【Ferro-alloys.com】Element 25 has shipped its second load of manganese concentrate from the Butcherbird project in Western Australia and will now move to larger shipments to capitalise on shipping tariffs.

Its latest 27,000-tonne shipment departed the Utah Point facility at Port Hedland on August 30, 2021.

The company stated it will up its shipments to 55,000 to 60,000 tonnes to take advantage of competitive shipping tariffs.

Element 25 stated a laydown area at Pippingarra in Port Hedland would be used for larger shipments before it is hauled into the Utah Point facility.

According to Element 25, the latest shipment will be delivered to offtake partner OM Materials, with the manganese concentrate shipped on the handymax-sized vessel, Taokas Wisdom.

Element 25 produces manganese concentrate and high-purity manganese battery sulphate from the Butcherbird project.

Butcherbird is Australia’s largest manganese resource and contains more than 263 million tonnes of manganese ore.

The next stage of Butcherbird will include a stage-two expansion of its concentrate business and a stage-three development to convert high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate, which is used in electric vehicle (EV) batteries.

“Manganese is emerging as an increasingly important ingredient for EV batteries, with potential supply constraints for nickel and cobalt forcing battery manufacturers to look to high manganese cathodes to produce the vast amount of cathode material required by the EV industry in coming years,” Element 25 stated.

The company delivered its first offtake in May, within a year of publishing the project’s pre-feasibility study.

Under stage three, Element 25 will produce the world’s first zero-carbon manganese for EV cathodes using a simple leaching process.

Element 25 will also introduce renewable energy into the project’s power solution to create a zero-carbon footprint for the project.

The company’s pre-feasibility study for the Butcherbird project outlined an inferred resource of 206 million tonnes at 9.8 per cent magnesium, 20.8 per cent silicon, 11.4 per cent iron and 5.9 per cent aluminium.

• [Editor:zhaozihao]