Sarytogan Graphite Ltd (ASX:SGA) has made material progress in creating battery anode-ready graphite concentrate with a round of metallurgical test-work upgrading its graphite feedstock to a 92.1% purity concentrate.
The company’s Australian lab partners have leveraged flotation, low-temperature caustic roasting, leaching with a weak sulphuric acid and a final calcine step to achieve high purity levels.
Sarytogan is targeting the battery anode market’s optimal micro-crystalline sizing due to the premium product price it draws, often worth more than $3,000 a tonne – some three times normal flake graphite.
The company will now engage leading German specialist graphite laboratories Pro-Graphite and Anzaplan to achieve an even higher purity of graphite concentrate, targeting more than 98.6% purity.
Sarytogan is confident it can achieve this grade of graphite concentrate, as feedstock from SGA’s Sarytogan Graphite Deposit in Central Kazakhstan has already been purified to 98.6% historically.
"Significant" step forward
“Sarytogan is positioning itself as a future supplier to the rapidly growing battery anode material market,” Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory said.
“The micro-crystalline graphite produced in this sighter test is shaping our product strategy for the Sarytogan Graphite Deposit.
“These initial results are a significant step towards this ultimate goal of producing battery-grade material.
“We are pleased to welcome our German laboratory partners to the team who will collaborate with our Australian laboratory partners to continue to advance the process development steps.”
Flotation test on Sarytogan graphite at the Metallurgy laboratory, Perth.
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