American Manganese Inc (CVE:AMY) announced Tuesday that it has begun work on the Wenden Stockpile project in Arizona.
Awarded by the US Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), the project centers on the US government’s manganese ore stockpile and confirms the viability of efficient electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) production using the company’s patented manganese process.
American Manganese said it has engaged the services of Primus Resources to sample, document, and transport samples collected from the stockpile between December 8-9. And it is confident in Primus’ ability to provide homogenous consistency and standard quality control protocols of the collected samples.
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Under the awarded project, the two-day site visit will collect 14 representative samples (35 lbs each) from the Wenden Stockpile using a posthole digger and load them into commercial grade-heavy sealed buckets for transportation to Kemetco Research in Richmond, British Columbia. The sample hole locations will be field marked with their global position fixed by GPS.
Following the receipt of the stockpile sample material, American Manganese said the material will undergo internal and external assays, followed by a laboratory bench-scale testing campaign to provide flowsheet proof of concept and process tailings characterization. A final technical report will be issued detailing test procedures and recommendations for a potential future processing facility.
"Manganese has been listed by the US Government as a critical mineral for which the US is 100% import-dependent, and EMM is on the acquisition list for the US National Defense Stockpile, so we are excited to demonstrate our processes ability to create a domestic supply of EMM," said Larry Reaugh, CEO of American Manganese.
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