PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Talga has started trial mining at its Vittangi graphite project, in northern Sweden.
The trial mine, operating under a three-year permit issued by the Environmental Review Commission within the Norrbotten County Administration Board, covers the extraction of 25 000 t of graphite ore from Talga’s Niska South deposit at Vittangi.
Trial mined ore will be subsequently refined into the Talga’s flagship lithium-ion battery anode product, known as Talnode-C, for large scale production testing in the electric vehicle supply chain, the company said on Wednesday.
Trial mine operations are scheduled to begin in mid-September and in this first phase of the campaign, some 2 500 t of graphite ore will be extracted before the site is rehabilitated for the northern hemisphere winter.
The balance of the permitted 25 000 t graphite ore is planned to be accessed in 2022.
“The trial mining of our Niska South deposit will allow Talga to begin testing Talnode-C samples on a mass production scale,” said Talga MD Mark Thompson.
“The graphite anode products created from the ore will help progress Talga's battery manufacturing customer qualification trials and market testing towards future expanded commercial production."