PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Graphite focused Black Rock Mining has delivered the world’s first 99%+ purity graphite concentrate at its pilot plant in Canada, from ore mined at its Mahenge graphite project, in Tanzania.
“We are not aware of any deposit that is capable of producing 99.3% grade concentrate by standard flotation alone. Being able to generate ultrahigh-grade product using flotation is of significant value to downstream processors who are increasingly finding environmental constraints impacting their business,” said Black Rock CEO John de Vries.
“The value proposition of producing high specification concentrate has been validated by Syrah Resources’ recent announcement of planned increases of Balama concentrate grades to a targeted 97% to 98%.”
De Vries said that the company was particularly pleased with the minimal flake degradation during the additional polishing, with over 55% of the ultra grade concentrate reporting to the large and jumbo fractions, which underlined how remarkable the Mahenge flake was.
“We believe through the consistent delivery of outstanding results and steadily progressing the project, Mahenge is demonstrating itself as the best undeveloped graphite project available globally.”
Some 90 t of Mahenge ore was processed at the SGS Lakefield facility in Canada, comprising 50 t from Cascades and 40 t from Ulanzi.
The Mahenge project could deliver up to 250 000 t/y of graphite concentrate over a 31-year mine life. The project will be developed in three stages, with the first stage to require a capital investment of $90.1-million.