Mr. Larry Reaugh reports

AMERICAN MANGANESE INC. ADVANCES ITS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PROGRAM DEVELOPING NEW IP FOR STREAMLINING THE EXISTING LITHIUM ION BATTERY RECYCLING PROCESS

American Manganese Inc. has been progressively advancing technology for recycling lithium-ion batteries that will further strengthen its intellectual property (IP) portfolio.

Since initiating the company's IP development program, the company has focused its work on two sources of material that is collected in large commercial quantities. One is a cathode scrap sourced out of the United States and the other is ground active materials from a lithium-ion battery recycler in Europe.

Using cathode scraps, the company is developing innovative technology to separate aluminum foil from the active cathode material. This technology incorporates a proprietary hydrometallurgical pretreatment that separates the active material along with the polymer battery separator from the aluminum foil. A novel proprietary hydrodynamic process has been developed to separate aluminum foils from the active cathode material, thus allowing the aluminum from cathode scraps to be separated for recycling and enabling the active material to be treated with the company's hydrometallurgical cathode recycling process for recovering cathode metals such as lithium, nickel, manganese and cobalt.

The company expects to complete this phase of the IP development program in June, 2018, at which time it will file for a provisional patent application on this technology.

"The new IP under development aims to capture additional valuable components while being able to process a wide range of feedstock that is sourced from different lithium-ion battery recyclers," said Larry Reaugh, chief executive officer of American Manganese. In the treatment of active materials from the European lithium-ion battery recycler, the material was previously produced by disassembly of battery packs, heat treatment of the battery cells, mechanical grinding, sifting and mechanical separation to produce a concentrate of active materials from lithium-ion batteries. American Manganese has developed a novel pretreatment step that separates most of the fluoride (originating from the electrolyte) from this material. The pretreatment was also discovered to recover approximately 80 per cent of the lithium as a high-purity product. Innovative steps are now being investigated for separation of graphite from the concentrate.

American Manganese endeavours to further expand and strengthen its IP portfolio to capitalize on the rapidly growing demand for raw materials for manufacturing rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. At the initiation of the new IP development program in March, 2018, cobalt prices were $81,000 (U.S.)/tonne. On April 20, 2018, cobalt reached $91,500 (U.S.)/tonne.

The proprietary techniques developed will provide valuable information for the design of the pilot plant to treat end-of-life materials that are currently collected in large commercial quantities.

About American Manganese Inc.

American Manganese is a diversified specialty and critical metal company focused on capitalizing on its patented intellectual property through low-cost production or recovery of electrolytic manganese products throughout the world, and recycling of spent electric vehicle lithium-ion rechargeable batteries.

Interest in the company's patented process has adjusted the focus of American Manganese toward the examination of applying its patented technology for other purposes and materials. American Manganese aims to capitalize on its patented technology and proprietary know-how to become the industry leader in recycling spent electric vehicle lithium-ion batteries and recovering 100 per cent of the cathode metals such as: lithium-cobalt, lithium-cobalt-nickel-manganese, lithium-cobalt-aluminum and lithium-manganese (please see the company's March 27, 2018, business plan for further details).

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