Production of battery-grade Leliyn graphite a clear win for Kingsland Minerals

Testing of graphite concentrate from the project initially produced PSG with grades of up to 99.96% using low temperature alkaline bake methods.

It then used an additional dilute acid wash to increase the grade to 99.97%, which more than qualifies the PSG as being battery-grade (99.95% purity) and thus suitable for use in lithium-ion batteries.

This achievement follows Kingsland Minerals’ (ASX:KNG) metallurgical tests earlier this month finding that it could potentially produce a gallium by-product from muscovite and biotite mica concentrate obtained from material previously used to extract a graphite concentrate.

Leliyn has a resource of 194.6Mt grading 7.3% total graphitic carbon and is the subject of a scoping study that contemplates a mine and processing facility producing 94% spherical graphite concentrate.

“These are clearly exceptional results which show our strategy to be a leading graphite provider to the EV and renewable energy sectors is well on track,” managing director Richard Maddocks said.

“These results further demonstrate the Leliyn graphite project has the potential to supply a high value, Australian-made spherical graphite product.

“The results confirm that we can produce high-grade purified spherical graphite from the Leliyn graphite project. To obtain results as good as these on our first attempt is exceptional.

“Now we know we can produce a final product, we will focus on optimising the whole process chain to produce superior graphite concentrate for the battery anode market.”

KNG will now proceed with optimising the processing flowsheet to produce concentrate of consistent grade and particle size to suit the micronising and spheronising process.

It will also provide samples of the PSG material to its offtake partner Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners to assess the parameters of its proposed downstream processing facility at Darwin to produce PSG.

Quinbrook, which is looking to offtake all graphite concentrate produced by the project, had provided a $2.56m investment at a significant premium in late October 2024.

The Leliyn scoping study is also on track for delivery in September 2025.

KNG had previously flagged that it will carry out drilling to further increase resources given that just 4.2km, or 23%, of the entire 18km strike length of the graphitic schist has been drilled to date and included in the resource.

This is highlighted by the impressive exploration target of 700Mt to 1.1Bt with a grade range of 7-8% total graphitic carbon.