Giyani Metals Corp. (TSXV:EMM, GR:A2DUU8)
("
Giyani" or the "
Company"),
developer of the K.Hill Battery-Grade Manganese Project in Botswana
("
K.Hill" or “
the Project”), is
pleased to provide an update on construction of the Demonstration
Plant (“
Demo Plant”).
Highlights:
-
Substantial progress has been made at the Demo Plant in July with
the installation of five additional modular process skids
(“Process Modules”). Seven of the nine Process
Modules have now been installed.
-
The five new Process Modules include:
- Three purification circuits
(installed in two Process Modules), including reactors, filter feed
tanks and filtrate tanks. These modules form the core of the
hydrometallurgical process and allow the removal of impurities
ahead of crystallisation.
- Reagent make-up, comprising powder
debagging stations and dissolution tanks for three primary reagent
systems. Reagents will be dosed throughout the plant at the
required locations.
- The filtration Process Module,
complete with four filter presses which serve the various impurity
removal processes.
- Water treatment and storage,
including both process water and Reverse Osmosis water
systems.
-
Installation of the instrumentation and electrical cabling, as well
as piping works have commenced and are near complete for the
Crystallizer Unit and the internal Crystallizer Process Module.
This intricate work will progress to the other Process Modules in
sequence.
-
In terms of services, the ventilation system installation is
complete. This purpose-built system is designed to ensure a safe
and comfortable operating environment within the plant. The main
reticulation for the utility steam system has been installed and
successfully pressure tested.
-
Civil works for the external waste storage tank system are in
progress. The waste storage system collects process discharge and
waste streams. These streams will be analysed to aid in the design
and cost optimisation of the water recovery system designs for the
commercial plant.
-
Simulation test work continues on the Yokogawa Distributed Control
System (“DCS”) software that will be used to
control the Demo Plant, which will operate as a continuous process
flow, rather than on batch or lock-cycle methods. This is a massive
advantage of the Demo Plant allowing Giyani to understand how the
Commercial Plant will respond ahead of construction.
-
The Project remains on track for commissioning and production of
battery-grade manganese in Q4 2024 for offtaker testing and
qualification.
Danny Keating, President and CEO of the
Company, commented:
“It is exciting to see the Demo Plant coming
together and appreciating the scale of the facility we are
constructing, which is expected to be one of the largest
battery-grade manganese process testing and optimization facilities
in the world. Successful construction and operation of the Demo
Plant is key to demonstrating the inherent value of the Project to
investors.
The Plant’s ability to operate continuously at
this pre-commercial scale will allow Giyani to understand how the
Commercial Plant will respond ahead of construction, pre-emptively
detecting and de-risking potential issues that could arise during
ramp-up.
The value of this facility as a tool to optimize
our proprietary flowsheet and reduce operating costs will be
immeasurable. The most important feature will be that we will now
be able to provide offtakers with tonnes of product for testing,
rather than providing samples measured in grams. This level of
production is not usually available until commercial production is
achieved, further de-risking the Project for our potential partners
and financiers.”
Demo Plant Construction
Update
The Demo Plant will consist of nine Process
Modules, each a self-contained process system within a fixed frame.
An additional five of these Process Modules have been installed
since the June update (see June 20, 2024 news release), see Figures
1A, 1B, 2, 4 and 5 below
Figure 1A and 1B: Purification Process
Modules 1 & 2
The Demo Plant construction process follows a
set order of Module installation to allow sufficient working space
in the plant as well as simultaneous activities to speed up
construction and ultimately commissioning. The plant is built from
the Crystallizer Units to the ore delivery and ball mill, with the
detailed piping and instrumentation following the Module
installation. Within the Plant, the following progress has been
made:
-
all nine bases/footings for the Process Modules have been
installed;
-
seven of nine Process Modules have been installed;
-
all eight ventilation circuits have been installed;
-
instrumentation & wiring is complete on the first Process
Module and is in progress on the second Process Module;
-
the utility steam systems have been successfully pressure tested,
and concrete has been poured for the external waste storage tank
system;
-
assembly of the remaining Process Modules continues offsite for
transportation and installation at the Demo Plant.
