[Ferro-Alloys.com] The US Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded diversified miner South32’s Hermosa project, in Arizona, $20-million to support domestic manganese production.

The money will be matched with a $43-million investment by Australia-headquartered South32 to fund activities to support access to the manganese deposit.

“The Department of Defense funding will help support development of the Hermosa project’s battery-grade manganese deposit, the only advanced project in the United States that has demonstrated through a pilot testing programme that it can produce battery-grade manganese from a domestic ore source,” commented South32 CEO Graham Kerr.

The infusion of funding, awarded under the DoD’s battery grant programme, will empower Hermosa to advance its plans to bring essential battery-grade manganese to North American markets, including DoD-designated end-users.

Hermosa president Pat Risner said the DoD funding would help expedite the project’s development in alignment with critical timelines.

The US Forest Service last week initiated the federal permitting process for the Hermosa project.

While all of Hermosa’s mining will be done from private lands and require several state permits to begin initial development, a federal permit is required to fully develop the project. The federal authorisation will take about two years and will include several rounds of public feedback and discussions.

Hermosa stands out as the sole advanced mining project in the US capable of producing two federally designated critical minerals – zinc and manganese.

It is also the first mining project covered by the FAST-41 programme for critical infrastructure projects that benefit the nation, which enables open lines of communication and transparency between all stakeholders while ensuring a robust and rigorous review process.

• [Editor:tianyawei]