Excellent RNS8 May 2024 08:27
“ NEWS RELEASE I 8 MAY 2024
TESTWORK DELIVERS SUPERIOR QUALITY, LOW IMPURITY GRAPHITE FOR BATTERY ANODES
· Graphite circuit feed prepared at Sovereign's existing Lilongwe laboratory facility has produced high quality concentrates in benchtop and pilot-scale flotation and cleaning
· Four independent laboratories all successfully produced high-grade graphite concentrate averaging over 97% Total Graphite Content (TGC) with flotation recoveries exceeding 90%
· Flotation results demonstrated 1.44% TGC run-of-mine Kasiya ore upgrades to more than 55% TGC rougher concentrate without crushing or milling, process steps typically required for producing graphite concentrates from hard-rock deposits; contributing to the unique low cost characteristics of Kasiya's saprolite hosted graphite
· Graphite concentrates indicate exceptionally low levels of sulphur compared to typical hard-rock graphite peers - a key metric to qualify as active anode material for lithium-ion batteries
· Results are part of ongoing testwork being undertaken as part of the Company's graphite marketing and active anode qualification strategy, supervised by Dr Surinder Ghag
· Downstream testwork to produce and characterise Coated Spherical Purified Graphite (CSPG) active anode material continues at German graphite consultancy ProGraphite GmbH.
Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM; AIM:SVML) (the Company or Sovereign) is pleased to announce the results of graphite testwork completed at multiple independent laboratories in Australia, Canada and South Africa.
Graphite flotation and cleaning testwork was conducted on graphite circuit feed from Sovereign's Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project (Kasiya or Project) at four different laboratories, which all successfully produced high-grade graphite concentrate (94.9%-97.8% TGC) at high flotation recoveries (91.2%-97.2%).
The testwork demonstrated excellent results using a conventional flowsheet that was consistent across all laboratories, thus confirming Sovereign's ability to produce a high quality graphite concentrate.
Managing Director Frank Eagar commented: "Our ability to upgrade Kasiya ore at 1.4% graphite to a 55% rougher concentrate without any crushing or milling, highlights more of the unique qualities of Kasiya. There are very limited other graphite projects with these characteristics. The pilot-scale results also confirm that Kasiya produces high-grade concentrates with very low sulphur levels at high recoveries. Simply put, Kasiya will be a standout producer of high-quality graphite concentrate at industry low operating costs."