Construction and Commission
Five additional Process Modules have been
installed since June and are shown in Figures 1A, 1B, 2, 4 and 5
below.
Figure 2: Reagent Make-up Process
Module
The Demo Plant is at 1:10 engineering scale of
the planned commercial plant in Kanye, Botswana
(“Commercial Plant”). For example, the leach tanks
have a 60cm diameter in the Demo Plant and this is expected to be
8-10x larger at approximately 5m in the Commercial Plant.
Figure 3: Demo Plant Render
The detailed construction program takes
advantage of sequential mechanical, piping, electrical, and
instrumentation installation to allow cold commissioning to follow
the Process Module sequence in a highly efficient manner.
Figure 4: Filtration Process
Module
Construction of Process Modules continues from
the South end of the facility to the North. Once installed, Process
Modules are completed mechanically, electrically and then fitted
out with piping and instrumentation. After this, the initial stages
of commissioning C1, C2 and C3 are undertaken at an individual
Process Module level. Commissioning of the full process flow (C4
& C5) will only be concluded once all of the individual Process
Modules are complete.
Stages of construction:
-
C1 - Mechanical Completion
-
C2 - Dry testing, direction testing, loop testing
-
C3 - Cold/Water Commissioning, software testing
-
C4 - Hot Commissioning with reagents and steam
-
C5 - Production Ramp-up
Figure 5: Water Treatment & Storage
Process Module
As part of the construction process, the Company
and Met63 Ltd (“Met63”), the EPCM contractor for
the Demo Plant, have agreed to restructure the two site teams and
create a single, combined team to improve efficiencies and
management of the project. The existing agreement between the two
companies (previously announced on September 6, 2022), already
envisaged a transition and hand-over of the plant from Met63 to
Giyani and this process will now commence as the plant
commissioning phase approaches. The revised agreements will bring
synergies as the combined team provides direct experience in the
final phases of construction and importantly assist Giyani in its
preparations for commissioning and ultimately operation of the
Plant.
Demo Plant Operations
Update
Giyani is continuing with software development
and simulation test work on the Yokogawa DCS software that will be
used to operate Giyani’s fully continuous process facility. The
ability to continuously operate at this pre-commercial scale will
allow Giyani to understand how the Commercial Plant will respond
ahead of construction, minimizing issues that could arise during
ramp-up. Unlike a lab- or pilot-scale operation, a full, industrial
control system is required to operate this large-scale, automated,
hydrometallurgical plant.
The development of all process standard
operating procedures (“SOPs”) is now complete. As
the Demo Plant is a duplicate of the anticipated Commercial Plant,
the overall operating requirements and system requirements are very
similar. Alongside the engineering, commercial and research
benefits of the Demo Plant, the development of SOPs will facilitate
a smooth transition to full-scale production.
Finalization of the contract for the on-site,
independent, ISO-certified, hydrometallurgical laboratory is
imminent. This laboratory, which includes ICP-OES and XRF
equipment, will allow full commercial-level metal accounting and
provide rapid assay turnaround times to enable effective operation
of the Demo Plant.
About Giyani
Giyani is focussed on becoming the dominant
western-world producer of sustainable, low carbon high purity
battery grade manganese for the electric vehicle
(“EV”) industry. The Company has developed a
proprietary hydrometallurgical process to produce battery grade
manganese (HPMSM), a lithium-ion battery cathode precursor material
critical for EVs.
The Company has secured US$26m in financing from
two strategic partners, ARCH Sustainable Resources Fund LP and the
Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, as it aims to
progress the K.Hill battery-grade manganese project in Botswana to
construction by building and operating the Demo Plant and
completing a Definitive Feasibility Study by H1 2025.
Additional information and corporate documents
may be found on www.sedarplus.ca and on Giyani Metals Corp. website
at https://giyanimetals.com/.
