LEADING GLOBAL MARKET POSITION BECKONS FOR KASIYA’S LOW-COST FLAKE GRAPHITE CO-PRODUCT
· Graphite planned to be produced as a co-product from the Kasiya rutile operation is estimated to sit at the lowest end of the global flake graphite cost curve
· As one of the world’s largest flake graphite deposits, Kasiya has potential for a dominant market position due to production scale of a coarse flake, high purity and highly crystalline product which should be suitable for lithium-ion batteries and wider traditional industrial uses
· Kasiya’s graphite flake size distribution compares favourably to industry peers suggesting potential to achieve a high graphite basket price
· Independent Life Cycle Assessment Study demonstrates Kasiya’s high quality natural graphite concentrate should have a significantly lower carbon footprint than Chinese-produced natural graphite
- China currently produces over 75% of the world’s natural graphite, almost 80% of the world’s synthetic graphite and 100% of the world’s natural graphite anodes used in lithium-ion batteries
- Each tonne of graphite produced from Kasiya is expected to have a Global Warming Potential of only 0.2 tonnes CO2e which represents 5x less greenhouse gas emissions compared to natural graphite produced in the Heilongjiang Province, China
· Recent independent studies published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology estimates global warming potential of synthetic graphite to be 20.6 t CO2e i.e., 103x that estimated for Kasiya’s natural graphite
· Updated Scoping Study for Kasiya on track and due for completion shortly
Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX:SVM; AIM:SVML) (the Company or Sovereign) is pleased to report recent analysis of Kasiya Rutile Project’s (Kasiya) graphite co-product, one of the critical raw materials contained with the Kasiya deposit.
Natural graphite concentrate would be produced as a co-product from Kasiya, the world’s largest rutile deposit. Benchmarking of characteristics of Kasiya’s natural graphite demonstrate that it can be produced in line with the 2021 Scoping Study with:
· one of the lowest potential production costs globally
· extremely low carbon footprint versus hard-rock operations or synthetic graphite production
· favourable flake size distribution suitable for a wide range of end uses including feedstock for the lithium-ion battery sector – technology crucial to tackling global climate change.
Sovereign’s Managing Director, Dr Julian Stephens commented: “Not only is Kasiya the world’s largest rutile deposit and one of the largest flake-graphite resources, but our latest graphite industry benchmarking also demonstrates the potential for Kasiya to be a globally dominant supplier and low-cost flake graphite producer at scale. Importantly, the very low graphite production costs at Kasiya should allow Sovereign to compete aggressively on price point across global graphite markets. ”
ENQUIRIES
Dr Julian Stephens (Perth)
Managing Director
+61(8) 9322 6322
Sam Cordin (Perth)
+61(8) 9322 6322
Sapan Ghai (London)
+44 207 478 3900
