PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A feasibility study into the Chvaletice manganese project, in the Czech Republic, has validated the project’s economics, ASX- and TSX-listed Euro Manganese said on Thursday.

The feasibility study into the tailings reprocessing operation estimated that it would have an operating life of 25 years, producing 47 800/ty of high purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM), or 1.1-million tonnes over the life of the project.

Revenue from HPEMM sales has been estimated at $157-million yearly or $3.93-billion over the life of the project, with the study estimating an initial capital cost of $757.3-million to develop the project.

Project earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) and annual average Ebitda are forecasted to be $8.1-billion and $326-million respectively, averaging 58.8% Ebitda over the life of the project.

The project’s post-tax net present value has been estimated at $1.3-billion and its internal rate of return at 21.9%, with a pay-back period of just over four years from the start of processing.

“I am extremely pleased with the results of the feasibility study, which further validate the financial credibility of the Chvaletice manganese project, even in the current inflationary environment and using conservative risk-adjusted pricing for high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) and HPEMM,” said Euro Manganese president and CEO Dr Matthew James.

“The strength of the project economics, its green credentials and the forecast demand from the electric vehicle (EV) industry for our highly specialized products support a wide range of financing alternatives. Several factors uniquely position Euro Manganese to transform into a leading supplier to the European EV market.

“The supply security, traceability, sustainable production, and low impurity, high-quality nature of Chvaletice’s battery grade manganese products, make our HPEMM and HPMSM increasingly desirable to customers. I am proud of the team’s accomplishments in delivering this very positive feasibility study and confirming the viability of the project. We remain focused on progressing our key milestones towards making a final investment decision, including securing our financing package for the project, and have already commenced work alongside our recently appointed project finance adviser, Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited.”