Element 25 Ltd’s (ASX:E25) first manganese ore shipment from its flagship Butcherbird project has set sail from Port Hedland in Western Australia.
The manganese developer exported 27,000 tonnes of high-grade manganese concentrate from its wholly-owned project, Australia’s largest onshore manganese resource, on Wednesday, July 14.
Offtake partner OM Materials Pte Ltd (OMS) — a subsidiary of fellow ASX-lister OM Holdings Limited — is set to receive the maiden ore shipment.
Overall, the first-ever export kicks off a broader four-stage plan that positions Element 25 to provide high-grade manganese concentrate to the global electric vehicles market.
The maiden ore shipment underway.
“A historic day”
At a ceremony today at Butcherbird, Element 25 managing director Justin Brown paid tribute to everyone who had worked on the project.
"Today is a historic day for all the people who have worked tirelessly to bring this project to life, for Element 25 and for the Australian mining industry.
"It has been a testament to Australian ingenuity, persistence and hard work that Element 25 has managed to achieve this feat in such a short period of time with a pre-feasibility study completed only 14 months ago.
“After thousands of man-hours, multiple layers of permitting, engineering drawings, contracts, financing activities, and a healthy dose of passion and toil, stage one of our project has come to life.”
"We fully intend for this to be the first step in a multi-stage growth journey for this world-class manganese project with the expansion of concentrate production as part of our stage two plans to be followed by developing the processing infrastructure to produce battery-grade Zero Carbon Manganese™ for the lithium-ion batteries that will power the electrification of the global vehicle fleet.”
Birds-eye view of the Butcherbird Manganese Project.
Multi-stage manganese play
As it continues to develop the world-class Butcherbird manganese play, E25 has outlined a long-term strategy for its foundational Pilbara asset.
Currently, Butcherbird hosts 263 million tonnes of resource, grading at 10% for 20.8 million tonnes of contained manganese.
The project also bears a 50.6-million-tonne reserve with a 10.3% grade for 5.22 million tonnes of contained manganese.
Overall, the ASX-lister intends to maximise the manganese asset's potential with a four-stage strategy set to play out over the next five years.
Timeline of Element 25’s four-stage plan for Butcherbird.
During its low-capex stage one operation, Element 25 expects to produce 365,000 tonnes of manganese concentrate per annum over a 40-year mine life.
Once a key pre-feasibility study is complete, the manganese developer intends to move into stage two at Butcherbird next year.
This involves greatly expanding Butcherbird’s concentrate production to produce manganese feedstock, which the company will convert to high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate.
This leads into stage three of the project: creating a high purity manganese resource that E25 can supply to the new energy vehicle markets, which is poised to lead the global transition away from fossil fuel-powered mobility.
Finally, in stage four, Element 25 intends to set a global standard with its Zero Carbon Manganese™ product, creating an ethically produced, zero-carbon resource for international markets.
Shares higher
Investors have also celebrated the milestone, sending shares as much as 4.6% higher in early trading to $2.28 while E25"s market cap before the opening was approximately $324.4 million.