National Nuclear Regulator Certification Received

Kazera Global plc, the AIM-quoted investment company, is delighted to announce that it has received certification from the National Nuclear Regulator ("NNR") in South Africa, which enables its Whale Head Minerals project to imminently commence the mining and production of Heavy Mineral Sands ("HMS").

Background

The Company has a Mining Permit over a 5-hectare beach deposit of Heavy Mineral Sands ("HMS") in Alexander Bay, Northern Cape, South Africa which contains predominantly Ilmenite and Garnet, but with significant amounts of Zircon, Rutile and, to a lesser extent, Monazite.

In June 2023, whilst arranging test samples for interested off-takers, the Company identified that certain elements of the sands were radioactive. This required all mining operations to be suspended whilst necessary infrastructure and procedures were put in place to comply with the NNR's requirements for certification.

The Company subsequently built the required facilities and introduced the required operating protocols, with the NNR conducting a detailed review of its application for certification. This has culminated in the NNR granting the Company permission, following a final inspection of the Company's operations later this month, to commence mining and processing at its site.

Potential Off Takers ("POTs")

The Company has remained engaged with several POTs in both South Africa and overseas who have approached the Company with a view to purchasing its HMS. With the NNR Certificate of Registration now in place, these discussions can be progressed, with samples expected to be provided to the POTs once mining and production commence towards the end of this month. Following the analysis of these samples, the Company expects to be able to finalise contracts with POTs.

Offtake options open to the Company range from HMS product being sold as run of mine at the mine gate, to the introduction of a magnetic separator to sell specific minerals to end users. A potential offtaker has agreed, in principle, to finance this second option. The Company will consider all options available to it and seek to balance short-term cashflow generation with longer term value creation.

Dennis Edmonds, Chief Executive Officer of Kazera Global Plc commented "The NNR issuing Whale Head Minerals with its Certificate of Registration removes the final hurdle for the project. Following a final on-site inspection, which will take place by the end of August, we will immediately commence mining our HMS and seek to finalise agreements with off-takers. In the interim, we will build a stockpile of product so that we are able to deliver high volumes of HMS product as soon as off-take agreements are in place.

"This is an incredibly exciting time for the Company. We have always known that we have a very pure deposit of HMS and, whilst the discovery of radioactive elements meant we had to delay the start of production, the presence of rutile, zircon, and monazite, which typically have a much higher commercial value than ilmenite, suggests the value of the deposit is even higher than we had originally thought.

"With the NNR certificate in hand, the commencement of production imminent, and numerous off takers competing to buy our product, I believe that Kazera is now in the best position that it has been in since I took the reins as CEO in 2021.

"I am immensely grateful to the whole Kazera team, particularly those in South Africa, for their dedication and perseverance in getting us to this point and to Tracarta and Richard Jennings for facilitating the recent loan to avoid the need to undertake an equity raise pending what we expect to be significant cashflows. I would also like to thank our shareholders for their patience over the past year. It has been a frustrating period for us all but, with this hurdle removed, the future looks very promising."