American Manganese hails optimization tests, which have lifted processing capacity at its pilot plant

American Manganese Inc (CVE:AMY) (OTCPINK:AMYZF) has reported highly positive news on the development of its recycling pilot plant after engineering work that has increased its processing capacity. In May this year, the firm announced the launch by its contractor Kemetco of optimization tests in a bid to upgrade the plant, which extracts cathode materials, such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, and manganese at battery-grade purity from spent batteries. READ: American Manganese launches pilot plant optimization tests in bid to increase capacity and reduce costs "As a result of the upgrades, the pilot plant capacity was successfully increased from 64 kg/day to 160 kg/day, without sacrificing the recovery potential of cobalt, lithium, nickel, manganese, and aluminum," American Manganese said in a statement on Tuesday. Larry Reaugh, CEO of American Manganese, hailed the upgrade: "I'm impressed with the increase in production capacity that we have achieved with our pilot plant project because at 160 kg/day we are advancing towards commercial recycling potential. "Although the pilot plant will not be used for commercial production, it gives me confidence in our ability to scale up to our planned commercial processing capacity of 3 tonnes/day." Further optimization work is now ongoing in a bid to increase pulp density and processing capacity further. The optimization findings and ongoing testing will be included in the detailed engineering of the already announced conceptual commercial plant layout. Significantly, this could potentially reduce the future costs of commercial recycling plants. American Manganese hopes to commercialize its tech via licensing or joint venture agreements and plans to locate the recycling plant in a strategic location within North America. There the group will prepare recycled products suitable for battery manufacturing. Contact the author at giles@proactiveinvestors.com