Qualified Persons / NI 43-101
Disclosures
A National Instrument 43-101 (“NI
43-101”) technical report including results of the PEA and
the MRE can be found on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and made
available on the Company's website at
https://giyanimetals.com/.
Mr. Justin Taylor CEng
FIMMM QMR BSc Eng (Chem) is a qualified person, as defined by NI
43-101. Mr. Taylor is the Company’s Group Process Engineer and has
reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content
contained in this news release but is not independent for the
purposes of NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Giyani
Metals Corp.
Danny Keating, President and CEO
Contact:
Tel: +1289-291-7632
Danny Keating, President & CEO
dkeating@giyanimetals.com
Charles FitzRoy, Head of Corporate Development
& Strategy
cfitzroy@giyanimetals.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV")
nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in
the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this news release.
The securities described herein have not been
registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as
amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws,
and accordingly, may not be offered or sold to, or for the account
or benefit of, persons in the United States or "U.S. persons," as
such term is defined in Regulation S promulgated under the U.S.
Securities Act ("U.S. Persons"), except in compliance with the
registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable
state securities requirements or pursuant to exemptions therefrom.
This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a
solicitation of an offer to buy any of the Company's securities to,
or for the account of benefit of, persons in the United States or
U.S. Persons.
Forward Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking
information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
legislation. All statements in this news release, other than
statements of historical fact, that address events or developments
that Giyani expects to occur, are "forward-looking statements".
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical
facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words
"expects", "does not expect", "plans", "anticipates", "does not
anticipate", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects",
"potential", "scheduled", "forecast", "budget" and similar
expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may",
"could", "should" or "might" occur.
Such statements include without limitation: the
Company the ongoing construction, commissioning and operation of
the Demo Plant, installation of additional Process Modules, design
and finalization of the lab, and timing thereof, completion and
timing of the DFS or at all.
All such forward-looking statements are based on
the opinions and estimates of the relevant management as of the
date such statements are made and are subject to certain
assumptions, important risk factors and uncertainties, many of
which are beyond Giyani's ability to control or predict.
Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and
assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. In the case of Giyani, these facts include anticipated
operations in future periods, planned exploration and development
of its properties, and plans related to its business and other
matters that may occur in the future. This information relates to
analyses and other information that is based on expectations of
future performance and planned work programs.
Forward-looking information is subject to a
variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which could cause actual events or results to differ from those
expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including,
without limitation: inherent exploration hazards and risks; risks
related to exploration and development of natural resource
properties; uncertainty in Giyani's ability to obtain funding;
commodity price fluctuations; recent market events and conditions;
risks related to the uncertainty of Mineral Resource calculations
and the inclusion of Inferred Mineral Resources in economic
estimation; risks related to governmental regulations; risks
related to obtaining necessary licences and permits; risks related
to Giyani's business being subject to environmental laws and
regulations; risks related to the Company's mineral properties
being subject to prior unregistered agreements, transfers, or
claims and other defects in title; risks relating to competition
from larger companies with greater financial and technical
resources; risks relating to the inability to meet financial
obligations under agreements to which they are a party; ability to
recruit and retain qualified personnel; and risks related to the
Company's directors and officers becoming associated with other
natural resource companies which may give rise to conflicts of
interests. This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may
affect Giyani's forward-looking information. Should one or more of
these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially
from those described in the forward-looking information or
statements.
Giyani's forward-looking information is based on
the reasonable beliefs, expectations and opinions of the Company's
respective management on the date the statements are made, and
Giyani does not assume any obligation to update forward looking
information if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations
or opinions change, except as required by law. For the reasons set
forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking information. For a complete discussion with respect
to Giyani and risks associated with forward-looking information and
forward-looking statements, please refer to Giyani's continuous
disclosure documents which are filed on SEDAR+ at
www.sedarplus.ca.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at
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https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d12ea39d-ecae-4303-aa17-fbd31dbb6ac1
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