Posted on 16 Sep 2025
Australian manganese miner Element 25 (E25) has secured firm commitments to raise AUD 10 million ($6.65m) in a share placement to fund the expansion of its Butcherbird manganese project in Western Australia.
The company will issue 36.32m shares at AUD 0.28 per share, representing a 16.4% discount to its last close. It is expected to settle on 18 September.
The placement follows an AUD 50m senior debt facility that the Perth-based miner secured from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF) in June.
Under the expansion project, E25 plans to expand Butcherbird’s manganese production threefold to 1.1 million tonnes/year of manganese oxide concentrate. This will then be used as feedstock for its planned battery-grade, high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) processing facility in Louisiana, US, Kallanish understands.
Earlier this year, the company was awarded $166m in grant funding by the US Department of Energy for the construction of its US plant. Offtake partners General Motors and Stellantis have also committed an additional $115m. The refinery is expected to produce up to 135,000 tonnes/year of HPMSM at full capacity.
“Expanding Butcherbird is an important part of our strategy to produce HPMSM, with our first facility planned for Louisiana, US,” comments E25 managing director, Justin Brown.
Element 25 is betting on the increased demand for manganese from a potential shift of battery chemistry towards lithium manganese rich (LMR), instead of high nickel cathodes. LMR battery cells use around 50-70% manganese, compared to just about 10% in high nickel battery cells, according to the company.
Source:Kallanish
