Black Canyon (ASX:BCA) achieve battery-grade at Balfour
October 24, 2023Black Canyon‘s hydrometallurgical testwork has achieved High Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate exceeding 99 per cent purity, hitting the mark for battery grade sulphate production from fully owned territory in the Balfour Manganese Field of Western Australia.
The sample came from a KR1 target now due for an MRE after recent drilling encountered multiple shallow manganese intercepts which demonstrated a large footprint exceeding 2000 metres.
It means the enriched ores can be upgraded with simple beneficiation, and likely further with the application of dense medium separation, while demonstrating the reductive acid leach methodology is suitable for extraction.
Black Canyon Executive Director Brendan Cummins said it was a milestone for a strategic HPMSM direction strongly backed by the lithium-ion evolution as increasing safety and energy density requirements would demand higher manganese content across a range of platforms.
“The testwork confirms manganese oxide materials from the KR1 prospect, located within the Balfour Manganese Field, can produce high purity and in specification HPMSM,” Mr Cummins said.
“The Company will continue to deliver key milestones to attract the next level of interest in our projects, which is to establish large mineral resources, evaluate hydrometallurgical variability, substantially progress the battery grade HPMSM flowsheet development, and now commence upscaled testwork for flowsheet robustness and understanding the carbon footprint.”
Mr Cummins added that the company has a clear mineral resource growth trajectory by defining substantial sources of manganese within a geopolitically stable jurisdiction.
“In parallel, we are assessing HPMSM plant locations, recognising growing gigafactory capacity across Europe, North America and southeast Asia. The site selection process is complex with many factors to consider. As part of the Scoping Study, we are initially examining Australian locations that could provide a base case solution for a HPMSM facility,” he said.
“We are also excited by the prospect of engaging with the right local and international partners to enhance and complement the workstreams and IP we are developing.”
Manganese metals
One of the critical minerals dominated by Chinese production, an increasing use in the lithium-ion industry has done little to dampen its traditional demand from the steelmaking industry.
Chinese controls are tightening, with graphite products now on a list of export controls alongside gallium and germanium as the minerals superpower looks to leverage is dominance.
And with further drivers coming from the lower cost and improved performance achieved with higher manganese content in cathodes Benchmark Minerals has predicted an eight-fold multiple in demand from the industry between 2020 and 2030.
Australia has the world’s fourth largest manganese resources, and Black Canyon has set up a consolidated 2400 square kilometre land holding across the nation’s underexplored territory, seeing the fast-emerging potential for shallow, open pit mining – and now production of a battery-grade product.
Project location map
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