Lithium Energy kicks off graphite testwork in China

Lithium Energy has commenced a metallurgical testwork program on approximately one tonne of representative core samples from the recently completed infill drilling programme at its Burke Graphite Project located in Queensland.

The Beijing General Research Institute for Mining and Metallurgy Technology Group (BGRIMM) in China will undertake the testwork, with a focus on:

Assessing and optimising flotation conditions;
Conducting open circuit flowsheet development testwork to optimise the concentrator flowsheet; and
Conducting closed loop circuit testwork to optimise flowsheet recovery.

The BGRIMM has extensive experience in developing processing solutions for graphite, and will also use its in-house pilot plant to produce bulk flake concentrate for the next phase anode development testwork program to produce Purified Spherical Graphite (PSG) suitable for use in lithium-ion battery anodes.

Assessing anode facility potential

These works together with the JORC upgrade of the current Burke deposit – which is expected in March/April 2023 – will be used to commence a proposed engineering study to assess the viability of establishing a PSG anode manufacturing facility in Queensland.

“Following the highly successful infill drilling at Burke, which reported multiple significant intersections of +20% TGC (graphite), this metallurgical testwork program is a very important step in the development pathway of the Burke project,” Lithium Energy (ASX:LEL) executive chairman William Johnson said.

“The company is very pleased to be working with the highly regarded BGRIMM Laboratory in Beijing and we are looking forward to taking the results of this program into our planned engineering studies for mine, processing and purified spherical graphite manufacturing.”

Notably, the project has already returned highly encouraging preliminary results from CSIRO testwork to determine its suitability for use as a battery anode material, including achieving a purity of 99.94 % TGC – which closely compares to typical industry requirements of +99.95% TGC for lithium-ion battery anode material.

This article was developed in collaboration with Lithium Energy, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.