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Doug Bright
Sarytogan Graphite has begun bulk graphite purification trials in the United States after shipping concentrate samples from its massive graphite project in Kazakhstan to specialist processor American Energy Technologies Company (AETC) in Chicago for plant scale testing.
The program will put Sarytogan’s bulk concentrate through characterisation, granulation, calcining, thermal purification, spheronisation and battery test work. AETC will also oversee the manufacture and performance testing of 5Ah pouch-cell lithium ion batteries using Sarytogan’s processed graphite product at a European battery innovation centre.
After smaller scale testing in October 2022 in Western Australia and Germany delivered encouraging results, the company says material from the new trials will be suitable for larger customer samples, potentially moving its graphite products closer to commercial offtake discussions.
The Chicago purification testwork follows a handy funding run for Sarytogan recently. In March, the company received another $2.05M in cash from Kazakh investor Dias Sarsenov which represents the balance of his $3.62M share subscription agreed in August last year, with some of the money already helping keep key definitive feasibility study (DFS) activities moving.
In late April, Sarytogan also received a further $1.4M from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) after receiving approvals in Kazakhstan, Australia and from shareholders.
The EBRD’s backing of Sarytogan amounts to long-term strategic equity support, with the latest follow-on funding further cementing the bank’s position as a major shareholder in the company.
The EBRD money is earmarked for completing Sarytogan’s upstream DFS and supporting environmental, marketing and financial work streams beyond that study.
Sarytogan says the upstream DFS is due in Q3 this year, with a downstream DFS to follow once the Chicago purification work helps shape the next phase. The two studies were split into upstream and downstream components to match the company’s funding envelope.
Sarytogan’s giant graphite project in Kazakhstan already carries a total combined mineral resource of 225 million tonnes grading 29.2 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC) and an ore reserve of 8.6Mt at 30 per cent TGC.
Sarytogan has previously produced flotation concentrates better than 90 per cent total graphitic carbon and has achieved 99.9992 per cent carbon through thermal purification without chemical pre-treatment.
Sarytogan sees three product types in its future pipeline, including microcrystalline graphite at up to 90 per cent carbon for traditional uses and ultra-high purity fines for advanced industrial uses, including batteries.
The company is also planning to produce two types of spherical purified graphite suited to lithium ion batteries, including uncoated spherical purified graphite (USPG) and coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG).
USPG is made by milling mined flake graphite into smooth, round spheroidised particles and purifying them, typically to better than 99.95 per cent carbon to remove impurities that can affect performance.
CSPG is created by applying a thin protective carbon coating to USPG. The coating smooths the particle surface, reducing irreversible capacity loss during the battery’s first charge and helping extend battery life. CSPG commands a significant market premium.
With fresh funding in hand and long-term strategic backing from the EBRD, Sarytogan looks well-placed to turn its latest testwork into larger customer samples and to take another practical step towards developing its graphite project in Kazakhstan.
With a resource size and grade that is close to off-the-scale, Sarytogan’s only real challenge is the metallurgy and the latest testing, if successful, will cap off what has already been a string of metallurgical successes.
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