The start of construction for Australia’s first purpose-built commercial graphite micronising plant is secured with International Graphite locking in a $4.5 million Western Australian Government grant.
The company has entered into a funding agreement with the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI), with $2 million to be applied towards the Collie facility, which is Stage 1 of the project. The remaining $2.5 million will be applied to expand the facility and at least double capacity (Stage 2).
International Graphite’s Managing Director and CEO, Andrew Worland, said the company is excited to proceed with the construction of the new plant at Collie.
“Establishing a micronising business in Collie has been an important step in our development plans. Critically, it will establish the company as a producer in the graphite industry and build further our technical skills as we progress our Springdale mine to market battery anode material strategy.”
Stage 1 of the JTSI grant is available to be drawn down progressively over the project construction period as milestones are achieved. The balance of Stage 1 funding is to be met through funding awarded to the company under the Federal Government Critical Minerals Office grant, existing cash reserves and additional company contributions over the construction period, including future R&D rebates.
The balance of the $2.5 million JTSI grant will be applied to expand the facility in Stage 2. The company envisages expanding the Collie Micronising Facility to around 10,000tpa capacity.
Once the mine is in production, it is expected to produce 95 per cent total graphitic content (TGC) and 99 per cent TGC-micronised products from graphite concentrates produced at the company’s 100 per cent-owned Springdale Graphite Project.
“At those production levels, our Collie facility will be amongst the most significant global producers of micronised graphite outside of China,” Mr Worland said.
A front-end engineering and design (FEED) study is expected to be completed over the coming months which will confirm the implementation schedule and forecast economics for Stage 1.
The project’s critical path items include local building approvals, construction of new buildings and connection to services, including the electricity grid, on new development lots adjacent to the company’s existing facilities in Collie.
Building the project in two stages has been made possible, in part, by the operating experience gained from the Collie Graphite Processing and R&D Facility. Opened in 2022, the existing facility includes pilot-scale micronising and spheroidising equipment and a qualification-scale micronising plant.
The facility has been instrumental in optimising equipment selection, vendor assessment, operating conditions and the scaling of Stage 1 production capacity to achieve lower unit capital costs than envisaged in the original 2023 feasibility study.
