Vulcan Energy Resources Limited has commenced commissioning at its Lithium Extraction Optimization Plant (LEOP). Highlights: The company has commenced commissioning of its Lithium Extraction Optimization Plant (LEOP), for the purpose of extraction, purification, and concentration of lithium chloride from brine in the Upper Rhine Valley in Germany. This milestone represents a major step forward by Vulcan and its Zero Carbon LithiumT Project; This also represents significant progress towards enabling domestic European supply chain independence for lithium as a critical raw material and enabling a more sustainable EV battery production industry in Europe; The commissioning phase for LEOP is expected to run until October, when first brine will be introduced into the plant for the lithium extraction process to begin; The company commenced building its LEOP in 2022, designed as an optimization, operational training and product qualification facility to enable commercial operational readiness for the end of 2025; LEOP succeeds Vulcan's pilot plant, which has successfully operated for 2.5 years, producing lithium chloride from Vulcan's producing well sites; To extract lithium from brine, Vulcan is using Adsorption-type DLE ("A-DLE"), which has been a commercially proven technology in the lithium industry since the 1990s.

A-DLE is also beneficial in terms of low operating costs, greater time efficiency and a lower carbon footprint than legacy industry methods of lithium production; The company will use its proprietary sorbent VULSORB® as part of the lithium extraction process. During the piloting phases, VULSORB® demonstrated higher performance and lower water consumption for lithium extraction compared with commercially available sorbents tested by the Company; Once the lithium chloride is produced, it will be transported to Vulcan's downstream Central Lithium Electrolyser Optimization Plant (CLEOP) in Frankfurt-Höchst where the lithium chloride will be converted into lithium hydroxide, which will be tested by Vulcan's lithium offtake partners, Stellantis, Volkswagen, Renault, Umicore and LG Energy Solution.