Element 25 Limited announced that assay results have now been received for exploration drilling completed in the March 2022 quarter. A reverse circulation drilling programme comprising 34 holes for 904m was completed in the first quarter of 2022 targeting areas where there was no historical drilling. The programme was designed to test for extensions to the known manganese resource areas.

The drilling primarily targeted the areas to the west and south of the Ilgarari Ridge deposit. Manganese mineralisation was logged multiple drillholes and assays have now confirmed commercially significant grades and widths of manganese in multiple holes. Several holes were drilled to sterilise potential infrastructure locations as part of the planning for the proposed expanded production at Butcherbird, however a number these holes also intersected significant manganese mineralisation forcing a re-evaluation of the proposed layout.

As in previous drilling at Butcherbird, this programme has identified broad widths of near surface supergene enriched manganese oxide mineralisation similar in style the currently mined areas at the Yanneri Ridge deposit to the south. Economic manganese mineralisation at Butcherbird typically comprises interacted bands of siliceous manganese and waste clay material. This habit lends itself to mechanical upgrading via crushing, washing and ore-sorting in line with current mining and processing operations.

There is nothing visually different about the newly discovered mineralisation in this programme. Project team focus E25's Operations team continues to focus on delivering sustained nameplate production. The Project is ideally placed to feed this potential demand, with advanced flowsheet development work undertaken in 2019 and 2020 confirming a simple leach process for E25 ores which, when combined with offsets, will target the world's first Zero Carbon Manganese for EV cathode manufacture.

About the Butcherbird Manganese Project E25's Butcherbird Manganese Project is a world-class manganese resource with current JORC resources of more than 263Mt of manganese ore6. In May 2020, the Company completed a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS)7 with respect to developing the deposit to produce manganese concentrate for export to generate early cashflow with a modest capital requirement. Stage 1 of the Project development plan is complete and E25 has commenced shipping ore to offtake partners.

The PFS also highlighted the Project's potential for significant growth beyond the initial Stage 1 production volumes (the studies examined the potential for a 2X and 3X expansion to Stage 1 within 12 months of initial commissioning), and the Company expects to expedite the expansion of the Project in 2H FY2022. In addition to the concentrate export business, the Company has completed extensive research & development and laboratory test work into the production of high purity manganese products including battery grade manganese sulphate (HPMSM) and High Purity Electrolytic Manganese Metal (HPEMM). The work has highlighted that the Butcherbird ores are highly amenable to an ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure leach process, resulting in a very efficient extraction of the manganese into solution, the key requirement for the cost effective and sustainable production of HPMSM and HPEMM.

The Project straddles the Great Northern Highway and the Goldfields Gas Pipeline, providing turnkey logistics and energy solutions. The Company plans to integrate renewable energy into the power solution over time to target a zero-carbon footprint for the Project, which is expected to also reduce energy costs. A cleaner, lower carbon flowsheet and high penetration renewable energy will place Butcherbird at the forefront of sustainable high purity manganese production.