Euro Manganese Inc CDI (ASX: EMN) shares are climbing in early trade today. This comes after the company made an announcement about its decommissioned pilot plant.
At the time of writing, the Euro Manganese share price is up 1.71% to 59.5 cents.
According to the release, the company will restart its pilot plant after being approached by prospective customers.
Let's take a closer look at the news from Euro Manganese this morning.
Restarting production at the pilot plant
The Euro Manganese share price is in the green today after the company announced it will be refurbishing its pilot plant to produce small samples of high-purity manganese.
The manganese samples will be given to potential customers interested in using the company's products to make electric vehicle batteries.
Giving potential customers samples means battery makers can complete supply chain qualification tests on the company's manganese.
Therefore, Euro Manganese hopes battery makers will be ready to order the high-purity manganese when the company's demonstration plant begins operating. Production at the demonstration plant is planned to begin in early 2022.
Euro Manganese's pilot plant produced manganese in 2018 as part of the Chvaletice Manganese Project's preliminary economic assessment.
According to the company, its pilot plant will produce samples of manganese by the final quarter of 2021. The plant will produce around 50kg of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal and 150kg of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate.
During the refurbishing and production process, the company will be working with Changsha Research Institute for Mining and Metallurgy (CRIMM). CRIMM operated the pilot plant in 2018.
CRIMM is also the lead contractor for Euro Manganese's demonstration plant.
The company's demonstration plant will recycle tailings material from a decommissioned mine in the Czech Republic to produce battery-grade manganese products. The demonstration plant will be using the same process as is planned for the company's commercial plant, which is expected to be delivered by early 2025.
Commentary from management
Euro Manganese CEO Marco Romero said:
Demand for sustainably produced, battery-grade manganese is increasing rapidly and there simply isn't enough production capacity in the world to meet it today.
New producers need to come on stream soon and undergo rigorous supply chain qualification of their products. The restart of our pilot plant will help us better service several prospective customers' near-term objectives to pre-qualify new producers like us.
Euro Manganese share price snapshot
Euro Manganese shares have been performing well on the ASX lately.
Currently, the Euro Manganese share price is almost 50% higher than it was at the start of 2021. It has also gained a whopping 587% since this time last year.
The company has a market capitalisation of around $148 million, with approximately 371 million shares outstanding.
