Alpha HPA raises $175M to move ahead with FID on Stage 2 of QLD plant

Alpha HPA Limited (ASX:A4N) announced on Tuesday its successful raising of $175M to move head to FID on Stage 2 of the company’s Gladstone-based High Purity Alumina (HPA) plant in QLD.

Shares were unchanged at lunchtime on the news, trading at $1.00/sh flat.

The raising ultimately covers all costs needed by the company to move ahead to a positive FID on Stage 2 of the company’s Gladstone-based HPA project.

In the background of this is a notable move from Canberra made in 2022: HPA is officially on Australia’s critical minerals list.

To that end the company has been able to secure government funding which will in part become part of the larger Stage 2 funding pool Alpha taps in developing Stage 2 at Gladstone.

Investor interest in the project has been equally strong. The placement was bumped up to $175M from $120M, which was the originally envisaged target. Institutional and sophisticated investors were described.

“We look forward to commencing Stage 2 project execution, and moving another step closer to establishing Australia’s first, sovereign, large scale, commercial capability to manufacture high purity aluminas and related products to support technology growth sectors driving the global energy transition,” Alpha MD Rimas Kairaitis said.

“This decision to proceed with the commercialisation of Stage 2 of the HPA First Project and the successful project financing represents a major step-change in our business growth.”

HPA is widely tipped as a decarbonisation and energy transition metal. It is used in solar panels, LED lights, microchips, lithium-ion batteries, and even in the production of synthetic sapphires.

A4N shares last traded at $1.00/sh.