PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Ore haulage has started at the Butcherbird manganese project, in Western Australia, ASX-listed Element 25 (E25) has reported on Wednesday.
The ore will be transported from the Butcherbird operation to the Utah point, in Port Hedland. The first shipment comprises some 25 000 t to 30 000 t of manganese concentrate under a take-or-pay offtake agreement with OM Holdings.
The concentrate was produced as part of the commissioning and ramp up of the Stage 1 processing plant, which will produce 365 000 t/y of high-quality manganese concentrate over a mine life of some 40 years, prior to a proposed expansion in Stage 2.
E25 noted that haulage of the remaining concentrate to make up the planned 27 000 t of material will occur over the coming days, with shiploading of the ore scheduled for the last week of June.