Element 25 Launches Drilling Programme to Affirm Process Water Supply at Butcherbird

Summary

• Manganese is a vital resource for many industries. Demand for high purity manganese metal & high purity manganese sulphate is expected to increase dramatically in the foreseeable future
• A cleaner, lower carbon flowsheet coupled with high penetration renewable energy places Element 25’s Butcherbird Manganese Project at the forefront of sustainable metal production
• After accomplishing the final milestone necessary for mining lease application of the project, E25 has commenced water bore drilling programme too

Building a globally significant, low cost, high purity manganese project, Element 25 Limited (ASX:E25) regards itself to be Australia’s next manganese producer. It’s 100% owned Butcherbird Manganese Project is located in Western Australia, the top mining investment jurisdiction globally. The Project hosts an extremely large manganese resource comprising of more than 260 Mt of resources. This underpins Element 25’s core strategy of manufacturing high purity Electrolytic Manganese Metal (EMM) and Manganese Sulphate for speciality metals and lithium ion battery cathodes.

Recently, the Company notified that it had begun a critical drilling programme at the Project to confirm process water supply. Post release of this significant update, the Company’s stock fetched excellent media and investor attention, as its stock was trading up by 2.4 %, quoting $ 0.42 at 3:36 PM AEST on 26 June 2020. In the past three months, the stock has delivered whopping returns of 272.73%.

Water Bore Drilling Programme at Butcherbird

The recently commenced water bore drilling programme at Butcherbird Manganese Project will complete two production bores. Production bores will serve the purposes of conducting pump tests that will further confirm the potential of the selected area to provide adequate process water for the beneficiation plant at the Project.

The Company is positive about the fact that this is a critical programme to de-risk the Project. Further, it will also allow the delivery team to meet the aggressive development timeline that has been duly laid down for the first production of manganese concentrate from the Project.

Previous Water Exploration Drilling Programme

In the March 2020 Quarter, the first round of water exploration drilling programme was concluded at the Project. It identified a prospective groundwater supply area to the east and south of the mining lease area. Besides this, Two aquifers were identified- a shallow aquifer in near surface calcretes along with a deep aquifer in palaeochannel sands.

It’s believed that these aquifers will yield sufficient process water for development plans at the Project while subsequent pump tests are carried out to affirm the capacities of the aquifers.

In its notification of the recent commencement of the water bore drilling programme, Element 25 again expects that the aquifers will yield sufficient process water for the current development plans. Furthermore, the current programme will enable production pump tests to be undertaken to affirm aquifer capacities.

Recent Win: Final Milestone Achieved for Grant of Mining Lease

Commencement of the water bore drilling programme update came in just three days after the Company signed an Access Agreement with the remaining stakeholder- the owner of the Bulloo Downs Pastoral Lease, Ms Chandra Ridley, concerning the granting of mining lease application M52/1074 for the Project. A critical step in progressing the Project, the Agreement covers planned mining and infrastructure areas for the proposed development of the Butcherbird Manganese Mine.

Moreover, inking this Agreement was the final milestone necessary for mining lease application to be granted, which will lead the way for submission of mining approval documentation to the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.

For more details on the Access Agreement, READ HERE- Element 25 Inches Towards Butcherbird’s Mining Lease, Final Milestone Agreement Inked

Casting Eye on Butcherbird Manganese Project

A world class manganese resource, the Project has current JORC resources in excess of 263 Mt of manganese ore. Element 25 has recently completed a PFS concerning developing the deposit to produce manganese concentrate for export to spawn early cashflow with a modest capital requirement.

It is worth noting that exceptional economics and low capital hurdle lower than $ 15 million will allow the Company to develop the Project in a much shorter timeframe.

Manganese markets are robust with growing demand though supply has constraints. The fact that Butcherbird is closer to the end-users than many other Projects gives Element 25 a significant competitive edge, as it aims to transition from an explorer to a miner while producing clean, low cost, ethical manganese products for world markets and become a globally significant manganese producer.

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