Executive Officer at 5E
Advanced Materials, stated, “I am pleased that we have achieved
first production of boric acid from our Small-Scale Facility (SSF).
I am incredibly proud of our team’s dedication and hard work to
achieve another historic milestone. This marks an important step in
bolstering and securing a boron supply chain that is made in
America. While first production was no easy task, the team
delivered through the normal challenges of starting up a new
production process, to continue building a globally significant
business in the boron market.”
Amendment of Senior Secured Convertible
Note
The Company also announced an amendment to its
outstanding senior secured convertible notes, which extends a
waiver of the existing financial cash covenant from June 28, 2024,
to December 31, 2024. Beginning December 31, 2024, the cash
covenant will require that the Company maintains a cash balance of
at least $7.5 million.
About 5E Advanced Materials,
Inc.5E Advanced Materials, Inc. (Nasdaq: FEAM) (ASX: 5EA)
is focused on becoming a vertically integrated global leader and
supplier of boron specialty and advanced materials, complemented by
lithium co-product production. The Company’s mission is to become a
supplier of these critical materials to industries addressing
global decarbonization, food and domestic security. Boron and
lithium products will target applications in the fields of electric
transportation, clean energy infrastructure, such as solar and wind
power, fertilizers, and domestic security. The business strategy
and objectives are to develop capabilities ranging from upstream
extraction and product sales of boric acid, lithium carbonate and
potentially other co-products, to downstream boron advanced
material processing and development. The business is based on our
large domestic boron and lithium resource, which is located in
Southern California and designated as Critical Infrastructure by
the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and
Infrastructure Security Agency.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes “forward-looking
statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, as amended. All statements other than
statements of historical fact included in this press release
regarding our business strategy, plans, goal, and objectives are
forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the
words “believe,” “project,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,”
“intend,” “budget,” “target,” “aim,” “strategy,” “plan,”
“guidance,” “outlook,” “intent,” “may,” “should,” “could,” “will,”
“would,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will likely result,” and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain
such identifying words. These forward-looking statements are based
on the Company’s current expectations and assumptions about future
events and are based on currently available information as to the
outcome and timing of future events. We caution you that these
forward-looking statements are subject to all of the risks and
uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of
which are beyond our control, incident to the extraction of the
critical materials we intend to produce and advanced materials
production and development. These risks include, but are not
limited to: our limited operating history in the borates and
lithium industries and no revenue from our proposed extraction
operations at our properties; our need for substantial additional
financing to continue as a going concern and to execute our
business plan and our ability to access capital and the financial
markets; our status as an exploration stage company dependent on a
single project with no known Regulation S-K 1300 mineral reserves
and the inherent uncertainty in estimates of mineral resources; our
lack of history in mineral production and the significant risks
associated with achieving our business strategies, including our
downstream processing ambitions; our incurrence of significant net
operating losses to date and plans to incur continued losses for
the foreseeable future; risks and uncertainties relating to the
development of the Fort Cady project, including our ability to
timely and successfully complete our Small Scale Boron Facility;
our ability to obtain, maintain and renew required governmental
permits for our development activities, including satisfying all
mandated conditions to any such permits; the implementation of and
expected benefits from certain reduced spending measures, and other
risks and uncertainties set forth in our filings with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Should one or
more of these risks or uncertainties occur, or should underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results and plans could
differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking
statements. These risks are not exhaustive and the information in
this press release may be subject to additional risks. No
representation or warranty (express or implied) is made as to, and
no reliance should be place on, any information, including
projections, estimates, targets, and opinions contained herein, and
no liability whatsoever is accepted as to any errors, omissions, or
misstatements contained herein. You are cautioned not to place
undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only
as to the date of this press release.
For additional information regarding these various factors, you
should carefully review the risk factors and other disclosures in
the Company’s Form 10-K filed on August 30, 2023. Additional risks
are also disclosed by 5E in its filings with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission throughout the year, including its Form
10-K, Form 10-Qs and Form 8-Ks, as well as in its filings under the
Australian Securities Exchange. Any forward-looking statements are
given only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, 5E
expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any such
forward-looking statements. Additionally, 5E undertakes no
obligation to comment on third party analyses or statements
regarding 5E’s actual or expected financial or operating results or
its securities.
For further information contact:
| Joseph Caminiti or Nick
TevesAlpha IR GroupFEAM@alpha-ir.com Ph: +1 (312) 445-2870 |
J.T. StarzeckiChief Marketing
Officerjstarzecki@5eadvancedmaterials.com Ph: +1 (612)
719-5076 |
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Photos accompanying this announcement are available
at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/746cc40f-63cc-438a-b165-c2a5b31392c4https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/dc5a5c6e-6f11-491a-b380-34298fcdbaf3