Name of the Project
K.Hill battery-grade manganese project.

Location
Botswana.

Project Owner/s
Giyani Metals Corporation.

Project Description
K.Hill will be one of the biggest high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) projects in the world. HPMSM is a refined precursor material used in the production of cathode powders for lithium-ion batteries deployed in electric vehicles.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) published in July 2023 evaluates a base case scenario that considers a single production line with a feed capacity of 200 000 t/y to process manganese oxide material to produce HPMSM over a 57-year life-of-project (LoP). The LoP includes a 49-year life-of-mine plus 8 years of stockpile rehandling.

The PEA also evaluates an upside case, which assumes the construction of an additional production line from Year 5 of operations to increase total feed capacity to 400 000 t/y, reducing the LoP to 31 years.

The project includes a crushing facility, including a run-of-mine pad and stockpiles, a three-stage crushing plant and a crushed material bin. It also includes a processing area, including grinding, extraction, purification, fluoride polishing, crystallisation, product storage and handling; water treatment, reagent storage and tails handling; a sulphur dioxide plant; plant infrastructure and utilities, including steam and air plants; and low-voltage switch rooms.

A 4.5 MW solar plant covering 7.6 ha will be built 1.2 km west-northwest of the processing plant entrance gate. The large-scale demonstration plant that emulates the continuous process of the proposed full-scale K.Hill commercial plant is under construction in South Africa. The plant will validate the process flowsheet, mitigate commercial processing plant risk and facilitate offtake qualification.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.21-billion and an internal of return of 33%, with a payback period of two years.

Capital Expenditure
$282.64-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First commercial production is expected in the third quarter of 2025, with ramp-up expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.

Latest Developments
Giyani Metals has reported that the demonstration plant being manufactured in Johannesburg, South Africa, is now in the commissioning phase.

Since the company’s last report in September, the steam boiler, plant air supply system and demineralised water plant for the plant have been commissioned.

The main control station hardware for the Yokogawa distributed control system (DCS) has also been installed and the control room has been powered up.

The DCS will be used to control the demonstration plant, enabling the facility to operate as a continuous process flow, rather than on a batch basis.

The milestone of first drive start and stop from the DCS has been achieved.

Giyani has said that the continuous process flow capability of the demonstration plant is a significant advantage for the company, as it enables the team to operate the facility at steady state and confirms the ability to produce consistent specification battery-grade manganese.

Installation of the International Standards Organisation-certified, independent laboratory is under way.

The onsite lab will enable Giyani to test product quality, ensuring a consistent specification, an important requirement for offtaker qualification to demonstrate the ability to produce a consistent product and a consistent quantity of product, the company points out.

As the demonstration plant is a smaller-scale, direct copy of the proposed commercial plant, Giyani says it will better understand how the proposed commercial plant (to be built in Botswana) will respond in advance of construction, commissioning and ramp-up of that facility, planned for 2027.

The commercial plant will be built adjacent to Giyani’s 100%-owned manganese oxide ore sources in southern Botswana.

The demonstration plant enables further optimisation of the engineering design and flowsheet to reduce operating costs and carbon profiles, in parallel with the definitive feasibility study (DFS) that is under way, and is expected to be completed in 2025.

The demonstration plant remains on track for commissioning and production of up to 600 kg/d of battery-grade manganese in the fourth quarter.

Battery-grade manganese produced from the demonstration plant will be provided to offtakers for testing and qualification.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
SRK Consulting (feasibility study); Mintek (metallurgical testwork); Tetra Tech (metallurgical testwork programme); Wood (lead DFS consultant); and Minopex, a DRA Global Company (demonstration plant operation).

Contact Details for Project Information
Giyani Metals Corporation, email info@giyanimetals.com.