Advanced manganese explorer Element 25 has produced high purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) in it’s very first attempt – which the company says is “remarkable”.

Testing produced 99.95 per cent manganese, “well above” the industry standard of 99.7 per cent for EMM, E25 told investors.

High purity EMM is a premium product used in speciality alloys.

E25 is also looking to produce high purity manganese sulphate for lithium-ion battery cathodes.

High purity manganese only makes up about 10 per cent of the global market by volume; but about 40 per cent of the global manganese market by value, the company says.

High Purity Manganese market growth forecast. Source:E25

E25 conducted bulk metallurgical test work on four representative core samples from its Butcherbird manganese project in Western Australia.

The fact that high purity metal was produced using the a proprietary E25 flowsheet – developed with the CSIRO – is a “a key milestone” in proving that it actually works at scale, the company says.

This metallurgical test work is part of the ongoing Butcherbird pre-feasibility study, scheduled for completion this year.

“These results are outstanding,” E25 director Justin Brown says.

“To achieve such a high purity on our first attempt to scale up the flowsheet is remarkable and bodes well for the project’s future.”

E25 director Justin Brown tells Stockhead  that the traditional 99.7 per cent EMM markets already form a robust bankable base case for the project.

“The forecast increase in demand and price premiums for battery grade sulphate [will] provide compelling upside to the economics as we ramp up,” Mr Brown says.

“Because of Butcherbird’s anticipated lowest quartile costs, we will be in the enviable position of being able to optimise production to produce into both market segments as demand dictates.”

The E25 share price remained at 17c on the news.

The E25 share price over the past 12 months.

E25 will now kick off multiple large-scale batch tests to optimise the process for during process plant design, the company said.

It had about $2.1 million in the bank at the end of December, and expected to spend about $665,000 in the current quarter.

READ: Manganese is in demand from steel and battery makers – and these stocks could benefit

 

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