True halloysite-kaolin deposits don’t exactly grow on trees, so for Suvo to have one fully permitted so close to its producing Pittong hydrous kaolin plant in Victoria is akin to winning the lottery.

Test work on refined clay samples from Suvo’s fully permitted satellite operation at Trawalla, which is within the company’s granted mining tenure, returned up to 38.9% halloysite.

Suvo Strategic Metals (ASX:SUV) says the halloysite-kaolin hybrid material at Trawalla offers it the opportunity to produce high-quality high value products not currently produced from their operations.

It could also lead to the company becoming Australia’s first halloysite-kaolin producer, which will open up new markets covering both kaolinite and halloysite products.

Halloysite – a rare derivative of kaolin – is commonly used in ceramics, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. However, its increasing use in high-tech applications in battery and nano technologies is what makes it particularly appealing.

Test work and product commercialisation is now being planned with independent world-class testing labs, technical partners and downstream end-users.

This is expected to enrich the company’s existing product portfolio with new products with high value applications.

“The number of true halloysite-kaolin deposits are rare. Those that are within granted mining tenure and close to a hydrous processing facility and yet to be developed are at the moment non-existent,” executive chairman Robert Martin said.

“In this regard Trawalla stands alone.

“Trawalla offers Suvo the opportunity to be the first halloysite-kaolin producer in Australia utilising its currently operating production facility at Pittong.

“Suvo plans to use its current market position to not only complete test work with global leaders in the industry, but to also define additional market segments that can be addressed immediately with Trawalla clay.”

JORC resources for the Trawalla and Pittong sites are expected soon.

 

Trawalla and partnerships

Trawalla is located within a granted mining licence covering 236 hectares just 23km from the Pittong plant.Samples of the refined clay returned halloysite grades ranging from 12.2% to 38.9%.

Suvo has a memorandum of understanding and cooperation agreement with LIXIL, a top tier multinational ceramic producer with annual turnover of $20bn that is also one of the world’s leading consumers of kaolin and halloysite, to produce tailor-made premium refined kaolin products for the ceramic industry. That will now include halloysite-kaolin from Trawalla.

The company also has a MoU and cooperation agreement with global catalysts and molecular sieve producer Rezel for the development of specialised, high-quality catalyst-grade premium kaolin products and technical solutions for the global catalysts industry.

It expects the Trawalla halloysite resource to help advance this technical partnership to develop a more functional halloysite-based catalysis product, molecular sieves and synthetic zeolites.

R&D work with Chinese mineral process technology and mineral product development research institute BGRIMM will continue to focus on batteries and supercapacitors, developing halloysite nanotubes-based modified and functionalised nanomaterials for carbon capture, hydrogen storage, water purification and coagulants.

This article was developed in collaboration with Suvo Strategic Minerals, 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.

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