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- iTech Minerals (ITM) achieves an average purity of over 94 per cent total graphitic carbon with recovery of around 84 per cent at the Campoona Project in South Australia
- The Campoona Graphite Project contains a JORC 2012 graphite mineral resource of 8.55 million tonnes at nine per cent total graphitic carbon
- This result gives iTech the confidence to pursue a graphite concentrate, for use as a PSG feedstock, with a cost-effective and conventional flow sheet design
- The company is currently underway on producing a 50 kilogram flake graphite bulk sample
- ITM shares are up 3.01 per cent to trade at 66.5 cents
iTech Minerals (ITM) has achieved an average purity of over 94 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC) with recoveries of around 84 per cent at the Campoona Project in South Australia.
The Campoona Graphite Project contains a JORC 2012 graphite mineral resource of 8.55 million tonnes at nine per cent TGC, a granted mining lease and approved multipurpose licences for processing infrastructure and groundwater extraction.
The test work was undertaken on a bulk sample of 600 kilograms (kg) of run-of-mine (ROM) graphite ore collected from reverse circulation and diamond drilling at the Campoona Central Deposit.
The drill holes were located within areas representative of low strip ratio mineralisation of prime economic interest.
This result gives iTech the confidence to pursue a graphite concentrate, for use as a PSG feedstock, with a cost-effective and conventional flow sheet design that does not rely on chemical or thermal purification.
“These results confirm the potential for Campoona to produce a high-quality graphite concentrate suitable for the high growth lithium ion battery sector,” Managing Director Mike Schwarz said.
“On-going test work will aim to establish an environmentally friendly spherical graphite production process which can be used to add significant value to the Campoona graphite
concentrate.”
The company has completed the first two steps of its seven-stage test program and is currently underway on producing a 50 kg flake graphite bulk sample.
The next step would be screening for alternative (non-HF) chemical purification routes.
Once complete, the chemical purification and spherical graphite sample production stages will commence.
Results are expected in late August 2022.
ITM shares were up 3.91 per cent to trade at 66.5 cents at 11:26 am AEST.
