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Murray Ward
Sarytogan Graphite has reached a major milestone in its downstream processing ambitions, producing high-quality, battery-grade coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG) that smashed key industry specifications for use in lithium-ion batteries.
Testwork on a 24-tonne bulk sample from its massive deposit in Central Kazakhstan has delivered a hefty 97.7 per cent yield, towering over the typical industry range of 50 to 60 per cent. A high yield is crucial to production economics, putting more of every tonne of mined graphite into high-value battery anode material and leaving less behind as lower-value product.
Perhaps even more significantly, the end product reached a whopping purity greater than 99.99 per cent – the coveted “four nines” mark – comfortably eclipsing the typical 99.95 per cent lithium-ion battery requirement.
Sarytogan also knocked it out of the park on tap density, chalking up between 0.99 and 1.26 grams per cubic centimetre (g/cm³), a hefty improvement on its previous testwork and pushing well beyond the typical industry benchmark of about 1g/cm³. Tap density essentially measures how tightly graphite particles can pack together, with higher numbers potentially translating into more energy being squeezed into a battery. The company’s processor noted that tap densities above 1.2g/cm³ are considered “very rare” in the battery industry and are prized for their potential to enable higher energy densities in batteries.
‘Small sphere sizes with ultra-high tap densities are highly prized in the lithium-ion battery.’
Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory
The testwork, conducted by specialist American Energy Technologies Company in the US, produced approximately 30 kilograms of various downstream products, including ultra-high-purity fines, uncoated spherical purified graphite, and the all-important CSPG.
The results are a significant step in the company’s strategy to become a vertically-integrated supplier of graphite to the burgeoning electric vehicle and energy storage markets.
Sarytogan is now preparing a 5kg CSPG sample to ship to a leading European battery prototyping organisation. The material will be used to manufacture and test 5-amp-hour, large-format pouch-cell batteries, a significant scale-up from previous successful coin-cell tests and a key step in qualifying the product for potential European offtake partners.
Sarytogan managing director Sean Gregory said: “These scaled-up purification, spheroidization, and coating results are an important step forward in the development of Sarytogan’s downstream graphite products. Small sphere sizes with ultra-high tap densities are highly prized in the lithium-ion battery for their associated fast-charging and high-energy-densities respectively.”
The company’s processing pathway, which it calls an “inverted flowsheet”, involves purifying the graphite before spheroidization. This is a clever piece of process design, as it means any graphite particles that don’t meet the size or shape specifications during spheroidization can still be sold as a premium ultra-high purity product, rather than a lower-value concentrate.
All this is happening against the backdrop of Sarytogan’s colossal mineral resource, which stands at 225 million tonnes grading a remarkably high 29.2 per cent total graphitic carbon. The deposit’s scale and grade have not gone unnoticed on the world stage, with the project having been designated a Strategic Project under the European Union’s Critical Raw Materials Act, highlighting its potential as a vital future supplier to Europe.
With an upstream definitive feasibility study for the mine and initial processing plant now in its final stages and due for release next quarter, the company appears to be methodically piecing together a mine-to-market plan.
Meanwhile, 25 kilometres away, Sarytogan’s Baynazar copper project recently delivered the goods with a 229 metre copper hit grading 0.14 per cent copper from surface to end of hole. The impressive hit came from the Ilskan prospect and confirms the presence of a copper porphyry-style mineralised system. The company is now eagerly awaiting results from two other diamond drill holes at Ilskan.
The latest downstream results provide strong proof of concept that Sarytogan’s world-class deposit can be transformed into a world-class battery product. As the company moves to test its material in commercial-style batteries, it looks as though many eyes in the EV supply chain might be watching closely.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
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