[Ferro-Alloys.com] Jupiter Mines hopes to become a key supplier to the electric vehicle (EV) market from its Tshipi manganese mine in South Africa.

The company released a scoping study demonstrating its capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of high purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) across an initial three years. This would increase to 100,000tpa from 2030.

Base case assumptions suggest a post-tax internal rate of return (IRR) of 25 per cent and an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of $US179 million at full-scale production.

Jupiter Mines would feed manganese from its Tshipi mine into a new downstream processing plant in North America, which has an initial capital expenditure (capex) of $US430 million. Jupiter said this capex is in line with other advanced projects.

“The decision to study the feasibility of a HPMSM production facility has been undertaken due to Jupiter’s strong competitive advantages that can be leveraged as a dedicated pure-play manganese mining company with significant existing mining operations,” Jupiter said.

“The financial outcomes of the HPMSM project have been assessed on a stand-alone basis. All assumptions are based on arms-length inputs so that this study may be considered independently.

“Notwithstanding, Jupiter is favourably positioned as a credible and low-risk counterparty for major offtake partners in the HPMSM project.”

Jupiter has immediate access to two million tonnes of stockpiled manganese ore boasting a grade of more than 30 per cent.

The company is further benefited by the fact it already generates strong annual cashflow and is not dependent on external funding to support the project’s study phases.

Accompanying its own infrastructure and knowhow at Tshipi, Jupiter has long-standing investors such as AMCI and POSCO that it can lean on for downstream processing expertise.

Jupiter is looking at plant options in the US and Canada, with the aim to take advantage of a growing North American EV market.

The company aims to commence a HPMSM pre-feasibility study this month.

• [Editor:tianyawei]