Dublin-registered Minco PLC (LSE: MIO) is planning to produce high grade manganese from its Woodstock project in New Brunswick for 25% below the industry’s average cost, and supply the North American and European steel markets that rely on increasingly fragmented Chinese and South African output for the popular ingredient.
According to an independent preliminary economic assessment (PEA), for $864 million Minco could turn Woodstock into an open pit mine churning through 3,000 tonnes of ore per day to produce 80,000 tonnes of electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) per year over a 40-year mine life.
The investment would give Minco an operation with a $461-million after-tax net present value and a 14.4% after-tax internal rate of return, helping the project repay its capital costs in seven years. Those estimates use a US$1.38 per lb manganese price and an 8% discount rate.
The Woodstock mine could produce a pound of EMM for US68¢ over its 40-year mine life. By contrast, the reported average cost of production in China, which accounts for 98% of the world’s EMM output, is US91¢ per lb.
 

• [Editor:Sophie]