Montezuma Mining Company Ltd (ASX:MZM) has received more results from test work on the design of a hydrometallurgical flowsheet for its 100% owned Butcherbird Manganese Project in Western Australia.
Test work yielded a pregnant leach solution (PLS) that exceeded industry specifications for the production of desired marketable manganese products.
These products include battery grade manganese sulphate, electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) and electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD).
The impurity levels for all key contaminants are well below their respective limits.
The new test results follow-up the July results which produced a PLS with in excess of 90% manganese purity.
READ: Montezuma Mining Company test results exceed expectations
Justin Brown, director, commented: “The process flowsheet design work conducted this year has been a resounding success and positions Montezuma for a potentially company making phase as we transition this technology breakthrough into a real world commercial setting to unlock the value of this very large manganese resource .”
Targeting lithium-ion battery cathode manufacturers
Work is now focussed on the production of a crystalline manganese sulphate product from the PLS that meets the specifications of lithium-ion battery cathode manufacturers.
Very low levels of certain impurities such as arsenic, lead and cadmium suggest good potential to also explore product options in the agricultural sector.
High-purity Manganese is valuable
Whilst high purity manganese makes up only 10% of the manganese market by volume, it accounts for an estimated 40% of the total value in sales of the market.
The production of high purity products from Butcherbird ores allows Montezuma to initiate commercial studies into becoming a producer of high-value products rather than attempting to compete in the traditional bulk commodity manganese markets.
The flow sheet developed for Butcherbird is unique in that it is conducted at atmospheric pressure, ambient temperature and at a coarse grind size, all of which reduce costs over traditional approaches.
Following the success of the investigations, Montezuma and CSIRO have initiated discussions to enter into a collaborative framework to pursue opportunities to commercialise the technology outside of the Butcherbird Project.