International Graphite confirms strong economics for Collie micronising plant with FEED study

International Graphite (ASX: IG6) has received further validation of the potential of its Collie micronising plant in Western Australia, with front-end engineering and design (FEED) results identifying strong financial returns.

Downstream processing at Collie is part of the company’s Australia-first mine-to-market capability.

International Graphite plans to combine this with mining and graphite concentrate production from its 100%-owned Springdale graphite project in WA’s south.

Expansion potential

Estimates contained in the FEED study identified average sales revenue of approximately $14.1 million per annum.

The study also confirmed the potential to expand production easily and significantly.

It estimated a capital cost of $6.3m, incorporating building design, civil works, earthworks and other infrastructure capacity to facilitate a low-cost expansion.

Strong economics

“The economics for the Collie micronising facility are strong—successful implementation and a progressive expansion option would rank International Graphite as an international force in the industrial graphite market,” chief executive officer Andrew Worland said.

“We believe the key to advancing graphite projects is through the control of value-adding industrial and battery anode downstream processing facilities.”

“Our goal is to develop markets and generate early cash flow that will assist in the financing of our Springdale graphite project.”

Production ramp-up

A key component of the company’s Collie development and marketing strategy is the ability to pace a production ramp-up based on prevailing market conditions and customer requirements.

The FEED study has identified the potential to almost double micronised graphite production, with average sales revenue increasing to around $28m per annum at an additional capital cost of approximately $1.7m.

“We see the Collie development as a first step in the build-out of our Australian and international downstream industrial facilities,” Mr Worland said.

Springdale test work

A test work program undertaken in February by leading Japanese chemical processing specialists returned battery-grade purification results from concentrates sourced from the Springdale project.

The program – co-ordinated by Japan’s Marubeni Corporation, one of the world’s biggest integrated trading and investment conglomerates – involved purifying graphite concentrates from drilling and bulk extraction undertaken at Springdale in 2023.

Various wash cycle tests returned a purity of up to 99.97% total graphitic carbon, the purity generally specified for lithium-ion battery anode applications.