Mkango Announces Grant Funded HyproMag Project to Develop Germany's First Rare Earth Magnet Recycling HPMS Plant with First Production Targeted for 2024

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / November 24, 2022 / CoTec Holdings Corp. (TSXV:CTH) ("CoTec") is pleased to report that one of its investments, Mkango Resources Ltd. ("Mkango"), announced on November 23, 2022 that HyProMag GmbH, partially owned by Mkango, was awarded grants totalling EUR$3.7 million to further fund the development of infrastructure and recycled NdFeB production capacity to underpin its transition to commercial production in Germany.

Initial production capacity is expected to be a minimum of 100tpa NdFeB, comprising of recycled rare earth sintered magnets, alloy pellets and powders and will be the first in Germany using the patented HPMS (Hydrogen Processing of Magnet Scraps) process. First production is targeted for 2024.

HyProMag GmbH is 80% owned by HyProMag Limited (42% Mkango), which is developing a similar sized recycling plant at Tyseley Energy Plant in the UK together with the University of Birmingham, with first production targeted for 2023.

The total grant of EUR$3.7 million is comprised of a EUR$2.5 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund and a EUR$1.2 million grant from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism Baden-Württemberg. The total cost of the project is expected to be EUR$6.1 million, of which approximately 60% will be funded by the grants.

HyProMag GmbH was established to commercialise HPMS technology in Germany and the EU, and to further support Government initiatives to strengthen European rare earth supply chains and accelerate the green transition, and the project is a major milestone in fulfilment of this strategy.

"We are very pleased with this positive development for the Mkango Group. This is a strong validation of its technology. We are looking forward to working with them in the rare earth space in the USA.", said Julian Treger, CoTec CEO.

William Dawes, CEO of Mkango stated: "This grant is an exciting milestone for Mkango, HyProMag GmbH, HyProMag Limited, which significantly enhances the group's production pipeline, targeting first production in the UK in 2023 and Germany in 2024, with North America developed in parallel. We envisage that the recycling of rare earth magnets will play a key role in the development of robust supply chains to catalyse and support growth in the electric vehicle sector and in other clean technologies.