Highlights

  • Andromeda's pilot plant produced high purity alumina certified by Eurofins at up to 99.9989% purity, above the 4N8 threshold used in high-tech applications.
  • The first commercial sample from the pilot has been dispatched to a potential customer in Japan's high-tech manufacturing sector for evaluation.
  • Further commercial samples are planned for remaining months of the fourth quarter of calendar 2026, with the continuous pilot plant programme ongoing.
  • Planning is under way for a Pre-Feasibility Study, and the company will assess whether an amorphous silica by-product can be added as a co-product.

The first samples are on their way to Japan, and the purity certificates back the claim. Andromeda Metals (ASX:ADN) has reported that its pilot plant produced high purity alumina measured at up to 99.9989% by an independent laboratory — above the 4N8 threshold required in critical high-tech applications — and has dispatched the first commercial-scale evaluation sample to a potential customer in Japanese high-tech manufacturing. For an industry where supplier qualification is painstaking and exacting, sending physical product is the step that starts the clock.

Pilot Purity Certification

Independent certificates from Eurofins, dated 8 October 2026, used glow discharge mass spectrometry to assess three pilot samples. Measured purities were 99.9988%, 99.9989% and 99.9989% on the company's primary method, which it describes as the industry standard for reporting high purity alumina. On a more conservative basis — assigning detection-limit values to elements not measurable above background — purities were 99.9964%, 99.9966% and 99.9966%.

The announcements reference an earlier result of 99.9986% from August 2026, and describe two samples at 99.9989%. Readers should note that the Eurofins certificates are the definitive record, and the headline purity figure carries a conservative alternative that is more conservative by about 23 parts per million. Neither figure changes the fact that all three samples cleared the 4N8 threshold by either method.

Andromeda is running the pilot plant semi-continuously, end to end, to validate the process flowsheet and produce both amorphous and alpha-HPA commercial samples at scale.

Japan Sample and Customer Engagement

The first commercial sample has been sent to a potential customer in Japan's high-tech manufacturing sector for evaluation. Further samples are planned through the remainder of Q4 2026. A sample sent for evaluation is not an order or an offtake agreement, and Andromeda has not stated that any purchase commitment has been made.

Customer qualification processes in the high purity alumina market — particularly for battery and semiconductor applications — typically involve extensive testing of consistency, particle size distribution and trace element profiles over months. No timetable for qualification outcomes has been stated.

Pre-Feasibility Study and By-Product Review

The company plans to analyse an amorphous silica by-product from the pilot process to assess whether it could be included as a co-product in the planned Pre-Feasibility Study. The outcome of that analysis has not yet been published, and no quantified revenue benefit has been stated.

Andromeda's 2025 Scoping Study was run at a US$3,500 per ounce gold price equivalent and modelled staged development up to 10,000 tonnes a year of HPA. It reported a pre-tax net present value of approximately A$1.48 billion and average annual EBITDA of approximately A$247 million. These are study-level outputs, not development commitments, and the company is comparing pilot plant data against the assumptions used in that study as it plans the next stage.

Confirmed activity through Q4 2026 includes continued pilot operation, further customer samples, ongoing customer evaluation, silica by-product analysis and Pre-Feasibility Study planning. No funding plan for later development stages has been disclosed in this release.