ChemX pockets $900,000 in research and development rebates

ChemX Materials has received more than $900,000 through a research and development (R&D) tax incentive rebate payment for developing its high-purity manganese (HPM) and alumina (HPA) projects during the past financial year.

Administered by AusIndustry and the Australian Tax Office, the rebate is available for companies investing in R&D programs aimed at sustainably producing critical minerals for the future.

Management says the $909,600 in funding will be used towards the continuation of strategic investment in the company’s programs for HPA and HPM, which are considered critical minerals for the global energy transition.

ChemX Materials chief executive officer Peter Lee said: “This will be used to further and advance the current projects, including drilling in Q1 2024 to bolster the Jamieson Tank Resource.”

Throughout the past financial year, ChemX has progressed its “HiPurA” process  – a unique technology that is able to produce HPA and high-purity aluminium cathode precursor salts for lithium-ion batteries. Management says initial testwork indicates the process is low cost and low in energy consumption when compared to alternative technologies.

Earlier this month, the company nailed the vital “4N” (99.99 per cent) product purity in alumina from its trial micro-plant in Perth and is refocusing on the commissioning of its proposed pilot plant in the first quarter of next year. It says independent testing confirmed 4N in the analysis of a suite of 66 elements in alumina, with total impurity levels of 61 parts per million, 66ppm and 99ppm and a best result of just 39ppm total impurities (99.996 per cent purity) – which is close to the highly-desired 5N.

Test samples for analysis of the final HPA product comprised post-calcining material taken from several areas within the crucible volume to provide a representative composite sample mass of about 50 grams.

In September, ChemX revealed a maiden manganese resource of 13.1 million tonnes at 5.7 per cent manganese at its Jamieson Tank deposit, 150km west of South Australia’s Port of Whyalla. The company says testwork on the resource has shown “excellent” upgrade characteristics through simple gravity and magnetic separation and it will now complete an internal scoping study on the production of HPM battery-grade products.

Significantly, the company says Jamieson Tank still holds substantial grade and tonnage upside potential in high-grade, near-surface targets within 4.4km of its southern strike extent and it plans to drill the area in the coming months.

Jamieson Tank manganese ore responds favourably to simple gravity separation upgrading methods and has proven that beneficiation can produce 99.7 per cent pure manganese sulphate feedstock for battery-critical high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM). Ongoing metallurgical testwork is underway with Nagrom and BHM Metallurgy.

The company is investigating the use of Jamieson Tank manganese ore as a feedstock for a HPMSM production facility to be located in the SA city of Whyalla.

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