Dual-listed Sovereign Metals says independent benchmarking indicates that the graphite co-product from the Kasiya project, in Malawi, should have significantly lower global warming potential (GWP) compared with current and developing natural graphite projects.

Sovereign has announced the combined results of internal company analysis, supplemented with an independent benchmarking study by UK-based consultancy Minviro, which compared the GWP of producing natural flake graphite from Kasiya against comparable current and future natural graphite projects.

The cradle-to-gate lifecycle assessment (LCA) conducted by Minviro, compared current natural graphite production from China, which produces almost 80% of the world's natural graphite, and proposed near-term production from Tanzania, which offers a regional benchmark against Kasiya, in Malawi.

The LCA study followed ISO 14067:2008 guidelines and was critically reviewed by a panel of three independent experts.

Several graphite producers and explorers or developers have conducted their own LCAs, with conclusions of a select number being made public.

Kasiya’s graphite product currently has the lowest GWP of publicly reported current and future potential graphite production, Sovereign outlines.

The benchmarking study found that the total GWP of 0.2 t of carbon dioxide-equivalent (CO₂e) per tonne of natural flake graphite concentrate produced at Kasiya was significantly lower than the total GWP per tonne produced in Heilongjiang province, China (1.2 t of CO₂e) and the total GWP per tonne produced in Tanzania (0.6 t of CO₂e).

“It is remarkable that our graphite co-product from planned rutile production at Kasiya will not only be potentially one of the lowest-cost flake graphite projects in the world but now can also be considered to have one of the lowest GWPs of current and future graphite mines.

Producers and users of lithium-ion batteries are already taking note of the carbon footprint associated with the raw materials that feed into battery technology – so to be developing Kasiya at this time is truly exciting,” MD Dr Julian Stephens comments.

Minviro's LCA has already previously shown the potential for Sovereign’s primary product of natural rutile to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the titanium pigment industry.

Each tonne of natural rutile produced at Kasiya is expected to have a GWP of 0.1 t of CO₂e, which equates to a 95% to 97% reduction in total greenhouse-gas emissions (20 to 33 times less) compared with production of titania slag and synthetic rutile, respectively – both of which are alternative titanium feedstocks produced by upgrading ilmenite through energy- and carbon-intensive processes.

Mining will be done through hydro-methods (high-powered water monitors) with the operation to be powered almost entirely by renewable sources – hydro-generated grid and on-site solar power.