Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited has welcomed the reopening of the La Paz to Arica Railway line in May 2021.
The company’s Los Pumas Manganese EV Battery Project is located adjacent to the line in Northern Chile, and the logistical benefits of access to the railway feeding down to the port of Arica are significant in transporting resources from project to port (currently approx. 175km by road).
RailJournal.com reported the reuse of the line last month which had been closed since November 2005:
Work has taken place over the past two years between FCALP and Arica Port Company (EPA) along with Chilean State Railways (EFE), to reactivate the line, with the pilot on May 5 the culmination of these efforts.
The first train is hauling 480 tonnes of imported steel on the outbound leg of the journey and will return with 480 tonnes of soya.
The railway is adjacent to the Los Pumas location and is now accessible for the first time in 15 years. RailSouthAmerica.com posted this history of the railway line in February 2021.
Last week Southern Hemisphere Mining presented its EV Battery Market plans for Los Pumas, which is 100% SUH owned and has a mineral resource estimate of 23.7Mt @ 7.81% Mn (4% Mn COG) – (ASX release 25 March 2011 – Resources & ASX 2 February 2011 – PEA).
With the company pushing into the EV Battery Market, the use of the La Paz-Arica Railway provides an excellent logistical option for transporting the project’s resources to the EV battery supply line.
Manganese is the fourth most used metal on earth in terms of tonnage and the electrification of the global vehicle fleet requires vast amounts of cathode materials – and batteries are trending toward higher manganese content for safer, more cost-effective solutions.
- SUH is engaging technical specialists to guide process and development option studies for the use of Los Pumas ore in Nickel Cobalt Manganese (NCM) batteries or similar, aimed at the EV market.
- SUH target is to provide manganese ores to produce High Purity Manganese Sulphate Monohydrate (HPMSM).
- Manganese is used in the vast majority of NCM batteries. HPMSM is currently the lowest cost NCM cathode metal and lowers the cost of batteries.
- SUH strives to produce Zero Carbon Manganese for HPMSM or similar.
News Release
Date: 7 June 2021 | ASX Code: SUH
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Southern Hemisphere Mining Limited is a successful copper-gold explorer in Chile, the world’s leading copper producing country and one of the most prospective regions of the world for major new copper discoveries.
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