Mr. Danny Keating reports

JULY 2024 DEMONSTRATION PLANT CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Giyani Metals Corp. has provided an update on construction of the demonstration plant.

Highlights:

• Substantial progress has been made at the demo plant in July with the installation of five additional modular process skids. Seven of the nine process modules have now been installed.
• The five new process modules include:
  • Three purification circuits (installed in two process modules), including reactors, filter feed tanks and filtrate tanks. These modules form the core of the hydrometallurgical process and allow the removal of impurities ahead of crystallization;
  • Reagent make-up, comprising powder debagging stations and dissolution tanks for three primary reagent systems. Reagents will be dosed throughout the plant at the required locations;
  • The filtration process module, complete with four filter presses which serve the various impurity removal processes;
  • Water treatment and storage, including both process water and reverse osmosis water systems.
• Installation of the instrumentation and electrical cabling, as well as piping works, have commenced and are near complete for the crystallizer unit and the internal crystallizer process module. This intricate work will progress to the other process modules in sequence.
• In terms of services, the ventilation system installation is complete. This purpose-built system is designed to ensure a safe and comfortable operating environment within the plant. The main reticulation for the utility steam system has been installed and successfully pressure tested.
• Civil works for the external waste storage tank system are in progress. The waste storage system collects process discharge and waste streams. These streams will be analyzed to aid in the design and cost optimization of the water recovery system designs for the commercial plant.
• Simulation test work continues on the Yokogawa Distributed Control System (DCS) software that will be used to control the demo plant, which will operate as a continuous process flow, rather than on batch or lock-cycle methods. This is a massive advantage of the demo plant allowing Giyani to understand how the commercial plant will respond ahead of construction.
• The project remains on track for commissioning and production of battery-grade manganese in Q4 2024 for offtaker testing and qualification.

Danny Keating, president and chief executive officer of the company, commented:

"It is exciting to see the demo plant coming together and appreciating the scale of the facility we are constructing, which is expected to be one of the largest battery-grade manganese process testing and optimization facilities in the world.

"Successful construction and operation of the demo plant is key to demonstrating the inherent value of the project to investors.

"The plant's ability to operate continuously at this precommercial scale will allow Giyani to understand how the commercial plant will respond ahead of construction, pre-emptively detecting and derisking potential issues that could arise during ramp-up.

"The value of this facility as a tool to optimize our proprietary flowsheet and reduce operating costs will be immeasurable. The most important feature will be that we will now be able to provide offtakers with tonnes of product for testing, rather than providing samples measured in grams. this level of production is not usually available until commercial production is achieved, further de-risking the project for our potential partners and financiers."

Demo plant construction update

The demo plant will consist of nine process modules, each a self-contained process system within a fixed frame. An additional five of these process modules have been installed since the June update (see June 20, 2024, news release).

The demo plant construction process follows a set order of module installation to allow sufficient working space in the plant, as well as simultaneous activities, to speed up construction and ultimately commissioning. The plant is built from the crystallizer units to the ore delivery and ball mill, with the detailed piping and instrumentation following the module installation. Within the plant, the following progress has been made:

• All nine bases/footings for the process modules have been installed.
• Seven of nine process modules have been installed.
• All eight ventilation circuits have been installed.
• Instrumentation and wiring is complete on the first process module and is in progress on the second process module.
• The utility steam systems have been successfully pressure tested and concrete has been poured for the external waste storage tank system.
• Assembly of the remaining process modules continues offsite for transportation and installation at the demo plant.

Construction and commission

Five additional process modules have been installed since June.

The demo plant is at 1:10 engineering scale of the planned commercial plant in Kanye, Botswana. For example, the leach tanks have a 60-centimetre diameter in the demo plant and this is expected to be eight to 10 times larger at approximately five metres in the commercial plant.

The detailed construction program takes advantage of sequential mechanical, piping, electrical and instrumentation installation to allow cold commissioning to follow the process module sequence in a highly efficient manner.

Construction of process modules continues from the south end of the facility to the north. Once installed, process modules are completed mechanically, electrically and then fitted out with piping and instrumentation. After this, the initial stages of commissioning C1, C2 and C3 are undertaken at an individual process module level. Commissioning of the full process flow (C4 and C5) will only be concluded once all of the individual process modules are complete.

Stages of construction:

• C1 -- mechanical completion;
• C2 -- dry testing, direction testing, loop testing;
• C3 -- cold/water commissioning, software testing;
• C4 -- hot commissioning with reagents and steam;
• C5 -- production ramp-up.

As part of the construction process, the company and Met63 Ltd., the EPCM (engineering, procurement, construction management) contractor for the demo plant, have agreed to restructure the two site teams and create a single, combined team to improve efficiencies and management of the project. The existing agreement between the two companies (previously announced on Sept. 6, 2022), already envisaged a transition and handover of the plant from Met63 to Giyani and this process will now commence as the plant commissioning phase approaches. The revised agreements will bring synergies as the combined team provides direct experience in the final phases of construction and importantly assist Giyani in its preparations for commissioning and ultimately operation of the Plant.

Demo plant operations update

Giyani is continuing with software development and simulation test work on the Yokogawa DCS software that will be used to operate Giyani's fully continuous process facility. The ability to continuously operate at this precommercial scale will allow Giyani to understand how the commercial plant will respond ahead of construction, minimizing issues that could arise during ramp-up. Unlike a lab- or pilot-scale operation, a full, industrial control system is required to operate this large-scale, automated, hydrometallurgical plant.

The development of all process standard operating procedures (SOPs) is now complete. As the demo plant is a duplicate of the anticipated commercial plant, the overall operating requirements and system requirements are very similar. Alongside the engineering, commercial and research benefits of the demo plant, the development of SOPs will facilitate a smooth transition to full-scale production.

Finalization of the contract for the on-site, independent, ISO-certified, hydrometallurgical laboratory is imminent. This laboratory, which includes ICP-OES and XRF equipment, will allow full commercial-level metal accounting and provide rapid assay turnaround times to enable effective operation of the demo plant.

About Giyani Metals Corp.

Giyani is focused on becoming the dominant western-world producer of sustainable, low-carbon high-purity battery-grade manganese for the electric vehicle (EV) industry.

We seek Safe Harbor.