Could you introduce Giyani to our readers?

Giyani is a TSXV-listed company developing a battery-grade manganese project in Botswana. On our 2,000 km2 license area in the country we have four at or near surface manganese oxide deposits: our flagship K.Hill, Otse, Lobatse and Mokopane. Following the competition of our PFS in 2022, we increased our resource base by 310%, so in 2023 we decided to complete a PEA to reflect that dramatic increase. Currently, we are working on a DFS to be released in 2025. The initial PFS showed a relatively conservative mine life of 13 years, but since we have tripled our resource the 2023 PEA grew the mine life to nearly 60 years. We completed an infill drilling programme in 2024 to upgrade a portion of the resource from an indicated to a measured category, aiming to cover the tenure of any project financing debt. The DFS will include the updated mineral resource, but also other operational material changes, including the switch to solar energy with an updated life-cycle assessment showing reduced carbon content in our product, as well as an optimized flow sheet to reduce the use of reagents and the removal of hydrofluoric acid. The mining license, environmental authorization and surface rights for the mining area are in place. Our demonstration plant to produce high-purity manganese sulfate monohydrate (HPMSM) or more commonly referred to as battery-grade manganese, is ready to make first product. 

Could you explain the role of manganese in both LFP and NMC battery technologies?

Manganese is becoming a big part of the battery landscape. In the lithium-ion-phosphate (LFP) battery space, the addition of manganese to form LFMP batteries increases energy density by up to 20% which is proving very beneficial for increasing the the range of EVs, while in the nickel-manganese-cobalt (NMC) chemistry, there is a drive to reduce both nickel and cobalt. Nickel because it has a very high carbon content and is dominantly reliant on Indonesia for the ore and on China for processing, and cobalt because it is again concentrated in DRC supply and Chinese refining, but also because the prices for both have been very volatile and are consistently a lot higher than manganese. For these reasons and others related to the Inflation Reduction Act in the US and the EU Critical Raw Materials Act, which limit the amount of critical minerals that can be sourced from countries like China, higher-manganese chemistry batteries are coming to the forefront of both technology camps. 

Where are you today in terms of financing?

Early this year we announced US$26 million in financing, of which US$16 million came as a convertible loan facility from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) of South Africa, and another US$10 million from UK-based private equity group ARCH, in the form of royalty and equity. 

What makes Giyani a good investment?

First is our location. Botswana is ranked at the top of the Fraser Institute in Africa for a reason. We received both the environmental authorization and the mining license within nine months since submittal, when it takes a lot longer in most other parts of the world. Our ore bodies also make for a very straightforward project. We have at surface, already weathered, low-impurity manganese oxide deposits that can be leached using our proprietary process to obtain battery grade purity material of 99.97% purity. This process is the heart of Giyani. Giyani is perfectly positioned for the ex-China manganese demand. We have the right team and the right product in the right jurisdictions to get our product to the market quickly, and timed to start producing when the manganese demand is forecast to increase significantly, roughly from 2027 onwards.