UK cathode material demand for nickel is forecast by APC to grow from 3 thousand tonnes ("kt") in 2022 to 52 kt in 2030 (1,600% increase), and for cobalt from 1 kt to 9 kt (800% increase) over the same period. Currently, there is no domestic UK mine production of these metals and the UK battery industry must rely entirely on increasingly competitive overseas supply chains to meet this growing demand. Aberdeen Minerals is advancing mineral exploration and investigation work in Aberdeenshire focused on its Arthrath Project, the largest known deposit of nickel in the UK where battery raw materials occur in bedrock in the form of nickel-cobalt-copper sulphide mineralisation. The feasibility study will investigate innovative "hydrometallurgical" approaches to extract battery metals from ores from North East Scotland to both accelerate the production of cathode raw materials from Aberdeenshire and retain the "midstream" processing within the UK. The results of the study will inform the company's business case to accelerate the development of an integrated nickel-cobalt-copper mining and processing operation, as part of a "joined up" strategy to urgently deliver the cathode materials essential to the UK's automotive industry.