Arianne Phosphate announced results from its prefeasibility study. As per the Company's Press Release of January 30, 2024, Arianne commissioned a PFS to consider the viability of constructing a purified phosphoric acid plant in the Saguenay region of Quebec to transform igneous-based phosphate concentrate into a battery-grade phosphoric acid for use in the lithium-iron-phosphate battery. "Access to a high-quality phosphate concentrate, the ability to economically produce PPA for use in specialty applications and the advent and growth of the LFP battery provide extremely compelling economics with a pre-tax NPV of over USD 4.5 billion.

Further, the study also demonstrates the opportunity for the Lac a Paul mine to have a local customer. In looking at the two projects in their entirety, the Arianne companies would provide tremendous benefit to its stakeholders and unlock significant value for its shareholders". For the purposes of the economic model, internally built based on the Company's PFS, Arianne used an input cost of $213/t for the phosphate concentrate which is consistent with the Company's previously published bankable feasibility study ("BFS") for its Lac à Paul project.

As per the BFS (October 24, 2013), at a sale price of $213/t, the Lac à Paul mine had a NPV (8) of roughly USD 1.9 billion. Using $213/t, the cash operating cost for the PPA facility would be $1,195/t. According to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (Phosphoric Acid Market Outlook, First Quarter 2024), any production under $1,450/t would be regarded as a low-cost producer of PPA. As well, the 220,000 tonnes of secondary acid would be a byproduct of the PPA production process and thus, would not have an additional production cost associated with it.

Revenue derived from the sale of this acid would be a direct credit adding to the PPA facility's bottom-line profitability. The PPA facility would generate revenue through the sale of its finished products. These products include 350,000 tonnes of PPA at $2,300/t, 220,000 tonnes of secondary acid at $1,200/t and 3 million tonnes of gypsum at $10/t, a product produced through the conversion of phosphate concentrate into phosphoric acid.

These prices are based on reported sales prices from several data providers and publicly available sources. The sales prices of the two classes of phosphoric acid represent a discounted 3-year average. The project would also generate surplus electricity that could be sold into the grid however, this has not been accounted for in the Company's internal revenue model.

According to the study, the downstream PPA facility would be able to take advantage of numerous operational benefits designed to mitigate its environmental impact. By having access to a high-quality, low-contaminant phosphate concentrate, the facility would require less input material thus requiring less transport and handling of the feedstock versus other facilities. As well, by using an igneous-based phosphate concentrate, the facility's output of PPA would be at a much higher ratio than most other operations allowing for a smaller operational footprint for its production size and superior economics.

The facility would also consist of a sulphuric acid production plant. The study shows that by choosing to construct its own plant to produce sulphuric acid, the operation would substantially reduce the environmental risk associated with transporting material in acid form and, greatly reduce the needs from a transportation infrastructure by moving three times less the material. Geographically, the project has numerous advantages.

By situating the downstream project in Saguenay, Quebec, the facility will have easy availability of high-quality igneous phosphate with access to the necessary infrastructure required to build and operate a project of this size and scope. In place there is a preexisting port, rail and a road network to provide for easy transportation logistics allowing access to the emerging Western battery ecosystem in Quebec, Ontario and, the American auto manufacturing markets in Michigan and the southeast United States. The Saguenay region also provides the availability of a highly skilled workforce and has shown strong social acceptability for large scale industrial projects.