Euro Manganese Inc (ASX:EMN, TSX-V:EMN, OTCQX:EUMNF) continues to progress its goal of supplying the European Union’s battery market with high-grade manganese products and has now received support from local councils for the development of the Chvaletice Manganese Project near the village of Trnavka in the Czech Republic.
The Chvaletice Manganese Project is designed to re-process manganese deposits contained in in the waste (tailings) of a decommissioned mine.
It’s not a mining project, but rather a waste recycling initiative that seeks to clean up the contaminated site and use the recovered manganese as a raw material for electric vehicle battery cathodes and other technical applications.
The village of Trnavka, near which a large portion of the project’s tailings lie, has formally approved the rezoning of the project land for mining use.
The Municipality of Chvaletice – which holds the rights to the rest of the land around the project – has also given its vote of confidence, approving a land access rental agreement for 19% of the total land area and 15% of the tailings area after previously approving rezoning of the land themselves.
Ensuring collaborative local engagement
“We are grateful for the continued support of our neighbouring communities, Chvaletice and Trnavka,” Euro Manganese president and CEO Dr Matthew James said.
“Our team has worked hard to ensure that local community residents are well-informed and that meaningful opportunities are created for them to participate in the evaluation and planning of the Chvaletice Manganese Project.
“Our goal remains to build long-term, respectful and collaborative relationships, while ensuring that the project fits seamlessly into the environmental, social and economic fabric of the region.
“Additionally, we continue to move our discussions forward with the remaining landowners related to land access agreements for the Chvaletice Project area.”
To date, Euro Manganese has received consent from all necessary landowners to conduct exploration activities and to access the site.
The company has also secured, agreed to acquire, or is in negotiations for, all the land required for its intended high-purity manganese processing plant site.
European battery market heating up
Euro Manganese is shaping up to be well placed to fulfill its goal of supplying high-purity, environmentally superior manganese for the European EV battery market, at a time when electric vehicle 'Gigafactories' are beginning to spring up across the continent.
Elon Musk attended the opening of Tesla’s new Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany, just two days ago, where he reiterated the need for more focus on the battery mineral supply chain and touted manganese as an important component of future Tesla battery cathodes.
Tesla has been exploring using more manganese in its battery cells for a while.
Today, the Tesla CEO said: “I think there’s an interesting potential for manganese.”
Musk highlighted manganese as an area of interest when asked about alternatives to current technology in 2020, underlining its potential as a cathode material.
“It is relatively straightforward to do a cathode that’s two-third nickel and one-third manganese, which will allow us to make 50% more cell volume with the same amount of nickel,” Musk said at Tesla Battery Day in 2020.
Nickel has been the subject of a massive price hike recently, further exacerbated by supply uncertainties generated by geopolitical volatility, and represents a pressure point for the battery industry that manganese could help relieve.
Volkswagen has similarly made big moves in the electric vehicle space, beginning the permitting process for the development of a third European Gigafactory in Spain, which it aims to turn into a European ‘E-mobility hub.’
Thomas Schmall, Volkswagen Group board member for Technology said: “This project is highly important – for Volkswagen, for Spain and the whole of Europe.”
The German car manufacturer intends to invest US$7.7 billion in its Spanish Gigafactory and is already planning an Eastern European factory to complement its facilities in Western Europe.
With a total of 240 gigawatt-hours of factories planned for Europe, Volkswagen alone will require massive amounts of raw and refined battery materials in order to service its manufacturing goals.
VW, like most other major automakers, has committed to using manganese in its battery chemistries for key EV market segments.
Given how hot the European market for these materials is set to become, Euro Manganese could have no shortage of offtake partners as it moves towards commercial production, targeted for 2026.