American Manganese Inc

The right place at the right time 

Things have been moving along pretty quickly at American Manganese Inc. over the past few years thanks to a favourable market and a plethora of manganese. American Manganese Inc., an exploration and development company for specialty minerals, certainly seems to be at the right place at the right time: Chinese production of manganese started declining a few years ago, the demand and market for manganese metals in North America is growing every year, and American Manganese Inc. has acquired property in Arizona that has billions of pounds of the mineral. As a junior development company, American Manganese Inc. has researched the manganese market and has focused its research on Electrolytic Manganese Metals (EMMs). Electrolytic Manganese Metals are primarily used to make stainless steel.

American Manganese Inc. is a company listed with the TSX Venture Exchange with a focus on commodities for the steel industry, specifically manganese.

“It is the fourth largest traded commodity on the market,” explains Larry Reaugh, CEO and President of American Manganese Inc. One thing that drew the company to manganese is that there is currently no American production of the mineral even though much of the demand for manganese comes from North America. After extensive research, the company determined that manganese is the most critical metal on the market right now. For example, in the stainless steel industry, there is no efficient substitute for manganese.

What is manganese?

Steelmaking accounts for about 90 percent of manganese demand. EMMs are primarily used for the alloying of steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. Currently, China controls around 98 percent of EMM production and export, but Reaugh says this number is going to decrease rapidly, leaving American Manganese Inc. with the opportunity to pick up where China leaves off – and at a cheaper price.

“China is currently consolidating its business, which means there will be fewer producers there. They pretty much depleted their ore bodies and their prices are going up,” says Reaugh. He predicts in five years that China will no longer be exporting EMM. According to Ken Reser, manganese also replaces the use of nickel alloy in 200 series stainless steel, which is more costly.

Pre-feasibility studies

With only one other EMM producer in the world, which is located in South Africa, Reaugh says we will need to start sourcing our own supply. We consume about 250,000 tonnes of electrolytic manganese per year. The South African manganese metal company only produces 30,000 tonnes per year; Reaugh believes his company can produce 50,000 tonnes to meet demand levels.

American Manganese Inc. is in the middle of pre-feasibility studies at Artillery Peak Manganese Properties, land that they acquired in Arizona a few years ago. The property has been recognized as having the largest known manganese deposits in Southwest USA. From 1928 to 1955, the property functioned as an underground mine that produced manganese for steel mills and the U.S. government strategic materials stockpiles. In 2007, American Manganese Inc. purchased the property and began drilling and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). Over the past few years, American Manganese Inc. commissioned Kemetco Research Inc., a research and development company specializing in metallurgy extraction, to conduct proofs of sulfuric acid extraction in 2009 and to test for Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO) in 2011. LMO is currently in demand in the battery industry due to its low cost and high power output. Wardrop, a Tetra Tech company, is working with Kemetco to put together the pre-feasibility evaluation report. The study will be completed by the end of the first quarter. It has already indicated the presence of 13.5 billion pounds of manganese and an inferred amount of 3.5 billion pounds.

“We’ve got more manganese than you can shake a stick at,” says Reaugh.

The company will produce around 110 million pounds of manganese a year, leaving an abundance of manganese to be mined over the next several decades – even when production doubles, triples, or quadruples.

“We’ll still have manganese. It’s wide open and we certainly haven’t found it all,” says Reaugh.

Electrolytic Manganese Metals (EMM) and EMD

According to a market forecast, the worldwide demand for Electrolytic Manganese Metals (EMMs) will grow from 1.5 million tonnes today to 2.8 million tonnes in 2021. EMM is primarily used for upgrading specialty steel (47%), manufacturing aluminum alloys (32%), and electronics (14%). The EMM market currently consumes 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes per year, which is around 3 billion pounds of manganese. A refined form of manganese, Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide (EMD) is made by the same process as EMM and is predicted to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the manganese industry due to battery consumption. American Manganese Inc. will be testing EMD this year and looking at producing a lithiated manganese powder derived from EMD, which provides a more powerful charge than any other alternative metal. EMD is the largest component of lithium ion batteries and have been used in a variety of products such as laptops and cell phones. In the automobile industry, Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF are using lithium ion batteries with lithium manganese spinel for electric vehicles. Ford predicts that electric vehicles will account for up to 25% of its vehicle line-up by 2020, further increasing the demand for manganese-based lithium ion batteries.

Reaugh says he hopes to also start looking at sodium manganese batteries, which he sees as a rapidly-growing market for manganese battery consumption. Overall, the manganese market grew at 8% per year to 30 billion pounds in 2008. The EMM market grew 26% between 2003 and 2008.

The future/conclusion
Larry Reaugh has reason to believe in manganese; so far, everything is right on track.

“If everything goes according to plan, we should be permitting and constructing by 2013. We hope to be a producer of EMM in the US by mid-2014. Those are our goals; that’s our timeline,” he says.

In March, representatives from American Manganese Inc. will be at PDAC International Convention, Trade Show, & Investors Exchange, a mining investment show annually held in Toronto. This year, Reaugh says they will speak about the critical metal aspect of manganese.

“It’s an opportunity in this business,” he says. “We’re more on the specialty side of it; we’re more in the rare earth category than the metal category.”

“Manganese is a non-known metal out there in investment circles.”

But Reaugh knows that is set to change this year.

