Evion Group NL (ASX:EVG) has ticked off another major milestone in its strategy to supply graphite to the lithium battery industry, with metallurgical tests confirming that its product is ideal for making battery anode material (BAM), a key ingredient in lithium batteries.
Significant step towards European plant
The company says its recent “outstanding results” from extensive metallurgical tests are another significant step in Evion's strategy to build a battery anode material plant in Europe, establishing that the cost of processing the Evion graphite is globally competitive.
Evion plans to establish a world-scale mine at Maniry, where it completed a definitive feasibility study last year, and has entered into a collaborative agreement with leading BAM developer, Urbix Inc, USA to assess the viability of developing a plant to provide BAM for the electric vehicle and alternative energy sectors in Europe.
The results from the latest test work, which was conducted by Dorfner Anzaplan, are another important step towards establishing this plant.
The tests were conducted on 15 kilograms of flake graphite concentrate material from Evion's Maniry project in Madagascar.
To reach battery-grade product purity, the graphite needs to be purified to a Fixed Carbon (FC) content of greater than 99.95%.
The tests used two processing routes, both of which delivered FC a content of more than 99.95wt-%.
Cost savings in excess of 60%
High-level operating cost estimates indicate that an energy cost saving in excess of 60% and a total cost saving of 30% could be achieved using a caustic pressure leach purification process.
Extensive tests conducted in 2020 had already established that Maniry graphite met the other chemical and physical parameters needed to be considered suitable for BAM production.
In the latest assessments, eight tests were completed. Four of these used a caustic bake process and four used a caustic pressure leach. Both process routes delivered FC results >99.95%.
Importantly, the results show there is potential to reduce operating costs by up to 30% using the caustic pressure leach process, largely through reduced power consumption.
It is proposed that graphite concentrate from Evion's Maniry Project will feed the proposed BAM facility, providing a market for a substantial portion of Evion's proposed production.
Vertically integrated supplier
Evion managing director Tom Revy said: "These results mark another important milestone in our strategy to be a vertically integrated supplier of graphite to the lithium battery industry.
"They show we are well on track to realise our goal of establishing a world-class mine at Maniry which will feed a BAM plant in Europe, which will in turn supply product to the battery industry.
"With the graphite price widely forecast to rise sharply as the market falls into deficit later this year on the back of demand from the battery industry, Evion is ideally placed to unlock the huge value of its assets by implementing this strategy."