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Sarytogan adds industrial diamonds to mix of graphite opportunities
Brought to you by BULLS N’ BEARS
By James Pearson
Sarytogan Graphite has added synthetic industrial diamonds to its growing mixed bag of high-value market opportunities to come from its namesake project in Kazakhstan.
The company says it has reached a major milestone by successfully growing synthetic industrial diamonds using its ultra-high purity fine (UHPF) graphite as the feedstock in advanced manufacturing process.
Sarytogan Graphite has been able to successfully produce premium synthetic diamonds for higher-value industrial markets utilising its ultra-high purity fines graphite as feedstock.
Synthetic industrial diamonds are very hard wearing and have a myriad of uses including metalworking, cutting, drilling, lapping, road construction and others.
By putting UHPF under intense heat and pressure – simulating the natural process of a diamond’s creation from carbon – the company was able to grow premium-priced industrial diamonds up to 1mm with remarkable yields of 48-54 per cent.
Its 99.999 per cent UHPF graphite, sometimes referred to as “five nines,” is already poised to become a cornerstone of the company’s future product suite, having demonstrated its suitability for use in the nuclear industry to name just one.
‘Sarytogan’s development strategy is to place as many units of carbon into as many markets as possible.’
Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory
By opening up industrial diamonds as a second market for its ultra-pure product, management says it is tapping into a global market of 3000 tonnes per annum (tpa) that requires at least 6000tpa of high purity graphite as feedstock.
Given the feedstock product is more than 50 times purer than the required specification for lithium-ion battery anodes, its value is reflected in its premium pricing, fetching up to US$5577 (A$8593) per tonne.
The hardness of synthetic diamonds also makes them ideal for cutting highly specific optical lenses, electronic components and semiconductor polishing.
Beyond mechanical applications, the stones have a high tolerance for managing heat generated by high-powered devices such as lasers and transistors.
Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory said: “Sarytogan Graphite has again demonstrated remarkable performance to open another high-value market. Sarytogan’s development strategy is to place as many units of carbon into as many markets as possible.”
The company’s Karaganda-based project in Central Kazakhstan, 300km southeast of the capital of Astana, is host to a massive mineral resource of 229 million tonnes at a serious 28.9 per cent total graphitic carbon.
A recent prefeasibility study found the project could deliver a US$518 (A$787 million) net present value for the company by employing a phased development approach, beginning with a modest initial capex of US$62 million (A$95.5 million) to produce 50,000 tonnes of spheroidised graphite per annum for use in lithium-ion battery anodes.
To produce a UHPF product suitable for industrial diamond manufacture, Sarytogan will need to incorporate an additional development stage by building a thermal reactor to purify the graphite before - rather than after - spheroidisation.
Sarytogan is trialling a 20t sample recently taken from its deposit for milling tests and product sampling.
One tonne has been sent to Australia for flotation concentrate tests, while additional material has been sent to the United States for purification.
The company then expects to have several hundred kilograms of beneficiated graphite and UHPF to offer to potential customers to put through their various qualification programs.
Given the huge market for beneficiated and purified graphite, ranging from industrial diamonds used in multiple everyday industries to the manufacture of anodes for lithium-ion batteries, Saytogan appears to have the major markets covered well with its basket of graphite products expected to be produced out of Kazakhstan.
The substantial size of the deposit, coupled with its strategic proximity to major markets and very high grade, should increasingly position the project as one of globally significance.
The project was recently mentioned as a case study of note during a briefing by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development at the inaugural opening of the United Nations’ Minerals Security Partnership Finance Network, further showcasing its global importance.
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