Australia’s International Graphite Commissions Its Graphite Micronizing Plant
[Click image to enlarge]
In a first for Australia’s battery minerals industry, International Graphite has successfully commissioned of its new graphite micronizing plant at Collie, south of Perth.
The qualification-scale micronizer, with a capacity of 200 tonnes per annum, is the largest in Australia and a milestone in the development of a domestic graphite industry. It will be the first to produce graphite products in Australia for customer acceptance testing.
The new plant is the precursor to a 4,000 tonnes per annum commercial micronizing facility the company expects to have operating at Collie within 18 months. Construction of the ~$12.5 million plant could be given the green light as early as mid year.
Establishing a standalone micronizing business is a novel road to market for the aspiring graphite producer whose ultimate goal is to be producing advanced battery anode materials at Collie from its 100 percent owned Springdale Graphite Project near Hopetoun in Western Australia.
A fully integrated graphite supply from Western Australia will be one of the first of its kind in the western world. The plan has already attracted the attention of potential customers and finance partners in Australia, Japan, Korea, and North America.
Micronizing will enable the company to develop a customer base, gain operating experience, build markets for future by-products, and generate cash flow.
“We see breaking into the micronized graphite market as an important step in developing our Springdale-Collie mine to market strategy,” said Managing Director and CEO Andrew Worland.
“Demand for batteries will continue to grow. There are already more than 240 battery gigafactories operating worldwide, and up to 400 expected to open by 2030. All of them will need a secure source of graphite materials,” added Worland.
“Australian companies like us are in the box seat to deliver. We have the assets, the technical capability, and Western Australia has an unparalleled reputation as a top resource supplier with outstanding ESG credentials,” concluded Worland.
The company’s strategy has won favor with both the Western Australian Government, which supports early micronizing as an important contributor to Collie’s economic transition from coal, and the Australian Government, which recognizes the critical role graphite plays in the battery minerals mix. Together, they have contributed $6.7m in grant funding to International Graphite.
More than 100 jobs are expected to be created at Springdale and Collie.
Currently almost 90 percent of the world’s processed graphite comes from China, which introduced export restrictions in December, adding further pressure to future supply.
A lithium-ion battery can use up to ten times more graphite than lithium. The battery in a standard electric car requires about 75 kilograms of graphite (approximately one kilogram for every kilowatt hour of power capacity).
International Graphite is on track to be the first producer of battery anode graphite in Western Australia. As decarbonization and climate change drive a revolution in electric vehicles and renewable energy, the world is grappling with a shortage of batteries and the graphite needed to make them. The company is building a new mine-to-market graphite supply, with a planned mine and downstream processing completely integrated in Western Australia, one of the world’s top resource jurisdictions.
Be in-the-know when you’re on-the-go!
FREE eNews delivery service to your email twice-weekly. With a focus on lead-driven news, our news service will help you develop new business contacts on an on-going basis.
CLICK HERE to register your email address.
Copyright © 2024 Mining Connection LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.
For licensing permission, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
