PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Manganese developer Element 24 (E25) has inked a port access agreement with the Pilbara Port Authority, providing use of the Port Hedland Utah Point facility for the bulk export of manganese from the Butcherbird project.
While the terms of the agreement were confidential, E25 said it was in line with the Pilbara Port Authority’s normal operating terms and satisfied the company’s capacity requirements for the first stage of operations up to 390 000 t/y.
“This is another important milestone on the way to our first sale of manganese concentrate, and we are excited to be closing in on our first shipment of Butcherbird material to our offtake partners,” said MD Justin Brown.
The Butcherbird project started production in March this year, and is expected to produce 341 000 t/y of manganese concentrate, at a grade of 33% manganese, over a mine life of 40 years.