KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 4): OM Holdings Ltd (KL:OMH) has secured a long-term supply of manganese concentrate from a mine in western Australia for its downstream operations.

The smelting company will purchase the entire output from the Butcherbird Mine capped at about 1.1 million tonnes annually, according to a statement from the supplier Element 25 Ltd. The binding agreement is for an initial five-year term with the option to extend for another five years.

OM Holdings will buy the concentrate based on a “market-linked pricing mechanism aligned to global manganese ore benchmarks”, Element 25 said.

Manganese is mainly used as a key agent to remove impurities and reinforce steel, and as a component in batteries for electric vehicles.

The concentrates will go to OM Holdings’ smelting facilities in Malaysia. OM Holdings also gets exclusive global marketing rights for conforming product, with limited carve-outs for non-conforming material and Element 25’s own downstream processing requirements in the initial years.