Montreal-based Manganese X Energy will advance its pilot plant project after completing its Battery Hill manganese project preliminary economic assessment.

The Battery Hill project is in New Brunswick. The PEA estimates a 40-year mine life for a total production of 3.2 million tonnes of high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM).

The company will work with Kemetco Research in Vancouver to determine which options Manganese X will use in building the plant.

Manganese X will also need to select an engineering company to design the field pilot plant. The plant will determine whether Manganese X's process can be scaled to a commercial level, using modular design.

"Currently there is zero manganese mining in Canada and the U.S.," chief executive Martin Kepman said. Electric vehicle production is forecast to need significant amounts of manganese, he said.

"Our Battery Hill manganese project and its corresponding long economic life cycle will help to mitigate this deficit down the road."

In February, Manganese X Energy completed its third metallurgical test for simplifying manganese.

Testwork, conducted by Kemetco, eliminated one of the two major purification steps for manganese, and was able to produce final crystal products of calcium and magnesium with contaminants at low levels.