Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, OTC:SVMLF, AIM:SVML) has installed and commissioned an industrial-scale spiral concentrator plant at its expanded laboratory and testing facility in Lilongwe, Malawi.
This is expected to accelerate graphite offtake discussions with lithium-ion battery manufacturers and traditional graphite markets.
World’s largest, lowest cost
Output at the newly installed plant will support Sovereign’s ambitions to establish itself as a market leader, sporting the world’s largest and lowest-cost producer of rutile for the titanium industry and flake graphite for the lithium-ion battery sector.
The concentrate produced will also be supplied to traditional industrial graphite markets, including refractories, foundries, expandable graphite and graphite foil applications, expanding the project’s market reach.
The plant will process material from the Pilot Phase test pit of Sovereign’s flagship Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project.
Large scale graphite production
The plant can process up to three tonnes per hour, producing large-scale graphite pre-concentrate for ongoing test work and customer qualification.
“The new infrastructure allows Sovereign to deliver large-scale graphite pre-concentrate for qualification by its future potential customers,” managing director Frank Eagar said.
“With a simple and conventional process flowsheet, Kasiya ore is processed at a throughput rate of up to three tonnes per hour for continuous sample preparation.
“Our PFS optimisation continues to advance as planned with oversight from the Sovereign-Rio Tinto Technical Committee.”
The spiral plant mirrors the model selected for the wet concentrator plant (WCP) in the 2023 pre-feasibility study (PFS), streamlining Kasiya’s gravity-based process.
Alongside enabling product testing, the plant will provide valuable training for Malawian employees ahead of full-scale operations.
Bench-scale magnetic separator at Sovereign’s Lilongwe facility separating non-magnetic rutile from other conductive minerals.
The use of this technology allows for the production of a heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) and a graphite-rich tailings stream, ensuring efficient separation of valuable minerals.
Sovereign also recently installed a CoronaStat Electric Separator at its Lilongwe facility to support the Mineral Separation Plant (MSP) stage of the Kasiya process.
This technology, supplied by OreKinetics Pty Ltd, is expected to refine the separation of rutile, the project’s primary product, from other conductive and non-conductive minerals.
High performance product
This installation follows the company's recent announcement on downstream test work, which confirmed the high performance of coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG) from Kasiya’s natural flake graphite, aligning it with leading Chinese anode materials.
The downstream work is crucial in targeting high-demand battery sectors, such as electric vehicles and energy storage systems.