Manganese

SMM's weekly silicomanganese review puts SiMn 6517 cash prices at roughly 5,700-5,800 yuan per tonne across north and south China. Persistently weak steel-linked demand is keeping the manganese alloy market drifting sideways at low levels.

Mining Weekly profiles Giyani Metals' K.Hill mine-to-market project in Botswana's Kanye basin, which a May 2026 feasibility study sized at about $535-million in capital cost to produce high-purity manganese sulphate for EV batteries over a roughly 25-year life. Construction is slated to begin in April 2027 with first ore targeted for March 2029.

Element 25 has signed a binding take-or-pay offtake agreement with OM Materials covering all manganese concentrate from its Butcherbird mine in Western Australia, running an initial five years from first shipment with pricing tied to international manganese ore benchmarks. The company is targeting about 1.1-million tonnes of concentrate output a year.