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Image used for illustrative purpose. A worker works at the Lauzoua manganese mine, some 180 km (112 miles) from Abidjan December 4, 2013. Ivory Coast aims to quadruple its manganese production to around 1 million tonnes of ore within three years, boosted by new investments from the China National Geological and Mining Corporation (CGM), Ivorian state miner Sodemi said on January 10, 2014. The West African nation, the world's top cocoa grower, is pushing to develop its long-neglected mining sector as part of efforts to diversify the economy as it recovers from a decade-long political crisis. Having signed a partnership agreement with Sodemi in 2009, CGM has reopened the previously abandoned Lauzoua mine and in April last year extracted the first manganese, a metal used in the production of steel. Picture taken December 4, 2013. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon
Elcora Advanced Materials Corporation, a Canada-based vertically integrated graphite and graphene company, said the Moroccan government granted a manganese exploitation license to its wholly owned subsidiary Ermazon SARL.
The license will allow Elcora to mine, extract, process and sell manganese from its 16 square kilometre mining concession - Atlas Fox Deposit - in Morocco, the company said in a statement.
The mining method will initially be open pit, with the production potential run rate at the Atlas Fox Deposit being approximately 2,500 metric tonnes per month.
Elcora CEO Troy Grant said that using manganese not only provides a solution for renewable energy storage but has the potential to create new jobs and stimulate local economic growth.
“The extraction and processing of manganese requires specialised skills and technology, and the development of manganese-based batteries has the potential to create new industries driving Elcora’s growth,” he added.
In November 2022, Elcora announced positive lab test results for its 12 assays from its Ermazon manganese concession in Morocco.
Elcora’s local Moroccan team is working on getting the final government requirements with plans to start production before the end of 2022, the statement added.
The Atlas Fox Deposit had been mined until the mid-fifties when the French rule in Morocco ended, leaving on-site about 40 extracted manganese ore piles and numerous surface veins and pits.
Read more: Elcora to start manganese mining in Morocco by year-end
(Writing by P Deol; Editing by Anoop Menon)
