Ironveld plc provided an update on recent activities. Ironveld Smelting Operations During July and August, activities at Ironveld Smelting's Rustenburg facilities focused on ensuring that the two refurbished furnaces as well as the Argon Oxygen Decarburization Convertor and the Granulator could operate successfully. Although the refurbished plant operated as planned without any material issues, it became clear that further electrical power supply would be required to run all equipment simultaneously to optimum levels.

To resolve this problem, additional generators were ordered and then fully installed earlier this month. Whilst this resulted in a short delay in the anticipated level of activity from the first two furnaces, the additional power is now capable of operating all equipment as planned on a full-time basis, which is expected to continue going forward. Final works and commissioning of the third planned furnace at the smelter had been placed on hold pending the arrival of the additional generators and this is now expected to start in October.

Environmentally Friendly and Economical Energy Solution The use of generators at the site has always formed part of Ironveld's short-term solution to remain off-grid, allowing it to avoid the daily 'load shedding' imposed by the state electricity provider, ESKOM. As previously announced, Ironveld has contracted for installation of a full solar-LNG hybrid system at its Rustenburg site to provide all power requirements on a materially cheaper basis than both diesel generators and grid power which is expected to be installed during first quarter 2024. In addition, all works are proceeding as planned with respect to the BurnStar LNG to hydrogen project which is presently on track for commissioning around the end of 2023, followed by commencement of supply during First Quarter 2024. This may enable Ironveld to use hydrogen as a reductant in the smelting process, thereby further enhancing the Company's 'green metals' credentials.

Third-party Smelting Contract Demonstrates Capabilities of On-site Team and Equipment In August, whilst waiting for the installation of the additional generators and seeking to utilise the power available at the time, the smelter was able to successfully process a test quantity of third-party metal product to generate revenue. This is expected to lead to an additional cash generative fixed term and quantity contract in the short term whilst the customer conducts maintenance on its own facilities. The outcome has been to demonstrate not only the flexibility of the production team at the smelter, but also the Company's ability to generate value from its on-site equipment.

In due course, the fourth furnace at the smelter is also expected to be brought into production and may become available for third party contracts. The refurbished Granulator at the smelter performed significantly above expectations during this recent processing. The plant was able to consistently generate a minus two-millimetre final product, which based on current feedback, should lead to an increased number of customers for the Company's High Purity Iron product.

Ironveld Mining's IPace DMS Magnetite Joint Venture Progressing As announced on 1 September 2023, an amendment to the structure of the IPace DMS Magnetite Joint Venture has been signed with Sable Exploration and Mining, bringing in SEAM as funding partner. SEAM has already advanced funding as envisaged by the agreements. At the mine site, ground works and civil works for the DMS Magnetite JV are progressing well and all processing equipment is expected to be installed in approximately four weeks, with first product sales around two to four weeks after that.  General mining activities to provide the smelter with necessary ore have enabled stockpiles to be created at both sites.

High Purity Iron Powders Opportunity Ironveld's Board has been very encouraged by recent conversations with potential customers for its planned iron powders products. At present there is no production of water atomised iron powders in the southern hemisphere and, once production of these powders commences, Ironveld will enable local customers to avoid importing these critical materials. The Company has a fully costed capital investment programme of approximately ZAR 80 million (approximately £3.4 million) to upgrade the Rustenburg production facilities and is considering a number of ways to best finance this expansion without further recourse to shareholders.

Additive Manufacturing Research reported earlier this week that metal 3D printing markets had grown 16% year-on-year and Ironveld's planned iron powders will feed into this growing market.  For example, the aerospace industry, including Airbus and Boeing, is increasingly using metal 3D printing for parts, and last month Apple announced that it would be using 3D printers to make the chassis for some of the upcoming Apple Watch Series 9 models. The new manufacturing process that Apple is testing will use less material than the large slabs of metal that are needed for traditional computer numerical control manufacturing, as well as cutting down on the time that it takes to make new devices.