Manganese X Energy Corp. has announced two major milestones achieved by Kemetco Research Inc. (“Kemetco”), thereby successfully completing its third and final processing metallurgical phase for the Battery Hill Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”).
The milestones are part of a leading edge purification process which is described in more detail below. These are pivotal to completing the Company’s Battery Hill PEA, being undertaken by well recognized engineering and consulting firm Wood PLC, in the Company’s mission to produce high grade manganese battery material for the EV and Storage Energy Markets.
In its first milestone, test work evaluated the final high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) crystallization in which Kemetco developed a novel and innovative purification process. This new modified process was validated through repeated cycles of testing and eliminates one of two major purification steps potentially creating important economic advantages for the project.
Another milestone achieved was producing final crystal products with all contaminants below 100 ppm, calcium and magnesium, which is a crucial threshold level for battery grade HPMSM. Kemetco’s report identified the critical control factors for producing the high purity product in a commercial process and laid out the next steps to advance the technology to a larger scale.
In Kemetco’s testing, it is important to note that the HPMSM did not contain selenium, considered a toxic pollutant and yet utilised by the some of HPMSM producers worldwide in order to reduce their costs of production. Given selenium is a highly toxic element, its use negatively impacts the environment and is known to affect the quality of downstream products, particularly for high-end applications such as lithium-ion battery production.
Manganese X CEO Martin Kepman commented, “Manganese X is dedicated to achieving new environment-friendly and more efficient methodologies while processing manganese at a lower competitive cost. Our company continues to upgrade the technology of our flowsheet as well as improve the economics. We appreciate the efforts of Kemetco for accomplishing these milestones leading up to our PEA.”
Martin Kepman continues: “We are very optimistic heading into the final stages of our PEA. Given that the new lab-proven process is very favorable for scaling up, we may transition into a pilot project immediately following our PEA. The key will be to ensure cost effective production that will allow scalability. We are confident manganese will be a high demand commodity for battery chemistry going forward, as more and more manufacturers shift away from cobalt. Our Company is well positioned for supplying the North American supply chain given that Battery Hill is strategically located in New Brunswick, Canada close to the US border.”