Element25 (ASX:E25,OTCQX:ELMTF) said on Wednesday (April 2) that it has finished a scoping study for its planned Tokyo Bay high-purity manganese sulphate monohydrate (HPMSM) facility in Japan.

The study was completed as part of Element25's memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Nissan Chemical (TSE:4021) and its subsidiary, NC Tokyo Bay. It confirms the facility's feasibility, with no fatal flaws detected.

Factors included in the study were permitting, logistics, reagent supply and labour, plus capital and operating costs. The facility is set to be located at an existing site owned by NC Tokyo Bay in Chiba prefecture, Japan.

The companies now plan to make a more detailed investigation of the project.

They are targeting a final investment decision by June 2026, and their MOU outlines a variety of steps that will help them determine their path forward, including the finalisation of offtake deals and project financing.

Independently, Element25 has been making progress at its first HPMSM facility in Louisiana, US. The facility is planned to encompass 230,00 square feet with annual production of 71,650 tonnes of HPMSM.

In September 2024, the Louisiana facility was selected to receive a US$166 million grant from the US Department of Energy’s Battery Materials Processing Grant Program. This money was on top of US$115 million that Element25 has secured from offtake partners General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Stellantis (NYSE:STLA). According to the company, the facility will be one of the first HPMSM-producing commercial facilities in the US, reducing the country’s reliance on China.

Earlier this year, Element25 also secured approval to expand its Western Australian Butcherbird manganese mine.

The company said all other required approvals and access agreements, such as water abstraction, heritage clearances, Native Title and pastoral agreements, are in place and established from Stage 1 operations at Butcherbird.

Once everything is in place, manganese ore from Butcherbird will be shipped to the HPMSM facility in Louisiana.

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Securities Disclosure: I, Gabrielle de la Cruz, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.