The MOU will cover the supply of the New CBS product (“New CBS”) which will be produced from high carbon, low vanadium waste rock (as announced on June 27, 2025).
Testing and development of the new CBS product is considered a priority project for Master Tire for the next three years, as part of its 2036 strategy.
Commenting, Nick Bridgen, CEO of Ferro-Alloy Resources, said:
“Master Tyre’s innovative approach to tire manufacturing and R&D capabilities will maximize the environmental and cost benefits of using our latest CBS product and develop significant technical knowledge in optimizing its use in rubber production.
This new CBS product was not included in our recently announced feasibility study, which only examined our original CBS product made from the residues of the vanadium production process. The net cash flows from this new CBS product complement the already strong financial characteristics of the Balasausqandiq project.”
MOU summary
- The company has entered into a non-binding, non-exclusive MOU for the supply of New CBS to Master Tire.
- Master Tire plans to use the new CBS for its own production and for sales to other tire and rubber manufacturers in the People’s Republic of China (“China”).
- The main conditions of the MOU are as follows:
- Supply of up to 360,000 tons of New CBS per year
- Prices to be agreed in future commercial negotiations
- Close technical cooperation between the company and Master Tire in the optimization of product specifications for the replacement of New CBS in rubber production
- Development of the relevant agreements and legal documents required to conclude a binding purchase and sales contract
- Termination at the earliest of the conclusion of a binding purchase and sale agreement between the parties, or three years
About Master Tyre
- Headband (www.mastertyre.net) is a leading Chinese tire manufacturer founded in 2016 and focused on manufacturing car and truck tires sold throughout China and more than 150 overseas regions.
- Master Tire is also a distributor of carbon black to major tire manufacturers in China and as a result the new CBS is being tested by its own carbon black customers and by Qingdao University of Science and Technology.
- As part of these testing programs, in addition to replacing carbon black, the new CBS is being tested as a replacement for silicon dioxide (another key component of tire rubber production), given the background silica content of the new CBS product.
- In late 2025, Master Tire formulated its 2036 strategy and included the company’s new CBS product as a priority development project for the next three years.
Background information about the CBS option
Large amounts of carbon black are used worldwide as a reinforcing filler for making rubber. This material is usually made by the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons in a process that is expensive and highly polluting, emitting between two and three tons of CO2 per ton of product.
The ore at Balasausqandiq contains a high carbon content in a form comparable to carbon black produced. As part of the feasibility study announced on October 13, 2025, the company successfully tested the production of a carbon black substitute made from the concentrated tailings of the vanadium production plant. Specialized rubber consultants confirmed the good technical performance of this material in the manufacture of rubber, especially the sidewalls of passenger car tires, and a marketing report was prepared with price recommendations. The feasibility study provides for a production of approximately 247,000 tons of this CBS.
As announced on June 27, 2025, the company has developed another type of CBS that will be made from the high-carbon/low-vanadium waste rock that will be mined to access the high-vanadium ore and previously planned to be stored in long-term storage facilities. This material will not be treated for the production of vanadium because the quality of vanadium is too low. There is a possibility that the CBS planned as part of the feasibility study could instead be produced in larger quantities as the New CBS, although the benefits of this will depend on relative pricing.
Both types of CBS can be produced by the company with a small fraction of the emissions normally produced by the production of carbon black by conventional means.
For more information, visit www.ferro-alloy.com or contact:
Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited | Nick Bridgen (CEO) / William Callewaert (CFO) | info@ferro-alloy.com |
Coastal capital (Joint business broker) Panmure Liberum Limited (Joint business broker) BlytheRay (Financial PR) | Toby Gibbs/Lucy Bowden Scott Mathieson/John More Tim Blythe/Megan Ray/Will Jones | +44 207 408 4090 +44 20 3100 2000 +44 20 7138 3204 ferro-alloy@blytheray.com |
Notes for editors
About Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited:
The company’s operations are all located in the Balasausqandiq deposit in Kyzylordinskoye Oblast in southern Kazakhstan.
Balasausqandiq is a very large deposit, with vanadium as the major product, along with the carbon black substitute (“CBS”) and various byproducts. Due to the nature of the ore, capital and operating costs are much lower than other vanadium projects.
The most recent mineral resource estimate for ore body one (of seven) yielded an indicated mineral resource of 32.9 million tonnes with an average grade of 0.62% vanadium pentoxide (“V2O5“), which amounts to 203,364 tons V2O5. In the reserve estimation system used in Kazakhstan, reserves are estimated at over 70 million tonnes in ore bodies 1 to 5, but this does not include the full depth of ore bodies 2 to 5, or the remaining ore bodies that remain largely unexplored.
The carbon content in the deposit is more than 8%. The carbon flows on to the tailings from where it is concentrated in a simple, cheap way into a 40% carbon product, CBS, which can be used in place of carbon black as a reinforcing filler in rubber making.
The project will be developed in two phases, Phase 1 and Phase 2, with Phase 1 treating 1.65 million tonnes per year.
There is an existing concentrate processing plant at the Balasausqandiq deposit site. The production facilities originally developed from a 15,000 tonne per annum pilot plant, which was subsequently expanded and adapted to recover vanadium, molybdenum and nickel from purchased concentrates. In addition to this operation, there is a well-equipped laboratory and a highly qualified technical team, which have already developed the technology incorporated in the feasibility study and are further developing and optimizing the processes required for future vanadium and carbon activities. The plant will only operate when profitable concentrates are available and, when not operating as a production facility, will function on an extended basis as an R&D center.
Source
#Replacement #Memorandum #Understanding #Carbon #Black