International Graphite Ltd (ASX:IG6) has collected its Australian Research and Development (R&D) Tax Incentive Scheme payment for the 2023 financial year, netting an additional $1.3 million in funding.
The R&D Tax Incentive is a business assistance program administered by the Australian Government to encourage and support businesses to undertake R&D activities that they may not otherwise be willing to attempt, improve incentives for small companies to undertake R&D, and provide predictable, uncomplicated support to said companies.
IG6 remains focused on its ambition to build a mine-to-market integrated graphite supply chain, manufacturing battery anode material on Australian shores.
Collie micronising plant
IG6 recently wet-commissioned its new graphite micronising plant at Collie, south of Perth in Western Australia.
The plant is the largest in Australia, with a capacity of 200 tonnes per year – it will be the first microniser to produce graphite products in Australia for customer acceptance testing, marking an important moment of growth in Australia’s domestic graphite processing capacity.
The company intends to feed its plant with the second-largest graphite deposit in Australia, the Springdale Project, which already holds a mineral resource estimate of 49.3 million tonnes at 6.5% total graphitic carbon (TGC).
International Graphite’s ambitions have drawn support from all levels of Australian government, including local, state and federal funding.
The company’s new plant is the pilot for a commercial micronising facility that will have a capacity twenty times greater, capable of micronising 4,000 tonnes of graphite per annum.
IG6 plans to be operating the commercial-sized plant at Collie within 18 months, expecting to spend about $12.5 million on a plant that could be green-lit as early as the middle of this year.