Element 25 Formally Granted 21-Year Term Mining Lease for Butcherbird, Stock in Green

Summary

• Manganese markets are currently strong, with demand growing amid supply constraints
• Element 25’s world class Butcherbird Manganese Project is close to end users than its peers and is in Western Australia, ranked as the #1 mining investment jurisdiction globally, as per the Company
• Adhering to a staged development strategy, Element 25 is on the right path to achieve a vital goal of junior explorers- to transition into an efficient miner
• Recent developments include inking of Access Agreement and off-take MoU, new drilling programme and formal grant of Mining Lease

Firmly on the path to transition from an explorer to a miner, Element 25 Limited (ASX:E25) is building a globally significant, low cost, high purity manganese project, the Butcherbird Manganese Project. Turbocharged by capex early cashflow from a low concentrate export opportunity, the Project has been progressing well.

The last few days have kept Element 25 at the forefront of market and investors, owing to a new Access Agreement, a newly started drilling programme, a new off-take MoU and most recently- formal grant of Mining Lease M52/1074 for the Project.

Butcherbird Mining Lease Granted

Western Australian Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety has finally given a signal to Butcherbird Mining Lease with the formal grant of M52/1074 for a term of 21 years. This further open doors towards formal lodgement of mining approval documentation.

According to Managing Director Mr Justin Brown, the mining lease grant is “a pivotal step” in the Project’s development. It also well positions Element 25 to a way forward the project towards the commencement of production and cashflows.

So much so, post release of this update, E25 was up by a significant 11.11 per cent and settled close to its 52-weeks high at $ 0.45 on the ASX. The stock has delivered whopping returns of 252.17 per cent in the last three months.

What to Expect Next?

Several relevant approvals that are a necessity to commence mining are well advanced, Element 25 notified. Consequently, these are likely to be lodged within the coming weeks.

Besides this, Element 25 is pursuing a staged development strategy with the production of manganese concentrate to produce early cashflows with a low capital requirement for Stage 1. This will be followed by expansion into downstream processing to produce high purity manganese in future plans.

Owing to promising results from the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) released in May 2020 Element 25 now plans to expedite project delivery and begin production once it seems feasible. It should be noted the PFS demonstrated outstanding economics with respect to the production of manganese concentrate and affirmed potential for a robust, long life operation with a low capital cost and strong operating margins.

Recent Milestones Propelling Butcherbird Developments

The Project leverages from a large resource currently over 260 Mt of manganese ore in Measured, Indicated and Inferred JORC resources and Maiden Proved and Probable Reserve of 50.6M tonnes at 10.3% Mn for 5.22t of contained manganese.

In merely the last one week, Element 25 has intimated about the following milestones attained by the Company pertaining to Butcherbird-

• Inking an Access Agreement with owner of the Bulloo Downs Pastoral Lease, Ms Chandra Ridley- the remaining stakeholder in relation to the granting of mining lease application M52/1074. For details, PLEASE READ: Element 25 Inches Towards Butcherbird’s Mining Lease, Final Milestone Agreement Inked
• Commencement of a water bore drilling programme, critical to de-risk the Project and allow the delivery team to meet the aggressive development timeline set for first production of manganese concentrate from the Project. For details, PLEASE READ: Element 25 Launches Drilling Programme to Affirm Process Water Supply at Butcherbird
• Non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with OM Materials (S) Pte Ltd to supply manganese concentrate products from its proposed development at Butcherbird. For details, PLEASE READ: Element 25 Riding High Post Another Important Milestone: Inks Offtake MoU with OM Holdings

Operate in a Tier 1 jurisdiction and at the back of these significant developments, it will be interesting to gauge Element 25’s path to produce clean, low cost, ethical manganese products for world markets and become a globally significant manganese producer, while it aims to achieve best in class quality and cost profile.

GOOD READ: Element 25’s Butcherbird Manganese Project: Key Development Milestones To Date