The repair bill at one of the world’s most lucrative manganese businesses has climbed beyond $171 million after South32 and Anglo American quietly pumped more money into their damaged Groote Eylandt operation off the Northern Territory coast.

The two diversified miners are expected to confirm this week that they have injected another $96.3 million into Groote as part of efforts to recover from the damage and disruption caused by a catastrophic storm in March.