Mkango Resources Ltd. (AIM/TSX-V: MKA) (the "Company" or "Mkango")
is pleased to announce the launch and provide further details of
the Innovate UK grant funded project, “Rare-Earth Recycling for
E-Machines” (“RaRE” or the “Project”) in which HyProMag Limited
(“HyProMag”) is a partner. Mkango’s subsidiary, Maginito Limited
(“Maginito”), holds a 25% equity interest in HyProMag.
RaRE will for the first time establish an end to
end supply chain to incorporate recycled rare earth magnets into
electric vehicles, whereby recycled magnets will be built into an
ancillary electric motor to ultimately support the development of a
commercial ancillary motor suite.
Fundamental to the Project is a patented process
for extracting and demagnetising neodymium iron boron (“NdFeB”)
alloy powders from magnets embedded in scrap and redundant
equipment named HPMS (Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap),
originally developed within the Magnetic Materials Group (“MMG”) at
the University of Birmingham (“UoB”) and subsequently licenced to
HyProMag. In addition to HyProMag and UoB, the Project features a
strong set of partners with complementary expertise:
- Advanced Electric Machines Research Limited - extensive
experience in designing motors for customers including Airbus and
Tevva Motors
- Bentley Motors Limited - an iconic automotive brand and part of
the VW Group, one of the world’s largest car manufacturers
- Intelligent Lifecycle Solutions Limited - a global leader in
the processing of electronics waste working with Fortune 500
companies and UK government agencies
- Unipart Powertrain Applications Limited - one of the largest UK
based Tier 1 automotive partners and a recognised volume automotive
supplier able to supply globally
The total budget for RaRE is £2.6 million, of
which Innovate UK will fund £1.9 million with Project partners
funding the £0.7 million balance. HyProMag’s contribution will be
fully funded from the £300,000 investment made by Maginito in
January 2020.
William Dawes, Chief Executive of Mkango
stated: “We are very excited about this innovative project
and the opportunity to scale up and commercialise the HPMS
technology. We envisage that recycling of rare earth magnets will
play a key role in the development of robust supply chains to
catalyse and support growth in the electric vehicle sector and in
other clean technologies. Further building on our platform within
the circular economy and downstream markets is a key component of
our strategy, underpinned by the sustainable development of the
Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi.”
Daniel Mamadou, Executive Director of
Talaxis stated: “We are excited to see this project
progress to its next phase and welcome the support of all partners
involved. With the increasing need for sustainably sourced
commodities, RaRE highlights the role that closed loops chains can
play in rare earths supply, to meet the environmental and economic
demands of the growing electric vehicle market. As an early
participant in this project, we look forward to continuing to
support the development of the rare earth recycling industry going
forward, in parallel with the Songwe Hill rare earths project in
Malawi.”
Nick Mann, Operations General Manager of
HyProMag stated: “RaRE is an exciting project and a
fantastic opportunity to prove the importance and worth of short
loop recycled magnetic material. NdFeB magnets are essential
for many future technologies, and the emerging electric vehicle
market is of increasing importance. Being involved at this
level means we not only get to work with and supply recycled
magnets to some of the most innovative and globally recognised
companies, but also allows us to influence the design of products
with the aim of making recycling a better option in the future. I
believe this is industry, technology, recycling and innovation
working together at its impressive best.”
RaRE Project
Building on work completed at the UoB to devise
a method to extract magnets from waste electronics, HyProMag will
scale up the HPMS process and re-process the product back into new
magnetic materials at pilot scale to demonstrate the quality of
material which can be produced in terms of its magnetic behaviour,
mechanical performance and corrosion resistance, all of which are
key to the end user application. Intelligent Lifecycle Solutions
will establish the scrap sorting process to maximise process
efficiency and rare earth material volumes.
The recycled magnets will be built into an
ancillary electric motor designed by Advanced Electric Machines
Research to a Bentley Motors specification and focused on reducing
the overall complexity of electrical systems in electric vehicles
and designed with recycling in mind. This will be the first time
that such a recycled motor will have been demonstrated. Unipart
will take this motor design and use it as the core focus for the
design of a flexible volume motor assembly line suitable for
production volumes of 100,000 units per year.
