Euro Manganese given green light to move further forward at Chvaletice

While shares in Euro Manganese Inc. (TSX-V/ASX:EMN) have already doubled in November, recently hitting an all-time high of 46 cents, representing a gain of more than 400% in the last six months, there is likely to be more upside to come after the company announced today that there have been several key developments relating to its Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic.

There was early support for the company today with its shares opening 7.5% higher.

Management has given the green light for the procurement and fabrication of its Chvaletice Demonstration Plant (DP), a 7-times scale-up of the successful pilot plant that the company operated in 2018.

It is designed as a locked-cycle, semi-batch, manually operated system of interconnected modules that can be utilised as a circuit or as stand-alone components.

The DP is intended to replicate the entire process flowsheet proposed in the project’s 2019 Preliminary Economic Assessment.

It will produce around 32 kilograms per day (kg/day) of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) that can be converted into approximately 100 kg/day of dry crystalline high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM).

From a broader perspective, all land for the Chvaletice commercial plant is now secured, with three additional agreements for land purchase and leases, including a second rail line connection.

Permitting has progressed as expected with no requirement for a separate Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) other than a building permit.

Also, a dry stacking tailings operation has been approved without the introduction of additional fees.

Commenting on recent developments president and chief executive Marco Romero said, “We are delighted to report that we have ordered our Demonstration Plant for the Chvaletice Manganese Project.

"Once commissioned, we expect to begin the test phase of the supply chain qualification process for our high-purity manganese products with multiple potential customers.

"We have also continued to make steady progress on the regulatory/permitting front, following our filing of the EIA notification in late June.

"We are also pleased to report the acquisition of three additional, but critically important pieces of land that complete our land assembly for the proposed Chvaletice commercial plant site.

"These provide additional room and flexibility for the plant layout and will provide us with a second rail connection, through a neighbouring rail siding, to the major line that runs adjacent to our project.”

Delivery in 2021 with 55% of first year production allocated

The DP is scheduled to be delivered at the Chvaletice site during the summer of 2021.

It will be erected and operated in two existing industrial buildings adjacent to the Chvaletice tailings site on land that Euro Manganese agreed to purchase in October 2018.

Management awarded a fixed-price, turnkey contract for the building, delivery and commissioning of the DP to Changsha Research Institute for Mining and Metallurgy.

This contract includes performance and completion guarantees, as well as commissioning services and an operator training program.

To date, approximately 55% of the DP’s planned first year production of HPEMM and HPMSM has been allocated to five prospective customers for testing, in the context of their supply chain qualification process.

Discussions are ongoing with additional potential customers for the allocation of DP products for supply chain qualification.

These include several chemical, battery and automotive companies.

Upon successful completion of the initial supply chain qualification process by these parties, and subject to a production decision being made based on the results of a feasibility study, management plans to enter into long-term commercial offtake arrangements for the supply of its high purity manganese products.

These developments will provide income predictability, a factor that can be very beneficial in terms of project financing.