Chase Mining Corporation Ltd (ASX:CML) shares rose after receiving an update from Green Critical Minerals Pty Ltd (GCM) on the Threadfin prospect within the McIntosh Graphite Project in Western Australia.
Last month, CML completed the “transformational” acquisition of GCM, which has the right to acquire up to 80% of the graphite rights in the McIntosh Graphite Project, the third largest ASX-listed graphite project in Australia.
GCM has now provided CML with results from recent research undertaken by GCM on historical exploration activities at the Threadfin prospect, which indicates it may host graphite suitable for the battery anode material/ spherical purified graphite (SPG) market.
CML shares were trading 12.5% higher intra-day following the update, at 1.8 cents.
Threadfin - battery anode material investigation
The preferred starting flake size for battery anode material (SPG) is
Converting large flakes (>150µm) into required smaller particle sizes (10-30µm) is expensive as additional grinding is energy-intensive, adding additional cost to processing to convert the larger flakes into smaller particles.
At the Threadfin target, 5 samples have been evaluated using petrography as part of exploration activities completed by Hexagon in 2017.
From these samples, the majority of the flakes have long dimensions between 50-100µm classifying it as Fine.
This characteristic presents an opportunity to revaluate the Threadfin target as previously the flake size was determined to be a limiting factor.
If it can be determined with further test work that the flake size is suitable for the SPG market both from a size, chemical and physical properties, the Threadfin target has significant potential which will warrant further drill testing
Mcintosh battery anode test work
GCM intends to perform metallurgical testing on the Threadfin flake to investigate its battery anode potential, to open the door to the SPG market which is expected to have significant growth.
Preliminary battery anode test work was conducted on 100kg of the McIntosh graphite flake concentrate with test results passing on all early parameters for the battery industry (Table 1).
Table 1: Battery anode test work results undertaken on McIntosh concentrate produced from the Emperor deposit.
The results were achieved without optimisation or having undergone any further purification or modification processes.
Further purification is expected to increase the purity of the product and further enhance the result confirming McIntosh flake has potential for a feedstock material to produce SPG for battery anodes.
Threadfin target
The Threadfin target at McIntosh has a considerable strike length of 8 kilometres as defined by the extents of the airborne electromagnetic highs.
McIntosh Graphite Project plan; resources and prospects.
However, the Threadfin target area is not currently considered in the company’s conceptual table of exploration targets totalling 50-100Mt (million tonnes) at 2.0 – 5.0% TGC (total graphitic carbon) as it was previously removed by Hexagon due to factors such as fine flake size.
However, GCM is revisiting the target as the company believes that this material may have the potential to produce a suitable product for the EV (electric vehicle) market.
The Threadfin target was previously reported by Hexagon as a considerable-sized exploration target of 25-50Mt at 3.0 – 5.0% TGC before being removed.
The field visit completed by GCM has demonstrated sufficient potential for graphite occurrences at Threadfin and the recent rock chip sampling will provide additional data related to graphite content.
Next steps
With the preliminary field mapping and sampling program complete, the following works are underway as a matter of priority for GCM to advance the McIntosh Graphite Project.
- Review results of graphite analysis when returned from the laboratory;
- review petrographical analysis thin sections to determine flake size of graphite occurring in outcropping graphitic schist at exploration target areas;
- review results of petrographical analysis on newly collected samples from Threadfin and Mahi Mahi to confirm suitability for SPG;
- review the company’s 50-100Mt exploration target list to incorporate the findings from the field visit and revisit the target sizes;
- rank and prioritise the exploration targets based on findings from the mapping and sampling program;
- plan drill programs to test the exploration targets;
- submit heritage survey requests for priority targets; and
- commence the process to get on the ground for follow-up drill testing.
Read more on Proactive Investors AU
