American Manganese Submits Amended Technical Report for Artillery Peak Project
13 September 2012 - 7:15AM
Marketwired Canada
American Manganese Inc. (TSX VENTURE:AMY)(PINKSHEETS:AMYZF)(FRANKFURT:2AM) - As
a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission ("BCSC"),
American Manganese Inc. ("American Manganese" or the "Company") has filed on
SEDAR an Amended Technical Report (the "Report") authored by Tetra Tech for the
Company's 100% owned Artillery Peak Manganese Project (Mohave County, Arizona)
to address concerns raised by the BCSC. The public is cautioned not to rely on
the Company's previously filed Report wherein mineral reserves are disclosed. A
summary of the Company's responses to the BCSC's concerns follows:
1. The certificates of the qualified persons have been amended to ensure
that the authors are qualified persons for their respective Report
sections.
2. Every section of the Report is covered by at least one statement of
responsibility on the certificates of qualified persons.
3. Section 12 is expanded to elaborate on the reliability of assay results
based on comparisons of twin holes. It explains why the assay data base
is sufficiently reliable to estimate mineral resources.
4. Section 12 is expanded to include the results and interpretation of the
525 samples check assay program that was sent to a secondary laboratory
for check analysis.
5. Section 14 of the report has been amended to explain why the use of the
global bulk density of 2.1 for the manganese ore is reliable for the
estimation of resources.
6. The electrolytic manganese metal ("EMM") market is secretive and highly
concentrated with over 97% of global EMM production sourced from China
in 2010. South Africa, the only other EMM producing country, accounted
for the remaining 2.1% of global supply. Very little information is
available in the public domain as producers and consumers are extremely
secretive about any commercial arrangements, and specific EMM market
forecasts for metal production/consumption are regarded as proprietary
competitive advantages. To counter this lack of information, the Company
engaged CPM Group to prepare a market study, including an EMM price
forecast which was being used in the Report.
Owing to the lack of publicly available information on the EMM market,
the Company does not have information from other, independent industry
producers/consumers to confirm CPM Group's projected pricing over the 25
year forecast period. As a result, the Company has agreed to change the
Base Case to the more conservative 3 Year Trailing Average from the CPM
Expected Case. An alternate price sensitivity case, 3 Year Trailing
Average Price Reduced by 25%, has also been added.
A summary from the Report of the pre-tax financial model results is
presented below:
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NPV NPV NPV NPV
@ 0% @ 5% @8% @ 10% Pay
IRR ($US ($US ($US ($US Back
Case (%) million) million) million) million) (Years)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Base Case: 3 Year Trailing
Average Price 7.28 458.4 91.2 (22.9) (74.4) 10.3
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternate 1: CPM Expected
Price Forecast 19.95 1360.0 641.5 402.9 289.4 4.6
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternate 2: CPM Up-side
Price Forecast 25.03 1895.3 940.0 623.2 472.3 3.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternate 3: CPM Down-side
Price Forecast 12.90 785.4 311.0 153.6 79.0 5.9
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alternate 4: 3 Year
Trailing Average Price
Reduced by 25% N/A (386.1) (380.0) (371.3) (364.3) N/A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As a result of the amended Base Case and Alternate 4 having negative NPV
at an 8% discount rate, the project is deemed to be not economic.
Accordingly, Section 15 of the Report was amended to show there are no
mineral reserves for the Project that meets the CIM definition and
consequently the mineral reserves for the Project were retracted.
Section 16 has also been amended to show the indicated resources within
the open pit shell that have been used for planning purposes.
7. Section 3 has been amended to include the appropriate disclosure
necessary to support the EMM price forecast developed by CPM Group, and
Section 22 has been expanded to describe CPM Group's forecasting
methodology to support the EMM price forecast developed by CPM Group.
Section 22 has been amended to provide a better description of the two
tier pricing for EMM imported into the United States and EMM sold
outside of the United States.
The Base Case EMM prices is the weighted average of the 3 years trailing
average world price ($US1.36/lb.) applied to 40% of contemplated product
sales, and the 3 year trailing average US price ($US1.66/lb.) applied to
60% of the contemplated product sales.
Price forecasts for the CPM Alternate Cases 1, 2 and 3 are from the CPM
Group EMM Market Study Report "Manganese Metal Outlook, February 2012".
The EMM prices in the report are specified as projected world prices,
and these prices were applied to 40% of the metal production
contemplated for overseas sales. For the 60% of metal production
contemplated for domestic sales, the EMM prices in the report were
increased by 14% to account for the tariff on EMM imported into the US.
8. For clarity, the information regarding taxation has been expanded and
moved from Section 24 to Section 22. After tax financial results for the
Base Case have been included in Section 22 and are summarized as
follows: IRR = 6.14%; NPV at 8% = ($54.4 million); and Payback = 10.7
years. The other Alternate Case scenarios do not factor in taxes, which
could result in lower economic results than projected on a pre-tax
basis.
