Evolution Energy Minerals Ltd (ASX:EV1) has demonstrated the low carbon footprint of its Chilalo Graphite Project in Tanzania thanks to an independent life cycle assessment (LCA).
The graphite stock recently commissioned Minviro Ltd to assess Chilalo’s environmental footprint, based on data from its 2020 definitive feasibility study (DFS).
Now, the results are in, and the LCA estimates 0.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide would be emitted for every tonne of flake graphite concentrate produced from Chilalo — roughly half the carbon emitted during graphite production in China.
China accounts for the vast majority of global graphite supply, but companies like Evolution are eager to establish secure supply chains outside the superpower.
Moving ahead, EV1 hopes to further curb its carbon footprint in an updated DFS, which will incorporate renewable electricity into the graphite production process.
This and other strategies will help Evolution reach its ultimate goal: to transform Chilalo into the world’s first net zero carbon graphite mine.
“First stepping stone”
Commenting on the pivotal assessment, Evolution managing director Phil Hoskins said the company’s vision was to only supply sustainably sourced graphite products and battery materials.
“Completion of Minviro’s initial LCA is the first stepping stone in our aspirations to develop Chilalo as a net-zero carbon graphite mine,” he explained.
“We now understand our highest carbon footprint scenario based on the 2020 DFS, which had assumed diesel power generation.
“Reducing our carbon footprint has been front of mind during the optimisation of our DFS and we expect the introduction of renewables along with other operational efficiencies to deliver an industry-leading result when we update the LCA.”
What is an LCA?
The LCA allows companies to assess the environmental impact their asset can have across all stages of the production cycle.
Importantly, the assessment makes it possible to evaluate indirect impacts that occur in an asset’s life cycle, providing information that otherwise may not be considered.
The cradle-to-gate — covering everything from mining and processing to transportation — LCA for Chilalo assesses the life cycle impact that comes from producing 1 kilogram of flake graphite concentrate from natural flake graphite ore, extracted at the Chilalo project in southeast Tanzania.
It’s also important to note that this assessment was based on the 2020 DFS, meaning it does not incorporate the carbon footprint reductions that will result from the decision to introduce renewable power.
Global warming potential
Minviro’s LCA indicates that mining and processing will contribute the highest levels of CO2 throughout the production cycle.
However, this is modelled on the use of diesel fuel in the 2020 DFS, meaning Evolution has a chance to curb its emissions with the updated DFS’ renewable electricity model.
Minviro has also analysed the estimated carbon footprint using the Scope of Emissions — a handy tool to classify the different kinds of emissions involved in a product’s life cycle.
Scope 1 covers direct emissions, Scope 2 is reserved for indirect emissions from purchased energy and Scope 3 relates to indirect value chain emissions.
Here’s how Chilalo’s estimated emissions fit into the three scopes:
Ultimately, these results provide a benchmark that Evolution sees as the peak measure — given that it’s based on using diesel fuel to generate energy.
The company believes that mitigation initiatives, including the introduction of renewable power, will likely result in lower emissions in subsequent reviews.
Even on this peak basis, the LCA for Chilalo demonstrates that the project will have lower emissions than comparative production in other parts of the world — namely China, and in particular the Heilongjiang Province, where more than 50% of the world’s graphite is produced.
Above, the impact of transporting graphite concentrate from Chilalo to port has been removed, so the system boundaries of the comparison scenarios are sufficiently similar and comparisons can be made on a like-for-like basis.
Evolution will keep the market updated on its DFS progress and any subsequent environmental reviews.
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