Alpha-HPA (ASX:A4N) has reached contract close on $400 million of debt financing to support Phase 2 of its first HPA project at Gladstone, Queensland. The funding, structured as a limited recourse project finance agreement, is being provided jointly by the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) and Export Finance Australia (EFA).
The entire debt is divided into a $320 million construction facility and an $80 million cost overrun facility. The construction facility has a maturity of 11 years from financial close, while the cost overrun facility matures in 5 years. The agreement follows Alpha’s earlier announcement of these terms on April 17, 2024.
The largest in the world
Alpha has already started construction on what it says will be the world’s largest single-site facility for the production of high-purity aluminum (HPA) materials. The completed refinery will occupy 10 hectares and will be capable of producing more than 10,000 tonnes of HPA products per year.
Stage 2 represents the commercial-scale deployment of Alpha’s proprietary solvent extraction and refining technology to produce 4N (99.99% purity) and 5N (99.999% purity) aluminum materials . These materials are used in high-tech markets including semiconductors, lithium-ion batteries and LED lighting.
Alpha Managing Director Rimas Kairaitis said: “We are delighted to receive full financial support from the Queensland and Federal Governments and to have reached this important milestone. We are grateful for the efforts of the EFA and NAIF teams and look forward to the completion of construction on the project.”
Shares closed up 4.22% at $0.86 yesterday.
