Sovereign Metals (ASX: SVM) (LON: SVML) has reached a major milestone by confirmed the battery-quality of the graphite concentrate to be mined at its Kasiya rutile-graphite project in Malawi.

The Australian company said the coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG) anode material produced at Kasiya was an “excellent feedstock” for anode materials, which presented a low-cost opportunity to develop lithium-ion battery supply chains outside of China.

The mining exploration and development company, in which Rio Tinto (ASX, LON: RIO) has a 19.76% interest, said the product had performance characteristics comparable only to “the highest quality” natural graphite battery material produced by dominant Chinese anode manufacturers.

The high purity, near perfect crystallinity, and low levels of impurities in the natural flake from the Kasiya orebody contributed to the positive results, according to Sovereign Metals.

These attributes, the company noted, contribute to longer battery life, minimize loss of lithium in the battery charging cycle and offer high electrical storage capacity, demonstrating the high quality of the feedstock.

“These results confirm that Kasiya graphite concentrate will be an excellent anode material feedstock to the battery industry,” managing director Frank Egar said. “Not only is the weathered, saprolite-hosted graphite easy to purify to very high-grades, the anode material produced meets the industry specifications”.

Further optimization test work will take place at a pilot-scale facility in South Africa.

Sovereign Metals has also launched a program to evaluate the potential of Kasiya concentrate for use in traditional refractories and foundry applications. The initiative will utilize the coarse fraction of the concentrate produced at the pilot plant, marking a significant step in testing the material’s suitability for these industrial purposes.

Source: MINING.COM – Read More