Things have been moving along pretty quickly at American Manganese Inc. over the past few years thanks to a favourable market and a plethora of manganese. American Manganese Inc., an exploration and development company for specialty minerals, certainly seems to be at the right place at the right time: Chinese production of manganese started declining a few years ago, the demand and market for manganese metals in North America is growing every year, and American Manganese Inc. has acquired property in Arizona that has billions of  pounds of the mineral. As a junior development company, American Manganese Inc. has   researched the manganese market and has focused its research on Electrolytic Manganese Metals (EMMs). Electrolytic Manganese Metals are primarily used to make stainless steel.

American Manganese Inc. is a company listed with the TSX Venture Exchange with a focus on commodities for the steel industry, specifically manganese. “It is the fourth largest traded commodity on the market,” explains Larry Reaugh, CEO and President of American Manganese Inc. One thing that drew the company to manganese is that there is currently no American production of the mineral even though much of the demand for manganese comes from North America. After extensive research, the company determined that manganese is the most critical metal on the market right now. For example, in the stainless steel industry, there is no efficient substitute for manganese.

What is manganese?

Steelmaking accounts for about 90 percent of manganese demand. EMMs are primarily used for the alloying of steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. Currently, China controls around 98 percent of EMM production and export, but Reaugh says this number is going to decrease rapidly, leaving American Manganese Inc. with the opportunity to pick up where China leaves off – and at a cheaper price.

“China is currently consolidating its business, which means there will be fewer producers there. They pretty much depleted their ore bodies and their prices are going up,” says Reaugh. He predicts in five years that China will no longer be exporting EMM. According to Ken Reser, manganese also replaces the use of nickel alloy in 200 series stainless steel, which is more costly.

Pre-feasibility studies

With only one other EMM producer in the world, which is located in South Africa, Reaugh says we will need to start sourcing our own supply. We consume about 250,000 tonnes of electrolytic manganese per year. The South African manganese metal company only produces 30,000 tonnes per year; Reaugh believes his company can produce 50,000 tonnes to meet demand levels.

American Manganese Inc. is in the middle of pre-feasibility studies  at Artillery Peak Manganese Properties, land that they acquired in Arizona a few years ago. The property has been recognized as having the largest known manganese deposits in Southwest USA. From 1928 to 1955, the property functioned as an underground mine that produced manganese for steel mills and the U.S. government strategic materials stockpiles. In 2007, American Manganese Inc. purchased the property and began drilling and a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA). Over the past few years, American Manganese Inc. commissioned Kemetco Research Inc., a research and development company specializing in metallurgy extraction, to conduct proofs of sulfuric acid extraction in 2009 and to test for Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO) in 2011. LMO is currently in demand in the battery industry due to its low cost and high power output. Wardrop, a Tetra Tech company, is working with Kemetco to put together the pre-feasibility evaluation report. The study will be completed by the end of the first quarter. It has already indicated the presence of 13.5 billion pounds  of manganese and an inferred amount of 3.5 billion pounds.

“We’ve got more manganese than you can shake a stick at,” says Reaugh.

The company will produce around 110 million pounds of manganese a year, leaving an abundance of manganese to be mined over the next several decades – even when production doubles, triples, or quadruples.
“We’ll still have manganese. It’s wide open and we certainly haven’t found it all,” says Reaugh.

Electrolytic Manganese Metals (EMM) and EMDAccording to a market forecast, the worldwide demand for Electrolytic Manganese Metals (EMMs) will grow from 1.5 million tonnes today to 2.8 million tonnes in 2021. EMM is primarily used for upgrading specialty steel (47%), manufacturing aluminum alloys (32%), and electronics (14%). The EMM market currently consumes 1.2 to 1.3 million tonnes per year, which is around 3 billion pounds of manganese. A refined form of manganese, Electrolytic Manganese Dioxide (EMD) is made by the same process as EMM and is predicted to be one of the fastest-growing segments in the manganese industry due to battery consumption. American Manganese Inc. will be testing EMD this year and looking at producing a lithiated manganese powder derived from EMD, which provides a more powerful charge than any other alternative metal. EMD is the largest component of lithium ion batteries and have been used in a variety of products such as laptops and cell phones. In the automobile industry, Chevy Volt and the Nissan LEAF are using lithium ion batteries with lithium manganese spinel for electric vehicles. Ford predicts that electric vehicles will account for up to 25% of its vehicle line-up by 2020, further increasing the demand for manganese-based lithium ion batteries.

Reaugh says he hopes to also start looking at sodium manganese batteries, which he sees as a rapidly-growing market for manganese battery consumption. Overall, the manganese market grew at 8% per year to 30 billion pounds in 2008. The EMM market grew 26% between 2003 and 2008.

The future/conclusionLarry Reaugh has reason to believe in manganese; so far, everything is right on track.

“If everything goes according to plan, we should be permitting and constructing by 2013.  We hope to be a producer of EMM in the US by mid-2014. Those are our goals; that’s our timeline,” he says.

In March, representatives from American Manganese Inc. will be at PDAC International Convention, Trade Show, & Investors Exchange, a mining investment show annually held in Toronto. This year, Reaugh says they will speak about the critical metal aspect of manganese.

“It’s an opportunity in this business,” he says. “We’re more on the specialty side of it; we’re more in the rare earth category than the metal category.”

“Manganese is a non-known metal out there in investment circles.”

But Reaugh knows that is set to change this year.