Rana Gruber ASA

M&A Activity • Mar 29, 2023

RANA: Contract extension with Cargill and possible upgrade to higher grade iron ore

RANA: Contract extension with Cargill and possible upgrade to higher grade iron ore

Mo I Rana, 29 March 2023: Rana Gruber in collaboration with Cargill, has been reviewing the future of the European steel industry. In the coming years, the company expects a period of significant change, as many of the company’s customers in the region start to transition away from traditional blast furnace steelmaking towards the use of direct reduction (DR) iron as a feedstock for electric arc furnaces in order to enable the decarbonisation of their processes.

The company also believes that one of the critical challenges that will be faced by the industry is the lack of suitable iron ore feedstock as this process requires ultra high grade, low impurity iron ore.

- We have been carrying out studies that have given us a strong belief in Rana Gruber’s ability to produce a hematite iron ore of around 67 per cent Fe, suitable for DR production, in an economically viable way, says Gunnar Moe, CEO of Rana Gruber.

Rana Gruber has now made the decision to continue the studies around the development of a direct reduction grade iron ore. Such work will require further test work to enable the optimisation of processing methodology, and product specification, which will be critical to underpin the necessary investments.

The company does not anticipate that this will be a rapid transition but one which will happen over the next few years to keep pace with the changing needs of the steel industry. At the same time, the company has agreed with Cargill to extend the partnership with five years to 2035, with a further 5 year extension subject to certain conditions being satisfied. This will allow the companies to collaborate on the development of this plan and to work with the customers to ensure that Rana Gruber has access to the correct end user markets that will value the premium grade ore that Rana Gruber will produce.

For more information, please contact:

CEO, Gunnar Moe

+47 941 47 650

Gunnar.moe@ranagruber.no

CFO, Erlend Høyen

+47 902 02 741

Erlend.hoyen@ranagruber.no

About Rana Gruber

Rana Gruber is a Norwegian iron ore producer established in 1964, with operations based on more than 200 years of mining experience. The company's products are based on natural mineral resources, which are processed and exported to customers worldwide. Key customers include steel producers and participants in the chemical industry. The company has about 300 employees and a production capacity of 1.8 million metric tons of iron ore concentrates.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 in the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.