Euro Manganese produces HPEMM from Chvaletice demonstration plant

Euro Manganese has produced high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) from its demonstration plant at the Chvaletice Project in the Czech Republic. (Earlier post.)

An external laboratory has confirmed the first HPEMM sent for testing has met the target specifications and was at 99.9% Mn metal purity. High-purity manganese sulphate (HPMSM) is now under production in the final module and will be sent for external laboratory testing in due course.

The demonstration plant is anticipated to commence acceptance testing in late April. Upon successful completion of acceptance testing, the company will commence deliveries of plant HPEMM and/or HPMSM to customers. Customer deliveries of the demonstration plant products is not expected to be required for completion of offtake contracts.

Commissioning of the process flowsheet (see figure above) commenced in November 2022 on a module-by-module basis. The Ore-to-Slurry and Magnetic Separation modules were commissioned prior to the end of 2022 and successfully produced a manganese concentrate from the Chvaletice manganese carbonate tailings.

Commissioning of the Leaching and Purification module commenced in January 2023 and successfully produced a purified solution. This solution, and both products from the subsequent steps (HPEMM and HPMSM), are required to be sent to an external laboratory that has the specialised measurement equipment required for analysis of the low-level of impurities targeted in the Demonstration Plant process. External laboratory turnaround times are currently 3-4 weeks, which has caused a slight delay in the commissioning schedule.

External laboratory results from the Leaching and Purification module were received in February 2023, confirming the purified solution met the required specification.

The Electrowinning module successfully produced selenium-free HPEMM flakes in March 2023. This metal was sent to an external laboratory for testing, which has confirmed this metal was produced at 99.9% Mn purity and at the design specification of the demonstration plant.

The final Dissolution and Crystallization module has now commenced commissioning and HPMSM will be sent to the external laboratory for testing. The company will provide an update once on-spec HPMSM is produced.

The Chvaletice Project flowsheet is designed to produce sulphate (HPMSM) via metal (HPEMM), which has several commercial advantages, according to the company, including guaranteed stability of the HPMSM specification.

The process also provides optionality. Metal can be used as feedstock for new technologies such as Nano One’s metal to cathode M2CAM One-Pot Process. Metal can be further processed into other derivatives of high-purity manganese—currently under discussion with various potential customers. Metal can be further processed at alternate locations, close to customer plants, reducing transports costs and potentially avoiding the costs associated with crystallisation, drying and packaging, and metal can be sold to the specialty alloy industry.

The demonstration plant enables the company to produce bulk samples for prospective customers’ testing and qualification. The plant’s design capacity is 32kg per day of HPEMM or 100kg per day of HPMSM. The plant will enable process optimization and testing for final product development and serve as a testing and training facility. It is expected to operate for up to three years and will also be available for testing of potential additional feedstock for the commercial plant.

Euro Manganese is a battery materials company focused on becoming a leading producer of high-purity manganese for the electric vehicle industry. The company is advancing development of the Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic and exploring an early-stage opportunity to produce battery-grade manganese products in Bécancour, Québec.

The Chvaletice Project is a unique waste-to-value recycling and remediation opportunity involving reprocessing old tailings from a decommissioned mine. It is also the only sizable resource of manganese in the European Union, strategically positioning the company to provide battery supply chains with critical raw materials to support the global shift to a circular, low-carbon economy.