Name of the Project
Butcherbird manganese project.

Location
The project is located in the southern Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Project Owner/s
Element 25.

Project Description
Butcherbird has a maiden proven and probable ore reserve of 50.55-million tonnes at 10.3% manganese, containing 5.22-million tonnes of manganese, of which 4.28-million tonnes are recoverable.

The prefeasibility study base case envisages the production and sale of 312 200 t/y of medium-grade lump manganese concentrate grading between 30% to 35% manganese over a 42-year mine life.

The mine plan is designed to use the tabular geometry of the mineralisation at Yanneri Ridge to provide a simple and low-cost mining operation.

Mining will comprise loaders mining 1-m- to 2-m-tall benches and delivering the ore into a mobile-crusher feed-hopper using a grizzly. Ore will be cross-ripped using a dozer before mining to enable the loaders to operate more efficiently.

The proposed 1.2-million-tonne-a-year processing facility comprises crushing, screening, scrub­bing, sizing and ore sorting.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a nominal pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of A$441-million (real A$283-million) and an internal rate of return of 255% (real 223%), with a payback of six months from the start of operations.

Capital Expenditure
Capital expenditure is estimated at A$14.5-million, plus A$9.2-million for working capital.

Planned Start/End Date
First production from Butcherbird has been tar­geted for early 2021.

Latest Developments
Element 25 has signed a nonbinding termsheet with a subsidiary of fellow-listed OM Holdings over all the manganese ore produced at the first stage of the Butcherbird project.

Under the terms of the agreement, OM Materials will take up to 365 000 t/y of manganese ore a year from the Butcherbird project under a take-or-pay offtake agreement.

The parties have agreed to the specifications and pricing formula for the delivered ore, and on minimum and maximum levels of certain impurities in the ore. The ore will be delivered on a free-on-board basis.

The parties are also negotiating the final terms for a A$2-million convertible funding agreement, which will form part of the overall project financing for Butcherbird.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Element 25, tel +61 8 6315 1400 or email admin@e25.com.au.com.