Black Rock Mining Ltd's (ASX:BKT) strategic alliance and development partner POSCO Ltd is making meaningful progress on due diligence for the Mahenge Graphite Project in Tanzania, with battery manufacture and extended battery performance testing work.
POSCO has so far completed work which includes performance testing of lithium-ion batteries produced using coated anode made from spheronised Mahenge graphite.
It has also undertaken reversible capacity testing on test cells manufactured from Mahenge graphite which showed equivalent level of performance to POSCO’s optimised commercial reference anode; and the initiation of long-term cycle testing of the cells.
Validating product
Black Rock’s managing director and chief executive officer John de Vries said: “Black Rock is the only graphite development company that has been able to put product into the hands of a battery major.
“The fact we now have customer data validating our product for first cycle efficiency is a very significant milestone.
“Based on the 300-cycle battery testing Black Rock performed in the US, we are confident of the performance characteristics of Mahenge graphite heading into long-term cycle testing now underway with POSCO.”
COVID-19 impact
Black Rock has also agreed to extend POSCO’s completion date of the due diligence period to November 20, 2020.
Due diligence is being conducted by POSCO, supported by external subject matter experts, including SRK Consulting for technical aspects.
However, COVID-19 related travel restrictions and logistics constraints have impacted the ability for POSCO to achieve timely site access and sample logistics.
De Vries added: ”The revised due diligence schedule will accommodate for the impact from ongoing COVID-19 related restrictions and allow POSCO to complete their remaining work under a sensible timeframe.”
Proceeding into long-term cycle tests
Cells were tested for initial first cycle efficiency and compared to reference standards.
The cells tested have passed acceptance standards and are now proceeding into long-term cycle tests.
The test data compares well with cells prepared using uncoated Spherical Graphite (uSPG) from Black Rock 2017/18 USA battery program.
Financing talks
Black Rock Mining said it was progressing financing discussions and detailed engineering with a view to commencing construction of the project.
The Mahenge graphite project has a JORC-compliant mineral resource estimate of 212 million tonnes at 7.8% total graphite content (TGC) and has ore reserves of 70 million tonnes at 8.5% TGC.
These ore reserves support a mine life of up to 350,000 tonnes of graphite per annum for a reserve life of 16 years.