American Manganese says specialty equipment received for pilot plant resumption of lithium-ion battery recycling optimization tests

American Manganese Inc (CVE:AMY) (OTCPINK:AMYZF) said Thursday that the company’s contract research lab Kemetco Research, has received the required specialty equipment to continue pilot plant optimization tests for recycling lithium-ion battery material.

The critical metals company, which is focused on the recycling of lithium-ion batteries with its RecycLiCo patented process, had previously reported that the pilot plant processing capacity was upgraded from 64 kilograms a day to 160 kilograms a day after a successful engineering upgrade.

“We believe the specialized pieces of equipment and operational improvements should further increase the recycling process capacity of the lithium-ion battery cathode material,” Norman Chow, president of Kemetco Research, said in a statement.

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The American Manganese RecycLiCo process provides high extraction of cathode metals, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, manganese, and aluminum at high purity, with minimal processing steps. The company aims to commercialize its breakthrough process and become an industry leader in recycling cathode materials from spent lithium-ion batteries

“Given the initial and encouraging optimization results, we believe that continued testing is critical to American Manganese’s go-to market strategy and a major differentiating factor amongst competitors in the growing recycling industry,” said American Manganese CEO Larry W Reaugh.

“It is important that we go the extra mile on optimization testing, while costs are relatively low, so that we may put our best foot forward when it comes to the commercial recycling plant. We estimate that optimization results could subsequently improve commercial plant design and process capacity while lowering capital expenditures and the annual operating costs,” he added.

According to the company, the plant should be back up and running within the first week of August.

The importance of recycling lithium-ion battery material for lithium, nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum comes during strategic times as the battery metals supply chain faces shortages. The company noted that Tesla CEO Elon Musk Musk has even offered “giant contracts” to miners able to extract nickel in an efficient and environmentally sustainable manner.

The company pointed out that its RecycLiCo patented process could recycle lithium-ion battery cathode materials, which includes a high percentage of nickel, such as the popular NMC-811 lithium-ion battery cathode that contains eight parts nickel, one part manganese, and one part cobalt.

Contact the author Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

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