American Manganese Receives U.S. Patent for Manganese Extraction Process

  • Thursday, June 13, 2013
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  • Keywords:EMM,Mn,manganese
[Fellow]the Company has received the "US Patent No. 846068
[Ferro-alloys.com]Larry W. Reaugh, Chief Executive Officer of American Manganese Inc. ("American Manganese" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AMY)(PINKSHEETS:AMYZF)(FRANKFURT:2AM), reports that the Company has received the "US Patent No. 8460681" from the United States Patent and Trade Mark Office for the Company's manganese recovery process. This patent is a significant milestone for the Company as the invention is now secured as a key asset that can be exclusively capitalized." The invention is a technical break-through as it enables the recovery of manganese from a low grade resource with significantly less energy and environmental impact than conventional processing methods. The U.S. Bureau of mines (USBM) developed the frame work of the process from the 1940's to 1980 but they were never able to make it economically viable. Kemetco Research Inc. successfully completed the process to demonstrate it can complete with other electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) and electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) producers in the lower percentile of costs for producers anywhere in the world.
 
The patent describes key details of how manganese can be recovered from a low grade resource with the following key advantages: Low energy requirement., Low water use., Robust process with a unique assembly of commercially available equipment.
 
"The hydrometallurgical process developed by the Company is capable of producing high purity electrolytic manganese dioxide (EMD) and chemical manganese dioxide (CMD) critical for improving performance and safety of high tech lithium ion batteries. The invention by-passes steps known to introduce metallic impurities when producing these materials using conventional mining processes. Norman Chow, President of Kemetco Research states, "Conventional mining processes used to produce manganese dioxide for lithium ion batteries are known to contaminate cathode materials with metallic impurities. These impurities can cause internal short circuits after a number of charge/discharge cycles, which will by-pass any protection circuits, and unfortunately can lead to fires or explosions." i.e.: electric vehicles, laptops, cellphones etc."
 
High purity manganese dioxide is combined with lithium carbonate to form the cathode material used in the "spinel" type high tech lithium ion rechargeable battery.
 
The Company is applying to register the patent in other countries which may be able to adopt American Manganese's process on contract from the Company. The patent for China has already been applied for.
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