Innovate UK will fund £1.9 million of the £2.6
million total Project costs with the balance funded by the Project
partners. In the case of HyProMag, Innovate UK will contribute
£657,717 and HyProMag will contribute £281,879. HyProMag’s
contribution will be fully funded from the investment by Maginito
in HyProMag announced on January 10, 2020, whereby Maginito
invested £300,000 for a 25% equity interest in HyProMag and
provided a £200,000 convertible loan facility, now fully drawn.
Maginito has an option to increase its interest
to up to 49% in HyProMag and the first right to supply primary
production from Songwe Hill, if required, for blending with
recycled production from HyProMag, as well as product offtake and
marketing rights.
Maginito is 75.5% owned by Mkango, which is
completing a Feasibility Study for the Songwe Hill rare earths
project in Malawi, and 24.5% owned by Talaxis Limited (“Talaxis”),
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Noble Group Holdings Limited
(“Noble”), which is focused on investment in and development of
technology metal opportunities.
About HyProMag
The Magnetic Materials Group within the School
of Metallurgy at the University of Birmingham has been active in
the field of rare earth alloys and processing of permanent magnets
using hydrogen for over 40 years. Originated by Professor Rex
Harris, the hydrogen decrepitation method, which is used to reduce
NdFeB alloys to a powder, is now ubiquitously employed in worldwide
magnet processing.
In a further development, the MMG patented a
process for extracting and demagnetising NdFeB powders from magnets
embedded in redundant equipment using hydrogen in a process called
HPMS (Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scrap). This patent and related
intellectual property is at the core of HyProMag’s business. The
MMG continues to develop new research and development
opportunities, cooperates widely in Europe, including a major EU
project, SusMagPro, which is also focused on recycling of magnets.
The directors of HyProMag all provide their expertise to the MMG
and there is potential for HyProMag to gain possible future access
to new intellectual property.
HyProMag’s strategy is to establish a recycling
facility for NdFeB magnets at Tyseley in Birmingham to provide a
sustainable solution for the supply of NdFeB magnets and alloy
powders for a wide range of markets including, for example,
automotive and electronics. A number of product options are being
evaluated including hydrogen decrepitated (HD) demagnetised powders
suitable for magnet producers, alloy ingot remelted from HD powders
suitable for alloy feed or magnet production, anisotropic alloy
powders (HDDR) for bonded magnets and sintered NdFeB magnets as
required by the RaRE project for automotive applications.
The founding directors of HyProMag, comprising
Professor Emeritus Rex Harris, former Head of the MMG, Professor
Allan Walton, current Head of the MMG, and two Honorary Fellows, Dr
John Speight and Mr David Kennedy, are leading world experts in the
field of rare earth magnetic materials, alloys and hydrogen
technology, and have significant industry experience. Following the
investment by Maginito, HyProMag appointed William Dawes, a
Director of Maginito and Chief Executive Officer of Mkango, to the
Board of HyProMag.
For more information, please
visit https://hypromag.com/
About Mkango
Mkango's primary business is exploration for
rare earth elements and associated minerals in the Republic of
Malawi, a country whose hospitable people have earned it a
reputation as “the warm heart of Africa”. The Company holds
interests in four exclusive prospecting licenses in Malawi: the
Phalombe licence, the Thambani licence, the Chimimbe Hill licence
and the Mchinji licence.
The main exploration target in the 51% held
Phalombe licence is the Songwe Hill rare earths deposit. This
features carbonatite-hosted rare earth mineralisation and was
subject to previous exploration in the late 1980s. Mkango completed
an updated Pre-Feasibility Study for the project in November 2015
and a Feasibility Study is currently underway, the initial phases
of which included a 10,900 metre drilling programme and an updated
mineral resource estimate, announced in February 2019. In March
2019, the Company announced receipt of a £7 million (C$12.3
million) investment from Talaxis to fund completion of the
Feasibility Study. Following completion of the Feasibility Study,
Talaxis has an option to acquire a further 26% interest in Songwe
by arranging financing for project development including funding
the equity component thereof.
