Lincoln Minerals (ASX: LML) has identified a potential opportunity to supply graphite from its Kookaburra project in South Australia to the growing global nuclear small modular reactor (SMR) market.
The company is teaming up with Quebec-based SCN Canada to investigate the use of graphite from Lincoln’s Kookaburra project in SMRs designed by SCN.
SCN’s reactors feature high-temperature gas-cooled technology that uses high-purity graphite blocks to help control the nuclear reaction, making the system more stable and safer for longer-term operation.
With this process, SCN plans to provide carbon-free power to remote communities throughout Canada and the world—aligning with Lincoln’s strategy to identify high-value uses for graphite from Kookaburra.
The global SMR market is a rapidly growing sector focused on developing smaller, more flexible nuclear power solutions for low-carbon electricity and industrial heat.
Potential Commercial Pathway
Lincoln chief executive officer Chris Wilcox said the SCN partnership was a potential pathway to commercialising the large Kookaburra asset.
Kookaburra – which hosts a 12.8 million tonne resource at 7.56% total graphitic content – is located 35km north of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.
The project features near-surface mineralisation and a high-grade core that supports the potential for scalable, low-cost development.
A pre-feasibility study at Kookaburra demonstrated that it could generate a net present value of $114 million over a 16-year mine life, based on an upfront CapEx of $29m.
The collaboration will allow Lincoln and SCN to align more closely on key project development parameters such as the optimal flowsheet and product mix, plan the staging and development, and define a suitable commercial structure.
Eyre Magnetite Collaboration
This is the second significant collaboration agreement reached by Lincoln this month after it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a subsidiary of Revera Energy to potentially process magnetite from the company’s promising Eyre project in SA.
Revera is an independent energy infrastructure platform with a portfolio of battery, solar,wind, and hydrogen projects in Australia and the UK, as well as a broad range of capabilities, experience, and relationships.
The two organisations intend to develop a scoping study into the use of Lincoln’s magnetite in an iron ore pellet plant fuelled by Revera’s green hydrogen.
Lincoln and Revera will work together over the next 12 months on a potential commercial structure for the joint development with the potential for completion of scoping and feasibility studies by the end of 2026.
