Shares in Element 25 Ltd (ASX: E25) are steady in midday trading, with the company releasing more news regarding transport arrangements for its manganese products. At the time of writing, the Element 25 share price is sitting at $2.40, the same as at yesterday's close.
The manganese producer has signed a letter of intent with haulage company AK Evans Group Australia. It takes the company a step closer to sending the first shipment of its Butcherbird manganese concentrate product to the company's offtake partners.
The letter of intent comes after Element 25 announced on Tuesday it had signed an agreement with the Pilbara Port Authority, allowing shipment of its product from Port Hedland.
Following Tuesday's news, Element 25 yesterday announced it had sold its first parcel of Butcherbird's manganese product to OM Holdings Limited (ASX: OMH). It's also ramped up operations at its Butcherbird site to 24-hour processing.
Despite it having little impact on the Element 25 share price so far today, let's take a closer look at the company's news.
Image source: Getty Images
Transport solution
Element 25 expects its latest letter of intent will lead to an agreement that will see AK Evans routinely trucking manganese concentrate from the company's Butcherbird site to Port Hedland's port.
According to Element 25, the letter of intent covers initial transport arrangements. The two companies will aim to introduce new quad road trains to truck Butcherbird's manganese products by the end of this year.
AK Evans will haul the products approximately 580 kilometres along the Great Northern Highway to Port Hedland. Element 25 said access to a sealed highway is a rare benefit the mine has over other Pilbara-based operations.
AK Evans was founded in Port Hedland and has locations across Western Australia. It has a partnership with Indigenous owned earthmoving and services company, Kurtarra Pty Limited, and an established sponsorship agreement with Beyond Blue.
Element 25 stated it will now be focusing on the next stages of the Butcherbird project's development. These include an expansion of the company's concentrate business and the conversion of concentrate material into high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM).
According to Element 25, HPMSM can be used in electric vehicle batteries and is likely to be in high demand in coming years.
Commentary from management
Element 25 managing director Justin Brown commented on the agreement, saying:
We are excited to be partnering with AK Evans with a view to having new dedicated road trains to transport our manganese to Port Hedland. We are also excited to know we can work with our commercial partners in delivering solutions to fulfil our vision of delivering zero carbon manganese for the EV Battery revolution.
Element 25 share price snapshot
Element 25 shares are having a fantastic year so far on the ASX.
Currently, the Element 25 share price is up by around 59% year to date. It's also up by an impressive 500% from this time last year.
The company has a market capitalisation of around $357 million, with approximately 148 million shares outstanding.
