IperionX Letter to Shareholders

IperionX Limited (IperionX) (NASDAQ: IPX, ASX: IPX) is pleased to release a letter to shareholders from the Company’s Chief Executive Officer Anastasios Arima.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240116767247/en/

Figure 1: Bessemer steel production in the U.S. 1867-1882 (Graphic: Business Wire)

Dear IperionX Shareholders & Stakeholders,

As we embark on a new year and reflect on the remarkable accomplishments made over the past 12 months, I am pleased to confirm that the IperionX team have already turned their focus and dedication to delivering another year of significant growth, innovation and success. Before I begin, I would like to provide some historical context for why this year is expected to be a critical inflection point for our company and why we have so much conviction in the exceptional potential for IperionX.

For nearly 3,000 years, steel was a niche product, primarily because it was significantly more expensive than iron. In 1853, the inventor Henry Bessemer began research in alternate steelmaking methods, which ultimately led him to discover a new low-cost process for producing steel in 1856. It took two more years of testing and development for Bessemer to be in a position to commercialize his new process, by opening the Bessemer Steel Works in Sheffield, U.K. in 1858. The first commercial Bessemer steel plant in the U.S. was built in 1864 and between 1867 and 1882, U.S. production of Bessemer steel grew 53% annually. Over the same period, the breakthrough Bessemer steel technology led to a cost reduction of over 70% and ushered in a new age in steel production that continued for over 150 years. Commercialization of the technology was the critical inflection point. The new production technology radically lowered the cost of steel production, allowing Bessemer to scale quickly, profitably capturing market share and making the Bessemer Process a driving force of the Industrial Revolution.

Our core titanium refining and processing technologies, Hydrogen Assisted Metallothermic Reduction (HAMR) & Hydrogen Sintering & Phase Transformation (HSPT), were first patented by Dr. Z Zak Fang in 2016 and 2011 respectively. IperionX now aims to successfully reach its own “Bessemer Moment” as we commission our first commercial titanium production facility, using the HAMR process, in Virginia in 2024. Our noteworthy accomplishments in 2023 have set a solid foundation for a successful commercialization in 2024 and we expect this milestone to be a critical inflection point for the future of IperionX.