The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
The mining newspaper for Alaska and Canada's North
Unique characteristics of Alaska project could meet downstream demand for spheroidal graphite used in high-technology manufacturing
Having established that the Graphite Creek deposit in western Alaska is so massive that a mine could ship out 50,000 metric tons of graphite per year for centuries, Graphite One is now narrowing its focus to study the graphitic carbon found on the property.
This new emphasis is on upgrading a segment of the enormous resource already identified to a category in which mining economics can be considered and analyzing the graphite to ascertain whether it fits the needs of downstream users of graphitic carbon such as manufacturers of lithium-ion batteries.
While lithium gets top billing in the battery of choice for electric vehicles and a growing field of other battery powered devices, there is 10-30 times more graphite than lithium in these power cells.
This and other high-tech uses are expected to bolster the need for graphite, according to a report published by Persistence Market Research in February.
"Rising demand for electric vehicles and other electronic devices such as mobiles, tablets, laptops, and cameras offers huge potential for the growth of the lithium-ion battery industry. This, in turn, is further expected to boost demand for graphite in North America," the New York City-based research company explained.
Metallurgical work done by Tru Group Inc. - a technology metals consultant with expertise along the entire graphite-graphene supply chain - indicates that the graphite found at Graphite Creek may be uniquely qualified to fill many of the high-technology and green energy applications that are expected to drive the need for a United States source of graphite.
"Our Graphite Creek Project in Alaska has the potential to be a significant supplier of high-quality, large flake graphite at a time when technology is driving increasing demand - and has established natural graphite as a critical and strategic mineral," said Graphite One President and CEO Anthony Huston.
Indicated resource
The continuity and simple geology of the 100-meter-thick graphite-rich layer that outcrops to the surface for some three miles (five kilometers) along the northern slopes of the Kigluaik Mountains has enabled Graphite One to readily outline a world-class graphite deposit with limited drilling.
"Our progress at Graphite Creek is due to a combination of factors: the continuity of the mineralization, a near-surface location and simple geology. Taken together these factors have allowed us to grow our resource to an impressive size with limited drilling - just 50 drill holes to date," explains Huston.
By early in 2014, Graphite One had outlined an inferred resource of 186.9 million metric tons of material averaging 5.5 percent graphite, or 10.35 metric tons of the carboniferous material. This could supply 50,000 metric tons of graphite per year for roughly 200 years.
While enormous, this deposit represents drilling along roughly a third of an 11-mile-long conductor zone revealed by an extensive airborne magnetic-electromagnetic survey flown in 2012 and the drilling completed through 2013 demonstrated a close correlation between the conductor and graphite in the ground.
With more than enough inferred graphite, a 22-hole drill program completed in 2014 focused on upgrading a 730-meter segment of the 4,800-meter deposit to categories that the economics for mining could be considered.
As a result, this drilling upgraded 17.95 million metric tons of the deposit to the indicated category averaging 6.3 percent graphitic carbon.
Only a fraction of the overall deposit, the 1.13 metric tons of indicated graphite could provide a basis for a preliminary economic assessment for Graphite Creek.
"With this updated mineral resource estimate, we have the basis for developing our initial PEA, and the foundation for an infill drill program in 2015 to bring additional resources into the measured and indicated category," Huston said during the March release of the upgraded resource.
"The metallurgical samples we obtain will help us further refine our knowledge of the recovery and size distribution of our unique deposit and position Graphite Creek as a new source for the growing graphite market," he added.
Unique STAX graphite
According to a report published by Tru Group in early April, newly found characteristics of the Graphite Creek deposit may be a good fit for many of the high-tech and green energy sectors that are driving a large part of the growing graphite market.
As identified by TRU, these distinguishing features can be described as spheroidal, thin, aggregate and expanded.
Not all graphite makes a suitable ingredient for lithium-ion batteries. The anodes of these electricity storage cells need a higher form of the carbon known as spherical graphite. Typically, this requires mined graphite to be purified and turned into spheres, which increase the conductivity by increasing the surface area.
Tru Group has found that naturally occurring spheroidal graphite at Graphite Creek may fit this need with less processing. According to a report published by the strategic metals consultant, this spherical graphite was found in all the holes sampled.
Expanded graphite, also naturally existing at Graphite Creek, has excellent thermal qualities that make it an ideal lightweight material to use in heat sinks that keep laptop computers cool. This form of graphite also has outstanding electrical properties that lend to the production of very high power alkaline batteries.
These unique and naturally occurring properties have prompted Graphite One to apply for the trademark, STAX, to describe Graphite Creek graphite.
"TRU's study reveals the unique characteristics of the Graphite Creek mineralization, and we believe the STAX trademark succinctly captures these features," said Huston.
Because of the importance of this development, Graphite One is briefly suspending work on the PEA previously scheduled for release before mid-year in order to incorporate TRU's findings.
"Additional research and development is necessary to round out these findings and determine how these unique features may impact the development of the project," explains Huston.
Both companies caution that significant additional research and development is required to confirm these findings for the project.
"The discovery of this unique graphite, named STAX, is of notable scientific interest," says TRU President Edward Anderson. "We are anxious to delve more deeply into the 'natural' character of STAX and assess how those characteristics impact processing of graphite into finished products."
Growing demand
As Tru and Graphite One work to find the best fits for the various forms of graphite found at the western Alaska deposit, downstream demands for the carboniferous mineral continues to grow.
According to the U. S. Geological Survey, Tesla Motors' lithium-ion battery Gigafactory, alone, will require 93,000 metric tons of flake graphite for use as anode material when the facility comes online, which is scheduled for 2020.
In its 2015 commodity summaries report, USGS points out that the United States does not currently mine any graphite. Roughly 45 percent of graphite used in the country since 2010 has been imported from China, most of the balance comes from Mexico, Canada and Brazil.
This foreign reliance has the Pentagon keeping an eye on graphite.
"Defense uses of natural graphite include batteries, lubricants, body armor, engine turbine components, coatings for aircraft manufacture, and missile parts," the U.S. Department of Defense said in a recent report, "Strategic and Critical Materials 2015 Report on Stockpile Requirements."
Because of its military applications, increasing demand in the private sector and the lack of a domestic supply, graphite is on a short list of mined materials that the Pentagon is watching.
"The United States has no domestic production of natural graphite, but it is consumed by roughly 90 U.S. companies," the Pentagon wrote. "Top-quality flake graphite will likely see an increase in demand in the coming years; meanwhile the supply looks to be steady at best, and there are concerns about potential export controls out of China."
Growing uses for graphite in the U.S. defense, high-tech and green energy sectors bode well for a dependable supply of this unique form of carbon.
"Every trend we see tells us that U.S. efforts to re-invigorate its manufacturing base and pioneer the development of new technologies will require a robust and reliable source of domestic graphite," Huston added.
Over his more than 16 years of covering mining and mineral exploration, Shane has become renowned for his ability to report on the sector in a way that is technically sound enough to inform industry insiders while being easy to understand by a wider audience.
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