Graphite from Magnis Energy Technologies’ mine in Tanzania could allow the firm to produce some of the lowest cost graphite anode material for the lithium-ion battery market.
Natural graphite produced from the company’s Nachu Graphite Project can be turned into a high performing anode material without any chemical, acid or thermal purification, which cuts overall manufacturing costs say the company.
Based on milling and flotation steps Magnis says its mechanical process is significantly lower in cost than chemical and thermal purification processes to purify graphite that typically cost more than $1,000/t.
Magnis has previously announced its process optimisation programs can produce graphite products with purities ranging from 99% to 99.95%, without the use of chemical or thermal purification.
To date, there are only a few graphite mines capable of producing high purity graphite flake that maintains a large flake size distribution along with high recoveries.
High purity large-flake graphite demands a premium price per tonne, which can be partly attributed to its suitability in meeting specifications for use in the lithium-ion battery industry.
However, flake graphite at purities greater than 98% are generally produced through additional refining and value adding processes, which generally results in added cost.
Magnis chairman Frank Poullas said: “Based on industry analysis of market prices compared to performance, we maintain the view that graphite from the Nachu Project is a market leading product.
“From our analysis, Nachu Project graphite is the only natural graphite product that can be turned into a high performing anode material, without any chemical, acid or thermal purification, and purely based on mechanical processes.”