9. Section 14.1 has been amended in the Report to describe the additional
resources that have been found and tested at other locations within the
Company's land holdings that have not been used in the commercial mining
scenario described in the Report. This information was originally
presented in the report entitled "Mineral Resource Evaluation Report on
the Artillery Mountain Manganese Property, Mohave County, Arizona,
U.S.A." by Norm Tribe, P.Eng., dated September 1st, 2011 and Amended
December 1st, 2011.
The following table summarizes the indicated and inferred resources for
the remainder of the property.
Summary of Mineral Resource Estimates from Tribe (2011). Grade Cutoff 0.90%
Mn.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Average
Resource Grade
Deposit/Region (t) (Mn %)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Indicated
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maggie Mine 113,663,426 2.90
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Shannon Mine 1,507,022 3.96
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love's, Hurley, and Planche Mines 3,616,579 5.16
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Chapin, Burro, Price, and
Priceless Zones 24,788,169 2.87
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Tonnes/Grade 143,575,196 2.98
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maggie Mine 40,360,508 2.71
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shannon Mine 4,298,133 2.74
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Love's, Hurley, and Planche Mines 4,110,834 4.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Chapin, Burro, Price, and
Priceless Zones 5,930,764 2.87
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total Tonnes/Grade 54,700,239 2.83
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. The EMM price inconsistencies identified on pages 1-15, 16-7, and 22-1
have been corrected.
11. The corporate presentations "Preliminary Feasibility Press Conference"
dated May 18, 2012 and "Manganese Pit Wall" dated May 31, 2012, as well
as the Corporate Fact Sheet on the Company's website, have been amended
to correspond to the information presented in the Amended Technical
Report.
About Tetra Tech
Tetra Tech is a leading provider of consulting, engineering, program management,
construction management, and technical services. The Company supports government
and commercial clients by providing innovative solutions to complex problems
focused on water, environment, energy, infrastructure, and natural resources.
The company has been servicing the mining industry for more than 40 years and
has established a reputation for successfully executing NI 43-101 compliant
feasibility studies that meet the scrutiny of the international financing
community. With more than 13,000 employees worldwide, Tetra Tech's capabilities
span the entire project life cycle. The company has more than 330 offices
worldwide, including locations in Canada as well as in Arizona and Nevada in
close proximity to the Artillery Peak project.
About CPM Group (www.cpmgroup.com)
CPM Group is the world's premier commodities research and consulting company.
The firm's primary focus is on precious, industrial, and specialty metals, in
addition to undertaking research and analysis across all commodities markets. In
the ferroalloy industry CPM Group has developed a top-rated expertise in
molybdenum, vanadium, manganese and chromium, as well as other minor metals. CPM
Group provides a suite of research and consulting services related to the
financial management of commodities exposure, including fundamental market
research and analysis, consulting and advisory services, commodities management
and asset management services, and corporate finance advisory. Founded in 1986,
CPM Group is known for its research and analysis of the metals markets, its
overall economic analysis of commodities markets, and its expertise in financial
engineering, using derivatives to structure optimized positions for commercial
hedgers and institutional and high net worth individual investors.
About Manganese
China controls electrolytic manganese production supplying and producing 98% of
the world's needs (3 billion pounds per year).
There is no substitute for manganese in steel (total manganese market greater
than 33 billion pounds per year, fourth largest traded metal).
Manganese is a critical metal at risk for supply disruptions in the United
States as there is no U.S. production. EMM's greatest uses are the upgrading of
specialty steel (74%), and the manufacture of aluminum alloys (12%), electronics
(2%), and other applications (12%).
Electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) for the battery industry is expected to be
the fastest-growing segment of the manganese market. Ford Motors predicts
production of hybrid electric vehicles will account for 25% of its entire
vehicle line-up by 2020, and Hyundai has committed a lifetime guarantee to their
hybrid electric vehicles that use lithium ion batteries with manganese spinel.
China has a 20% export duty on EMM and the U.S. has a 14% import duty.
About American Manganese Inc.
American Manganese Inc. is a diversified specialty and critical metal Company
focusing on potentially becoming a producer of electrolytic manganese metal,
electrolytic manganese dioxide and chemical manganese dioxide from its Arizona
Manganese Project.
This release has been reviewed by Michael MacLeod, P. Eng., a qualified person
pursuant to National Instrument 43-101.
On behalf of Management
AMERICAN MANGANESE INC.
Larry W. Reaugh, President and Chief Executive Officer
This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the
meaning of Section 21E of the United States Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included
herein are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and
uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be
accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from
those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in
the Company's documents filed from time to time with the TSX-Venture Exchange,
the British Columbia Securities Commission and the US Securities and Exchange
Commission.
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