Mining company South32 Ltd (ASX:S32) has received a US$166 million grant from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for development of its Clark deposit, which is on-track to produce battery-grade manganese for the North American electric vehicle (EV) market. Clark – which is part of South32’s wider Hermosa project in Arizona – is right now the most advanced of all projects of this kind in the country, progressing quickly towards production of this material from locally sourced ore. In line with this, South32 aims to focus its efforts on development of a commercial-scale manganese production facil…