IperionX (ASX:IPX) wins US Air Force titanium recycling challenge contract

• IperionX (IPX) wins the US Department of Defence’s national security innovation network (NSIN) Air Force research laboratory (AFRL) Grand Challenge contract
• As the winner, IPX is eligible for a contract award of up to $500,000 across four phases, with the company already completing Phase 1
• IperionX will also be given the opportunity to produce titanium metal powders from scrap materials and rejuvenate used or out-of-specification titanium powder for the AFRL
• The company says winning the challenge is an important validation of IperionX’s patented technologies to produce circular, low-carbon and lower cost titanium metal
• Shares in Iperionx are down 2.99 per cent, trading at 81 cents as of 11:10 am AEDT

IperionX (IPX) has won the US Department of Defence’s national security innovation network (NSIN) Air Force research laboratory (AFRL) Grand Challenge contract.

As the winner, IPX is eligible for a contract award of up to $500,000 across four phases, with the company having already completed phase one. IperionX will now undergo phases two to four as part of routine production operations at its titanium pilot facility in Utah.

IperionX will also be given the opportunity to produce titanium metal powders from scrap
materials and rejuvenate used or out-of-specification titanium powder for the AFRL.

CEO Anastasios Arima said winning the challenge is an important validation of IperionX’s patented technologies.

“Our leading technologies can efficiently recycle titanium scrap metal and metal powders at lower cost than existing processes, and we look forward to working closely with NSIN, AFRL and other Department of Defence agencies to qualify and rapidly deploy the use of circular titanium metal across key defense platforms.”

The patented technologies were developed by Zak Fang, an American Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of Utah.

The technologies also position the company to up-cycle a wide variety of low-grade, high oxygen content titanium scrap which has historically been down-cycled to lower value markets.

Shares in Iperionx were down 2.99 per cent, trading at 81 cents as of 11:10 am AEDT.