Last week Giyani Metal Corporation, a Canadian exploration company developing a number of manganese projects in Botswana announced that its latest drilling activities are showing massive economic potential for the K Hill project in Kanye.
In statement the company highlighted that “infill drilling has resulted in the conversion of approximately 95% of the current Inferred Mineral Resources for the K.Hill Project into the Indicated Mineral Resources category and a 25% increase in total contained manganese (“Mn”) metal.”
This means Indicated Mineral Resources for the K.Hill Project’s main mineralized zone are reported as 1.6 million tonnes (“Mt”) at an average grade of 22.0% manganese oxide (“MnO”), equivalent to approximately 0.4 Mt of contained Mn metal.
Inferred Mineral Resources, including the newly discovered mineralized horizon known as the B Horizon, are reported as 1.4 Mt at an average grade of 13.9% MnO, equivalent to approximately 0.2 Mt contained Mn metal.
Total contained Mn metal would equate to roughly 1.7 Mt of High Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate (“HPMSM”).
Samples from the B Horizon are currently undergoing detailed mineralogy and hydrometallurgical testwork and may facilitate potential upgrade from the Inferred to Indicated Mineral Resources category.
Robin Birchall, CEO of the Company, commented:
“Our maiden Indicated Mineral Resources statement is another major milestone for Giyani and another objective achieved towards our goal of becoming a low carbon producer of battery-grade manganese for the rapidly expanding electric vehicle market. Projects which have the potential to be developed for the high purity manganese market are rare and less than 1% of global manganese production currently feeds the battery sector. Of this, around 90% is produced in China.
The classification of almost all of our previous Inferred Mineral Resources into the Indicated category, with more than a 25% increase in total contained manganese metal added in the Inferred category, significantly derisks the K.Hill Project and demonstrates potential for a much longer mine life than modelled in our PEA of April 2021 or the potential for a larger production over a similar time period.
The reporting of Indicated Mineral Resources also marks the completion of another part of the FS for the K.Hill Project. With updated metallurgical testwork results pending, we are confident of delivering the FS in Q4 2021.
While this is a significant step for our flagship project, we should not forget the further potential of the K.Hill Extension, where we recently made a new discovery, as well as the Otse Prospect. With a post-tax NPV of USD332 million already estimated just for the K.Hill Project, the economic potential of Giyani’s larger asset base could be exceptional.”
