Euro Manganese to send recycled tailings products to Japan

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada-based Euro Manganese Inc. has announced that Tokyo-based JFE Steel Corp. has agreed to accept what the firms call “high-purity manganese products” processed at the proposed Euro Manganese demonstration plant in the Czech Republic.

JFE will accept the tailings-derived products for “testing and evaluation,” according to Euro Manganese. Approximately 10 percent of the demonstration plant’s planned production will be shipped to JFE, estimated at some 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) of “high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM).”

“We are pleased to have made this important first step in the development of a promising relationship with JFE Steel, one of the world’s premier steel companies,” comments Marco Romero, president and CEO of Euro Manganese.

Upon completion of testing and evaluation of the HPEMM by JFE, and subject to a follow-up decision made by JFE, the parties intend to work toward establishing a non-exclusive, long-term supply arrangement of HPEMM produced at the Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic to be sent to JFE, according to a Euro Manganese press release.

JFE Steel Corp. operates several mills in Japan and produced nearly 28 million tons of crude steel in its most recent fiscal year.