The Western Australian Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has approved Element25’s (E25’s) planned expansion of the Butcherbird manganese project in the Pilbara.
The final approval required to start construction of the expanded processing facility is a works approval, which E25 submitted in October. The company expects the approval to be granted in the coming weeks.
E25 aims to increase manganese concentrate production at Butcherbird to 1.1-million tonnes a year through the expanded facility. This output will serve customers in the downstream steel industry and provide feedstock for E25’s battery-grade high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) processing facility, planned for construction in Louisiana. The Louisiana facility will be developed in partnership with automotive giants General Motors and Stellantis
The HPMSM project has strong support from the US government’s Department of Energy and was selected to negotiate for the award of $166-million in grant funding for the project. 