The main exploration targets in Mkango’s
remaining three 100% held licences are, in the Thambani licence,
uranium, niobium, tantalum and zircon, in the Chimimbe Hill
licence, nickel and cobalt, and in the Mchinji licence, rutile,
nickel, cobalt, base metals and graphite.
Mkango also holds a 75.5% interest in Maginito
with the balance owned by Talaxis. Maginito is focused on
downstream opportunities relating to the rare earths supply chain,
in particular, recycling and other innovative technologies for the
production of neodymium alloy powders and magnets used in electric
vehicles, wind turbines and other industries geared to
decarbonisation of the economy.
For more information, please visit
www.mkango.ca.
About Talaxis
Founded in 2016, Talaxis is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Noble Group Holdings Limited and invests in and
develops projects that are related to technology metals, with a
special focus on rare earth elements. Talaxis focuses on battery
and electric vehicle materials such as nickel, lithium, graphite
and vanadium. Talaxis has supply chain partners in the upstream and
midstream segments, and also focuses on research and development
solutions for industrial consumers in the downstream segment.
Talaxis prioritises sustainable ventures with a strong emphasis on
corporate social responsibility. These include projects that
contribute to the decarbonisation of the economy and that are
aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
For more information, please visit
www.talaxis.com.
Market Abuse Regulation (MAR)
Disclosure
Certain information contained in this
announcement may have been deemed inside information for the
purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the
release of this announcement.
Cautionary Note Regarding
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking
statements (within the meaning of that term under applicable
securities laws) with respect to Mkango, its business and the
Project. Generally, forward looking statements can be identified by
the use of words such as “plans”, “expects” or “is expected”,
“scheduled”, “estimates” “intends”, “anticipates”, “believes”, or
variations of such words and phrases, or statements that certain
actions, events or results “can”, “may”, “could”, “would”,
“should”, “might” or “will”, occur or be achieved, or the negative
connotations thereof. Forward looking statements in this news
release include statements with respect to the global market for
rare earth metals the Company is exploring for, completion of the
feasibility study for Songwe, investments by Maginito in Hypromag
contemplated in the agreement between Maginito and HyProMag and of
the plans and results with respect to the Project, as well as plans
for Tyseley and first commercial sales from Tyseley. Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions
or expectations upon which they are based will occur. By their
nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions,
known and unknown risks and uncertainties, both general and
specific, that contribute to the possibility that the predictions,
forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will
not occur, which may cause actual performance and results in future
periods to differ materially from any estimates or projections of
future performance or results expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, without
limiting the foregoing, governmental action relating to COVID-19,
COVID-19 and other market effects on global demand for the metals
and associated downstream products for which Mkango is exploring,
researching and developing, the positive results of a feasibility
study on the Project and delays in obtaining financing or
governmental or stock exchange approvals. The forward-looking
statements contained in this news release are made as of the date
of this news release. Except as required by law, the Company
disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or
revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise, except as required by
applicable law. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation
to comment on the expectations of, or statements made by, third
parties in respect of the matters discussed above.
For further information on Mkango,
please contact:
Mkango Resources Limited |
William Dawes |
Alexander Lemon |
Chief Executive Officer |
President |
will@mkango.ca |
alex@mkango.ca |
Canada: +1 403 444 5979 |
|
www.mkango.ca@MkangoResources
BlytheweighFinancial Public
RelationsTim Blythe, Camilla HorsfallUK: +44 207 138 3204
SP Angel Corporate Finance
LLPNominated Adviser and Joint BrokerJeff Keating,
Caroline RoweUK: +44 20 3470 0470
Alternative Resource
CapitalJoint BrokerAlex Wood, Rob CollinsUK: +44 20 7186
9004; +44 20 7186 9001
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither
approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
This press release does not constitute an offer
to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any equity or other
securities of the Company in the United States. The securities of
the Company will not be registered under the United States
Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) and
may not be offered or sold within the United States to, or for the
account or benefit of, U.S. persons except in certain transactions
exempt from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities
Act.
Mkango Resources (TSXV:MKA)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2024 to May 2024
Mkango Resources (TSXV:MKA)
Historical Stock Chart
From May 2023 to May 2024