Giyani Metals Corp, developer of the K.Hill Battery-Grade Manganese Project in Botswana this week announced that it has made the first shipment of High Purity Manganese Oxide samples to multiple potential offtakers for testing and qualification from its Demonstration Plant in Johannesburg..
HPMO is a precursor material for the production of High Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate.Production of HPMSM is targeted for Q3 2025 to be followed by offtake qualification trials.
HPMO and HPMSM are precursors for the rapidly growing market for Lithium-Manganese-Iron- Phosphate Lithium-Manganese-Nickel-Oxide and Nickel-Manganese- Cobalt electric vehicle and energy storage system batteries. Whilst HPMSM is the preferred precursor for NMC battery chemistries, HPMO and HPMSM can both be used to produce fast market share gaining battery types such as LMFP.
Giyani’s ability to produce both HPMO and HPMSM gives the Company technological and product optionality, enabling it to maintain pace with the rapidly developing battery market, and serve the majority of potential future battery technologies.
Giyani’s Demo Plant plays a crucial role in derisking the construction and operation of the full- scale Commercial Plant planned for Botswana. Scaling from laboratory to demonstration scale is the largest de-risking event for a flowsheet and a major hurdle for novel processes. Giyani is currently one of the only developers outside China to demonstrate this step and the only known company to have constructed a Demo Plant at this scale.
Learnings from the commissioning of the Demo Plant, combined with ongoing optimization work have realized some very positive outcomes, including:
o Improved knowledge of the process at scale which will be integral to the design and specification of the Commercial Plant, a considerable de-risking function
o The ability to generate a cleaner HPMO product and an associated reduction of both waste (tailings) and emissions outputs
“The Demo Plant is continuing to meet important operational objectives, with the shipment of HPMO being a major accomplishment that significantly endorses the project and has allowed us to move forward with offtaker testing. In parallel, we continue to progress towards production of HPMSM and realize the technological and product optionality that will afford Giyani significant advantages in a rapidly evolving battery market. The team on the ground at the Demo Plant are doing a fantastic job and continue to derisk the planned Commercial Plant in Botswana through on-going operation and modifications to the Demo Plant.
The market continues to announce developments in higher manganese content battery chemistries, like Ford and GM’s recent lithium-manganese-rich (LMR) breakthroughs, which contain multiples more manganese than their current nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) batteries. New developments in battery manufacture may open up the need for other forms of manganese, and it is vital that Giyani moves with the market. The ability to produce HPMO and HPMSM gives Giyani that edge and it is clear that there is interest around our project and we appreciate the incredible support from our stakeholders.”
