Astron : Donald Project Ore Reserves Statement Update

18 February 2021

Donald Project Ore Reserves Statement Update

HIGHLIGHTS

• ▪ Updated Donald Deposit Ore Reserves increased by 141 million tonnes or 31% to 602 million tonnes @ 4.8% Heavy Minerals

• ▪ High zircon percentage in the Heavy Minerals at 18.8%, approximate in-situ ore body of 5.4 million tonnes of zircon

• ▪ High titania product content, as well as valuable rare earth element component.

Astron Corporation Limited ("Astron", "the Company") (ASX: ATR) is pleased to announce a revised Ore Reserve Statement related to its Donald Mineral Sands Project ("Donald Project"), located in the Wimmera region of Victoria, 60 kilometres northeast of Horsham. The Donald Project represents one of the largest known zircon and titanium ore bodies in the world and a potentially significant new source of global supply.

The Ore Reserve Statement is reported in accordance with the guidelines of the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, 2012 Edition1 and ASX Listing Rules ("JORC Code (2012)"). The Statement includes, a revised Ore Reserves estimate of the Donald Project prepared in compliance with the requirements of the JORC Code (2012).

Astron's mineral sands resource base in Victoria encompasses two deposits: Donald (Retention Licence 2002, which includes Mining Licence 5532) and Jackson (Retention Licence 2003). The Donald Project entails the planned development of a well-delineated resource encompassing an area of 427 sq kms, with 250 sq kms of resource available within the Donald deposit and 177 sq kms available within the project's southern, Jackson deposit. Unlike typically shorter duration dunal deposits that have been mined in the Murray Basin in Victoria and New South Wales, Donald will represent the development of the larger areal extent, offshore finer grained WIM-style deposit, typically volumetrically much larger, facilitating a longer mine life and associated economies of scale.

Table 1 Donald Mineral Sands Deposit Ore Reserve for ML5532 & RL 2002 at February 2021

Oversize	HM	Ilmenite	Leucoxene	Rutile	Zircon	Monazite
(%)	(%)	(%HM)	(%HM)	(%HM)	(%HM)	(%HM)
Proved	310	16.4	9.8	5.4	31.2	20.4	8.2	19.9	1.8
Probable	292	15.6	14.2	4.1	32.4	19.7	7.4	17.3	1.6
Total	602	16.0	11.9	4.8	31.7	20.1	7.9	18.8	1.7

Tonnes

Total within Donald Deposit (RL2002)

SlimesClassification

(mt)

(%)

1 Australian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, 2012 Edition, sets out Minimum standards, recommendations and guidelines for public reporting in Australasia of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves authored by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia.

Notes
1.	The Ore Reserve and Mineral Resource estimates were prepared by AMC Consultants Pty Ltd for further details see
Appendix A and B.
2.	HM is within the 38um to 90um size fraction and reported as a percentage of the total heavy mineral grade, slimes is the -
38um fraction and the oversize is the +90um fraction
3.	The ore tonnes have been rounded to the nearest 1 mt and grades have been rounded to the nearest decimal point.
4.	The Ore Reserve is based on indicated and Measured Mineral Resource contained within mine designs above an economic
cut-off. The economic cut-off is defined as the value of the products less the cost of processing.
5.	Mining recovery and dilution have been applied to the figures above.
6.	Total tonnes may not equal to the sum of the individual resources due to rounding

The initial stage of the planned Donald Project will involve the mining and processing of the Ore Reserves contained within the Donald deposit at ML 5532, located wholly within RL2002 (Fig. 1). Mining operations are then planned to extend into the remainder of RL2002. The current Ore Reserves for the project encompass only RL2002; while a Mineral Resources is available for the entire area including the Jackson deposit (RL2003).

The Donald deposit now holds Ore Reserves of 602 million tonnes (mt) of ore with an average heavy mineral (HM) grade of 4.8%. This equates to an approximate, in-situ ore body of 28.9 mt of heavy minerals, comprised: 5.4 mt of zircon; 9.2 mt of ilmenite; 8 mt of higher titanium content products of rutile and leucoxene (Hi-Ti), as well as a significant rare earth element component of 491 thousand tonnes (kt).

The Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2 Summary of Ore Reserves and Mineral Resource

Leucoxene	Rutile	Zircon	Monazite
(%HM)	(%HM)	(%HM)	(%HM)
22.0	7.0	19.0	1.9
19.0	8.4	18.8	1.7
20.1	7.9	18.8	1.7
Summary of VHM Mineral Resources (Measured, Indicated & Inferred)
22	7	19	2
18	8	18	2
17	9	19	2
18	8	19	2

Notes

TonnesSlimesOversizeDeposit (License Area)

(mt)

(%)

(%)HM (%)

Ilmenite (%HM)Summary of Ore Reserves (Proved and Probable)

Donald Deposit (ML5532) Donald Deposit (RL2002) Total

194 14.1

12.0

• 5.3 31.6

  408

  602

  16.9 16.0

  11.9 11.9

• 4.5 13.8

• 4.8 31.7

Donald Deposit (ML5532) Donald Deposit (RL2002) Jackson Deposit (RL2003)

317 14.2 12.2 5.3 32

1,286

16.0 8.6 4.8 33

Total

823 2,427

17.7 5.0 4.8 32

16.3 7.9 4.8 32

• 1. The ore tonnes have been rounded to the nearest 1 mt and grades have been rounded to the nearest decimal point in the

  Ore Reserves and nearest percentage in VHM Mineral Resources.

• 2. The Ore Reserve is based on indicated and Measured Mineral Resource contained within mine designs above an economic cut-off. The economic cut-off is defined as the value of the products less the cost of processing.

• 3. Mining recovery and dilution have been applied to the figures above.

• 4. Total tonnes may not equal to the sum of the individual resources due to rounding

• 5. Valuable Heavy Mineral (VHM) is calculated where information is available, cut-off grade is at 1%HM for Mineral Resources

According to Astron's Managing Director, Tiger Brown:

"The revised, larger ore reserve position forms a core component of a body of work seeking to progress the Donald Mineral Sands Project, with all of the major work streams expected to be completed or well advanced during 2021, enabling subsequent development approval. Donald is at an advanced regulatory stage of approval with metallurgical test work well-progressed, while a Definitive Feasibility Study is in train to define the project scope, engineering and financial attributes.

Donald represents a Tier One deposit in terms of scale and potential production longevity, value of mineral assemblage - notably the zircon component - and an expected competitive revenue:cash cost ratio. It will represent an important new source of global supply at a time of robust demand yet with challenged supply, particularly of zircon, from maturing existing operations. The rare earth product component of the deposit represents a potentially valuable additional revenue source.

Current metallurgical test work is being conducted in relation to the separation of a sample of heavy mineral concentrate produced during 2020 on a pilot scale, emanating from ore recovered from the Donald Project tenements."

Astron expects to take a staged approach in the development of the Donald Project. Stage 1 of the project is expected to occur predominantly within ML5532. This licence area contains an estimated Ore Reserve of 194 mt of ore at an average heavy mineral (HM) grade of 5.3% or approximately 10.2 mt of in-situ HM. Estimated in-situ zircon is approximately 1.95 mt. The main regulatory approvals, including an Environmental Effects Statement (EES) that encompass mining activities within ML 5532, have been obtained by Astron, and covers the area that will encompass mining activities in the first 8 years of production.

Stage 2 will extend mining operations across RL2002. In total, the remaining area of this retention licence contains an estimated Ore Reserve of 408 mt of ore at an average HM grade of 4.8%, or approximately 18.4 mt of in-situ HM. Estimated in-situ zircon is an additional 3.4 mt from that available within ML5532. Regulatory approvals, including a further mining lease application and EES, will be required for mining activities to extend into RL2002. Subject to these approvals, the current Ore Reserves for the project are expected to support mining operations for well over 40 years.

Subsequent mining activities may occur with the appropriate approvals within the Jackson deposit (RL2003), which contains approximately 40% of the total Mineral Resources for the entire project area for RL2002 and RL2003.

Astron will continue to work towards finalising a Definitive Feasibility Study for Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Donald Project, including identifying optimisation opportunities for the project, in areas such as mining process improvements and downstream processing opportunities.

Figure 1 DONALD PROJECT TENEMENT MAP

Note: RLA 2006 has since been amalgamated into RL2003