Australian miner Element 25 has secured a senior debt finance facility of up to A$50m ($32.5m) from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), a Commonwealth Government financier, to expand its 100%-owned Butcherbird manganese project in Western Australia (WA).
The finance includes A$42.5m in senior debt and a A$7.5m cost overrun facility. It will boost Butcherbird’s production capacity to 1.1 million tonnes per annum of manganese oxide concentrate.
The expansion will facilitate the supply of feedstock to Element 25’s planned high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) processing facility in Louisiana, US, and fulfil concentrate sales to other customers.
A feasibility study updated in January 2025 projected the expansion’s capital cost at A$64.8m, forecasting a pre-tax net present value of A$561m and a 96% pre-tax internal rate of return.
The study anticipates an average annual cash flow of A$70.5m over a mine life exceeding 18 years.
The NAIF financing follows a $166m grant from the US Department of Energy for the processing facility construction in Louisiana and $115m from offtake partners General Motors and Stellantis.
Element 25 stated that its processing technology for producing HPMSM for lithium-ion batteries leads to low energy consumption and minimal waste.
Element 25 managing director Justin Brown said: “Securing this support from the Federal Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility reaffirms the government’s commitment to developing Australia’s critical minerals sector and Butcherbird’s economic importance to Australia and the Pilbara region of WA.
“Our feasibility studies have confirmed Butcherbird’s pedigree as a long-life manganese concentrate production hub from its 274 million tonne resource, which is integral to our plans for HPMSM in the USA as well as potentially other locations around the world. This support from NAIF is critical to our plans to expand Butcherbird to meet this growing demand as the world continues to shift towards electrification and energy transition.”
Element 25 has secured all necessary approvals for the Butcherbird expansion, including final statutory approval from the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation in March 2025, and other approvals from the WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety in January.
Further, Element 25 is finalising the balance of required finance for the project through various financing groups, equity providers and key commercial contracts.
The Butcherbird manganese expansion project team is following a detailed execution plan to deliver the project by 2026, stated the company.
