PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Pre-commissioning activities have started at the Butcherbird manganese project, in Western Australia, owner Element 25 reported on Thursday.
The company told shareholders that electrical systems and instrument loop checking were under way, with power station installation and power-up scheduled for later this week.
This is the first stage of a multi-stage development strategy for the project, which will be expanded to produce high purity manganese sulphide monohydrate for electric vehicle batteries.
The Butcherbird operation is expected to produce 341 000 t/y of manganese concentrate, at a grade of 33% manganese, over a mine life of 40 years.
First ore processing is planned for the second half of March.