Green Critical Minerals Ltd (ASX:GCM) is aiming to build an Australian mine-to-market graphite business by earning into the McIntosh Graphite Project in WA, believed to be the third largest ASX-listed graphite project in Australia.
The company has the right to earn 80% of the graphite rights of McIntosh, which has a resource of 23.8 million tonnes at 4.45% TGC (total graphitic carbon) for ~1.1 million tonnes of contained graphite.
81% of the resource is classified in the higher confidence indicated category, with over 40,000 metres of graphite targeted drilling on the project to date and extensive metallurgical test work completed.
Source: GCM presentation, December 2022.
McIntosh is a unique graphite project with low impurities and “low cost and high yield” downstream processing attributes with the potential to produce high-quality graphite products into a diverse range of premium end-use markets.
Source: GCM presentation, December 2022.
Significant amount of battery anode test work has been completed to date, with sample material passing on all the key preliminary assessment criteria.
Importantly, McIntosh graphite has achieved a purity of 99.999% which far exceeds the 99.95% required for battery anode material, allowing targeting of premium advanced battery markets – up to $30,000/tonne.
Source: GCM presentation, December 2022.
The project is in an attractive mining jurisdiction with renewable energy provided to Wyndham from Ord River Hydro, the largest generator of hydroelectricity in Western Australia.
Source: GCM presentation, December 2022.
Graphite is the largest component in lithium-ion batteries and requires the largest production increase of any battery mineral.
China controls 70-80% of world graphite supply and makes almost 100% of the graphite anode material for lithium-ion batteries/EVs.
Both the EU and USA have named graphite a supply critical mineral and have identified the need for western alternative sources.
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