American Manganese updates further on progress at recycling pilot plant

American Manganese Inc (CVE:AMY) (OTCMKTS:AMYZF) unveiled more progress at its battery recycling pilot plant, saying stages one and two had been successfully completed.

That includes the pre-treatment of feedstock material and a leach of the cathode active material.

READ: American Manganese reaches milestone as Kemetco starts sample testing at recycling pilot plant

American Manganese has a patent-approved process for recovering metals from lithium-ion batteries such as cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese, and aluminum.

“It is exciting to see our patent-approved process demonstrated on a pilot scale,” said Larry Reaugh, president and CEO of the firm, based in Surrey, British Columbia.

“The successful replication of the lab-scale operations in a larger continuous closed-circuit operation not only is the first step towards commercialization, but also provides key evidence that the company’s lithium-ion battery recycling technology is economically sound.”

He added that the selected NMC-622 cathode feedstock, valued at US$16.25/kg, is processed at an estimated reagent cost of US$1/kg.

Processing partner, the consultant Kemetco will continue to process select samples of cathode material feedstock and prepare for the remaining stages of the pilot plant operations.

As reported earlier this month, the five stages of the pilot plant operation are as follows:

• Stage 1 – Pre-treatment of cathode material
• Stage 2 – Leach of active material
• Stage 3 – Purification
• Stage 4 – Recovery of base metals (eg: nickel, cobalt, manganese)
• Stage 5 – Lithium recovery and water recycle

Kemetco provides expertise in the fields of specialty analytical chemistry, chemical process and extractive metallurgy.

American Manganese shares closed unchanged at $0.14 yesterday.

Story by ProactiveInvestors