Name of the Project
High-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) plant.

Location
A final decision on the location is yet to be reached.

Element 25 (E25) is investigating several locations for the proposed HPMSM facility, including the company’s Butcherbird mine site, coastal and other areas within Western Australia, as well as a number of industrial parks in Southeast Asia, Europe and the US.

Project Owner/s
E25.

Project Description
A scoping study on the construction and operation of an HPMSM plant has returned a robust set of financial metrics over a 20-year project life, using only 50% of E25’s Butcherbird manganese project’s Stage 1 production capacity.

The facility will comprise up to three processing trains, all capable of producing a total of 66 650 t/y of manganese sulphate, with 75% or 50 000 t/y at a battery-grade HPMSM and 25% or 16 650 t/y at fertiliser grade.

The processing circuit will take E25 manganese ores and convert them to HPMSM and fertiliser-grade manganese sulphate using a hydrometallurgical process. At full production, the HPMSM project will consume concentrate volumes equivalent to 60% of the current Butcherbird manganese concentrate production.

The startup site layout and infrastructure have been designed to allow for expansion.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value (real), at an 8% discount rate, of $439-million and an internal rate of return of 40%, with a payback of 26 months.

Capital Expenditure
Startup capital is estimated at $150-million.

Planned Start/End Date
Construction is expected to start in 2023. The expansion of construction activities of Train 2 are expected to start in the first quarter of 2025 and of Train 3 in the third quarter of 2026.

Latest Developments
E25 is in discussions with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority and the Sarawak state government to potentially build its planned HPMSM plant in Sarawak, in Malaysia.

Sarawak is one of the potential sites being considered for the construction of the first HPMSM plant, and a feasibility study is under way, which includes localisation studies to assess the suitability of the region.

“We look forward to working closely with the Malaysian authorities to determine whether Sarawak is the optimal location for the development of our first processing facility as we pivot Element 25 to be a key participant in this emerging industry,” MD Justin Brown has said.

Discussions are also ongoing with potential offtake partners with respect to an European Union- or US-based location for either the first or subsequent conversion facility builds. 

Key Contracts and Suppliers
ALS Laboratories (metallurgical testwork); HPS (manganese marketing, offtake and logistics support); Mining Solutions (project management, financial modelling); NG Consult (metallurgical assessment and process engineering); and ProjX (process flowsheet development and engineering design).

Contact Details for Project Information
Element25, tel +61 8 6315 1400 or email admin@e25.com.au.