- BlackEarth Minerals (BEM) has reported its December 2019 quarterly update on its graphite projects in Madagascar
- The Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy has been appointed to conduct final testing on Maniry graphite ore
- Potential Chinese offtake partners will test graphite concentrate from the project to decide whether its industry suited
- So far, the graphite has been reported to be excellent quality
- BlackEarth Minerals is down 11.8 per cent and trading at 4.5¢ apiece
BlackEarth Minerals (BEM) has reported its December 2019 quarterly update on its Madagascan graphite projects.
The company has achieved several milestones during the quarter as it continued to fast-track the development of the Maniry Graphite Project in Southern Madagascar.
“The December 2019 quarter has been an important period for BlackEarth, as we continued to fast track the flagship Maniry graphite project in Southern Madagascar, to progressing the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) Stage, in under 2 years, for a total cost of less than $6 million,” Managing Director Tom Revy said.
Beijing General Research of Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
BlackEarth has appointed Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (BGRIMM) to finalise the testing on Maniry graphite ore.
BGRIMM is a national institute engaged in research and development, and engineering service in relation to mineral resource developments, advanced material technology and products.
Under the contract, a two-stage test program will be completed in this current quarter.
The first stage includes a laboratory-scale test work of a 250-kilogram sample of Maniry graphite ore. Results from this stage will be used to confirm all work carried out at ALS Perth, and to provide optimal process flow, reagent systems, industrial equipment selection and process operating conditions.
The second stage is a large-scale pilot test program will use approximately 60 tonnes of Maniry ore. This stage will be used to optimise the Maniry flow sheet, provide final equipment specifications and provide significant input into the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment.
“As critical steps in achieving cash flow, BlackEarth has progressed offtake agreements by commencing trial mining at Maniry, with concentrate being shipped to BGRIMM and potential offtake partners for further testing,” Tom said.
Chinese Offtake Partners
During the quarter, BlackEarth announced that graphite concentrate samples from Maniry, had been dispatched to potential Chinese offtake partners.
The potential partners will conduct test work to confirm the suitability of the concentrate for the used in the expandables, battery anode and high-end refractory markets.
Trial Mining at Maniry
In November 2019, BlackEarth announced it had commenced the excavation of 60 tonnes of bulk material from Maniry, as part of its trial mining/ large scale pilot program.
The mining and excavation activities on site were completed during the quarter and the 60 tonnes is expected to arrive this month.
An initial 250 kilogram of Maniry material had already been received at BGRIMM’s facility in China with the aim of establishing optimal operating conditions for the large scale pilot plant program.
Maniry Project Testwork
As part of the company’s strategy to fast track the Maniry, it has strategically targeted Tier 1 Chinese and international companies that are both commercial and technical industry leaders in the global graphite market.
During the quarter, the company reported ongoing testing and discussions with world-leading refractory and expandable graphite producers, have continued to see positive results.
BlackEarth is mainly targeting the refractory and expandable applications.
However, the company had also conducted testing on fine graphite materials used in the production of spherical graphite for lithium-ion batteries. It also has ongoing discussions with leading producers of lithium-ion battery anodes.
“BlackEarth has received feedback from the world’s largest producer of expandable graphite products reporting that excellent expansion rates and quality were achieved from testing on BlackEarth’s coarse flake graphite samples,” the company said.
Further to this, the producer also reported that impurity content such as mica in BlackEarth’s natural graphite concentrate was significantly lower when compared to other natural graphite concentrate imported from overseas suppliers.
The graphite concentrate will be further reduced following some additional process optimisation work.
The producer has agreed to work with Black Earth to ensure its ability to consistently meets high-end specification requirements on a long-term basis.
The price difference between fine graphite concentrate and high-value expandable graphite can be in excess of US$1000 per tonne.
“One of the world’s leaders in refractories had also confirmed that the BEM sample received and tested met all quality specifications and requirements for high-quality refractory products,” the company announced.
“Furthermore, the company had also demonstrated a strong interest in BlackEarth’s coarse flakes and had requested that BEM produce special “tailor-made” natural graphite concentrate product to be used as raw material for the producer’s premium / high-value quality refractories,” it added.
“Over the 2020 calendar year, we will continue to advance the project and deliver shareholder value, as we rapidly progress towards the first cashflow,” Tom added.
BlackEarth Minerals is down 11.8 per cent on the Australian Securities Exchange, trading at 4.5¢ apiece at 3:15pm AEDT.