Nano One TSX:NANO the Vancouver-based clean-tech, lithium-ion battery company, announced today that it has successfully validated manganese metal in its M2CAM Process in partnership with Canadian battery materials company, Euro Manganese [ASX:EMN].
Dan Blondal, Nano One’s chief executive said: “We are demonstrating the production of cathode materials made directly from high purity metals and I am pleased to announce that we have now done so with electrolytic manganese metal from Euro Manganese.”
Nano One and Euro Mangnese are jointly developing economically-viable and environmentally-sustainable applications of high-purity electrolytic manganese metal (HPEMM) as one of several inputs for the production of cathode active materials used in lithium-ion batteries.
Czech pilot
Nano One has confirmed that Euro Manganese has produced electric vehicle-grade HPEMM from its pilot plant using feedstock from its Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic.
The companies both confirmed that samples have been successfully validated as feedstock for Nano One’s patented One-Pot and M2CAM cathode production technologies. In a statement Nano One said that this action avoids the added cost, complexity, and environmental footprint of using metal sulphates in cathode production.
Matthew James, Euro Manganese’s chief executive said: “Euro Manganese’s production process –which has the flexibility to produce both a high purity manganese metal product as well as a high purity manganese sulphate product – allows us to adapt to meet demand from this important cost and environmental beneficial process developed by Nano One.”
He continued: “Euro Manganese stands to become the leading environmentally responsible producer of high purity battery grade manganese products and we look forward to commissioning our larger demonstration plant at our Chvaletice site in 4Q22.”
He continued: “We also look forward to a day when our manganese and Nano One’s cathode materials are an integral part of the world’s battery supply chain and help create a cleaner world by enabling the green energy transition.”
Environmental and capital sustainability
The new process will eliminate capital-intensive and environmentally unsustainable chemical conversion steps and will eliminate large volumes of wasteful by-product. By using HPEMM and bypassing the cost and negative environmental impacts Nano One has aligned itself with legislation in North America and Europe to fast-track battery supply chains from secure and readily available sources of critical minerals.
Blondal said: “Nano One has ambitious plans to be a participant in the battery driven transformation of mobility and renewable energy storage, and we are pleased to be blazing this trail with Euro Manganese.”
Euro Manganese is focused on becoming a leading, competitive, and environmentally superior producer of high-purity manganese for the electric vehicle industry and other high-technology applications.
Euro Manganese is advancing development of the Chvaletice Manganese Project in the Czech Republic, which is a unique waste-to-value recycling and remediation opportunity involving reprocessing old tailings from a decommissioned mine. The Chvaletice Project is the only sizable resource of manganese in the European Union, strategically positioning it to provide battery supply chains with critical raw materials to support the global shift to a circular, low-carbon economy.
Nano One’s patented One-Pot process enables cathode materials to be made directly from metals and lithium carbonate, for reduced complexity, cost, and environmental footprint. Its coated nanocrystal materials and its Metal-to-Cathode Active Material technologies address fundamental performance needs and supply chain constraints while reducing costs and carbon footprint.
