Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, OTC:SVMLF, AIM:SVML) is increasing its graphite bulk sample preparation capacity from an expanded laboratory and testing facility in Lilongwe, Malawi, enabling the preparation of rutile concentrate and graphite circuit feed from the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project at a bulk scale.
In the coming weeks, Sovereign will install and commission a spiral concentrator containing industrial-scale MG12 spiral equipment at the laboratory and testing facility. This concentrator will have a spiral throughput capacity of up to 10 tonnes per hour of ore for graphite and rutile sample preparation.
In line with Sovereign’s strategy to commercialise Kasiya’s graphite by-product, the graphite circuit feed will be sent to specialised laboratories where flotation, purification, spheronisation and coating test-work for the battery anode segment will take place.
A world-class team
The move follows the appointment of graphite specialist Dr Surinder Ghag as chief technology officer – Graphite. Ghag will be responsible for graphite test-work programs and product qualification. The final graphite concentrate for bulk sample battery anode test-work and qualification will be advanced under his supervision.
A highly qualified metallurgist, Surinder brings more than 25 years of industry experience, including developing graphite test-work programs, ore-to-anode graphite strategies, anode plant feasibility studies and project development and commissioning.
Leading the spiral installation project is Sovereign’s head of Project Development Paul Marcos, who has 30 years of mineral sands operations, engineering, and consulting expertise.
Before joining Sovereign in July 2021, he spent more than 10 years working on Base Resources Ltd projects in a design role with Ausenco and then on Base’s owner’s team.
Marcos was involved with the original Kwale Project and then Kwale North and Kwale Phase 2 Projects in Kenya and also the Toliara Project’s scoping, pre-feasibility and definitive feasibility studies in Madagascar.
Between 1996 and 2004, Marcos worked at major mineral sands producer Iluka Resources Ltd in a number of production, mineral processing and project development roles.
Commercialisation strategy
Managing director Frank Eagar said: “The intellectual property that Dr Ghag and Mr Marcos bring to Sovereign has meant that we can expand and expedite our graphite commercialisation strategy significantly.
“The infrastructure, along with the ability to provide large amounts of graphite concentrate to the lithium-ion battery industry for battery anode product qualification, offers Sovereign a big advantage.
"With a world-class team in place and alongside our strategic investors, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), Kasiya is moving ahead at a considerable pace.
“The spiral concentrator is currently in its final stages of testing at engineering consultancy Paterson & Cooke’s Cape Town laboratory, after which it will be dispatched to Lilongwe, Malawi.
“The spiral is identical in size and scale to that designed in the pre-feasibility study flowsheet for the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project and will have a throughput capacity of up to 10 tonnes of ore per hour for sample preparation.”