Name of the Project
K.Hill battery-grade manganese project.

Location
Botswana.

Project Owner/s
Giyani Metals Corporation.

Project Description
K.Hill will be one of the biggest high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM)  projects in the world. HPMSM is a refined precursor material used in the production of cathode powders for lithium-ion batteries deployed in electric vehicles.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) published in July 2023 evaluates a base case scenario that considers a single production line with a feed capacity of 200 000 t/y to process manganese oxide material to produce HPMSM over a 57-year life-of-project (LoP). The LoP includes a 49-year life-of-mine plus 8 years of stockpile rehandling.

The PEA also evaluates an upside case, which assumes the construction of an additional production line from Year 5 of operations to increase total feed capacity to 400 000 t/y, reducing the LoP to 31 years.

The project includes a crushing facility, including a run-of-mine pad and stockpiles, a three-stage crushing plant and a crushed material bin. It also includes a processing area, including grinding, extraction, purification, fluoride polishing, crystallisation, product storage and handling; water treatment, reagent storage and tails handling; a sulphur dioxide plant; plant infrastructure and utilities, including steam and air plants; and low-voltage switch rooms.

A 4.5 MW solar plant covering 7.6 ha will be built 1.2 km west-northwest of the processing plant entrance gate. The large-scale demonstration plant that emulates the continuous process of the proposed full-scale K.Hill commercial plant is under construction in South Africa. The plant will validate the process flowsheet, mitigate commercial processing plant risk and facilitate offtake qualification.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at an 8% discount rate, of $1.21-billion and an internal of return of 33%, with a payback period of two years.

Capital Expenditure
$282.64-million.

Planned Start/End Date
First commercial production is expected in the third quarter of 2025, with ramp-up expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2027.

Latest Developments
The Botswana Ministry of Minerals and Energy has granted Giyani a mining licence for its K.Hill project. It was granted less than nine months after Giyani filed an application in December 2023.

The mining licence is valid for 15 years and, under the Botswana Mines and Minerals Act, can be renewed multiple times for up to 25 years with each renewal.

Giyani has indicated that the mining licence area is sufficient to accommodate K.Hill’s requirements over the extended 57-year life of operations as defined in the PEA.

The next step is the production of battery-grade manganese from its demonstration plant, which is under construction in Johannesburg, South Africa, and due to be commissioned during the fourth quarter of this year.

The plant is entering the detailed fit-out phase, with all process modules now installed. Cabling and piping work has started to connect the process modules in preparation for commissioning.

Commissioning and production of up to 600 kg/d of battery-grade HPMSM remains on track for the fourth quarter of 2024.

The product from the demonstration plant will be used for offtaker qualification, a vital step before offtake agreements can be signed.

Concurrently, metallurgical testwork is under way at CM Solutions, a metallurgical consultancy and laboratory in Johannesburg, to optimise the flowsheet. Giyani is focused on reducing reagent use where possible and has evolved its process to remove hydrofluoric acid. This eliminates the requirement to store and handle potentially hazardous HF at the demonstration plant and the planned commercial site, in Botswana.

Simulation testwork is continuing on the Yokogawa Distributed Control System software that will be used to control the demonstration plant, which will operate as a continuous process flow, rather than on a batch basis.  This is a significant advantage for Giyani, as it enables the team to operate the plant at steady state and confirm the ability to produce consistent specification battery-grade HPMSM. By demonstrating this ability to potential offtake partners, Giyani can satisfy their requirements for a consistent product specification and production rate.

As the demonstration plant is a direct copy of the proposed commercial plant, albeit at a smaller scale, Giyani will better understand how the proposed commercial plant will respond, in advance of construction, commissioning and ramp-up. This enables further optimisation of the engineering design in parallel with the definitive feasibility study (DFS).

The DFS will build on Giyani’s PEA and is expected to be completed in 2025.

The DFS will incorporate an updated mineral resource estimate and use data from the demonstration plant, ongoing optimisation testwork to minimise any environmental impact and maximise the project value. Ongoing testwork is aimed at reducing operational costs, carbon emissions and reagent use.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
SRK Consulting (feasibility study); Mintek (metallurgical testwork); Tetra Tech (metallurgical testwork programme); Wood (lead DFS consultant); and Minopex, a DRA Global Company (demonstration plant operation).

Contact Details for Project Information
Giyani Metals Corporation, email info@giyanimetals.com.