Mangan Chvaletice, a fully owned subsidiary of battery materials company Euro Manganese, has secured the Determination of Mining Lease permit for the Chvaletice Manganese project in the Czech Republic.

This project is claimed to be “the only sizeable resource of manganese in the European Union”.

Effective from 23 January 2025, the permit, granted by the District Mining Authority for the regions of Hradec Králové, Pardubice, Liberec and Vysočina, consolidates all previous authorisations and has no expiry date.

It provides Mangan Chvaletice with exclusive, unrestricted rights to mineral extraction and “robust” legal protection within the designated project area for the project’s next phases.

The Chvaletice Project represents a “unique” waste-to-value recycling and remediation initiative. It involves the reprocessing of old tailings from a decommissioned mine, transforming waste into valuable resources.

This project aims to supply critical raw materials to battery supply chains, supporting the global transition towards a circular, low-carbon economy.

Euro Manganese interim CEO Martina Blahova said: "The granting of the mining lease for the project marks another significant milestone for Euro Manganese. This achievement highlights a successful collaboration between Euro Manganese, federal and regional regulators and host communities, underscoring a shared commitment to the project’s progress.

“A key asset for company, the permit grants exclusive, unrestricted legal rights to extract mineral resources with no expiration date. This brings Euro Manganese closer to establishing a commercial-scale facility for the production of high-purity manganese – an essential material for the transition to a greener economy and the global effort to decarbonise our planet.”

Euro Manganese secured $100m (C$143.28m) in non-dilutive financing from OMRF (BK) for the Chvaletice manganese project in November 2023.