Hartleys lifted its net asset value estimate on Renascor Resources Ltd.’s Siviour graphite project in South Australia with China expected to become a net importer of graphite for the first time this year, a situation that will favor the ASX-listed junior.
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/50604530
A WINDSWEPT paddock on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula could offer a drought-affected community a lifeline with explorer Renascor Resources’ planned 142,000 tonne per year graphite operation at the Siviour deposit expected to bring more than 100 jobs to the region.
https://www.miningmonthly.com/development/news/1358504/sunburnt-country-for-renascor
A WINDSWEPT paddock on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia could offer a drought-affected community a lifeline with explorer Renascor Resources’ planned 142,000 tonne per year graphite operation at the Siviour deposit expected to bring more than 100 jobs to the region.
https://www.miningnews.net/site-visits/news/1358563/renascor-offers-hope-in-drought-country
Renascor Resources Ltd. has revealed a different staged approach to large-scale development of its Siviour graphite project on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula as potentially the “best of both worlds” option most likely to attract finance.
Renascor revealed in its prefeasibility study in March 2018 that it was weighing up a 200,000-tonne-per-annum small-scale plant for the first three years before ramping up to 1.85 Mtpa out to 30 years, or coming straight out with a 1.65 Mtpa plant.
https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/latest-news-headlines/50416272
It’s always good to speak to your global peers – and we were certainly able to do that earlier in November, when we attended the 2017 Graphite Supply Chain Conference in Newport Beach, California.
Renascor Resources was one of the companies chosen to give a graphite project update and our managing director, David Christensen, took up the opportunity to update the audience on our Siviour project in South Australia.
Many of the delegates were hearing the Siviour story for the first time and the interest in Siviour at the conference was gratifying. David shared with the delegates the robust economics of Siviour and the fact that it is unique among peer Tier-1 graphite developments as being in the sedate political jurisdiction of Australia.
Siviour is among the largest reported graphite deposits in the world, with a shallow, flat-lying mineralised body. The orientation of the ore body should mean that Siviour has some of the lowest production costs of any similar project in the world.
We expect the flake size distribution and high purity of the graphite concentrates that we will produce at Siviour to suit well the lithium-ion battery market – which is burgeoning on the back of the electric vehicle revolution – and some of the other high-growth markets that are emerging for graphite.
David took the delegates through a macro story they know well: China dominates the supply of graphite but the market is restricted and unstable, with new safety and environmental regulations and export restrictions further reducing supply.
While other potential supply sources are opening up – indeed, we shared the conference stage with some of them – David was able to take the delegates through the highly appealing nature of Australia as a low sovereign-risk jurisdiction.
If a secure source of high-quality supply came on stream from Australia, it would be very attractive to graphite users.
David received many favourable comments about the project being based on the ninth-largest reported graphite indicated resource in the world as well as its location and proximity to excellent infrastructure.
David received several questions from the audience plus many more from fellow delegates at the social functions. The questioners all showed a receptive understanding of Siviour’s potential, most particularly the options it gives us for a staged development.
We left Newport Beach very confident that participants at the Supply Chain Conference understood very well the unique nature of our project.
Having recently raised about $3 million before costs in a share placement, we are well-positioned to progress the Siviour prefeasibility study.
We’re evaluating both the staged approach as well as an immediate large-scale option, with the start-up production scale to be determined after we complete the study. In our evaluation, we are taking into account the discussions we are having with potential offtake and finance partners.
The staged approach offers us a potential lower-risk alternative to a large-scale start-up by taking advantage of some of the key strengths of Siviour such as the shallow, easily accessible ore body and its proximity to South Australia’s infrastructure.
As we move towards completing the study and advance discussions with potential partners, we’re committed to evaluating all the viable options for bringing Siviour into production.
Sitting on a tier 1 graphite asset is a great position to be in when global demand for the mineral is poised to surge.
Graphite is often spoken about in terms of its use in lithium-ion batteries and the expected growth in demand driven by electric cars the imperative for utility-scale batteries designed to store intermittent wind and solar energy.
Despite their name, lithium-ion batteries contain far more graphite than they do lithium.
But there are more uses than lithium-ion batteries driving graphite demands. A whole range of high-tech growth areas need graphite:
Driven by these factors, investment bank UBS expects the global graphite market – currently a US$16.2 billion ($20.5 billion) market – to grow by between 1.7 times and 2 times by 2025.
Research firm BCC Research says the electric vehicle and energy storage markets are undergoing huge shifts that are reorienting the graphite industry, particularly in the natural graphite market. BCC Research expects the global market for graphite to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.7% over the period 2016-2021, driven by 24.7%pa growth in electrical applications.
The firm says electrical conductivity properties are ushering in a large new market for graphite in the field of energy storage applications. Additionally, mobile phones and other electronic equipment require power and energy storage devices, and graphite is at the forefront of meeting these needs.
Among all battery technologies, BCC Research says lithium-ion battery technology excels for its ability to store large quantities of power in limited space while quickly powering devices and equipment: these batteries use between 30 grams–40 grams of graphite for each gram of lithium used.
Given that we own the biggest graphite deposit in Australia by a factor of three – and the ninth largest reported graphite indicated resource in the world – these are highly exciting numbers.
We plan to start mine construction at our Siviour project on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia by 2020 and have the mine up and running by 2021 at one of the lowest production costs of any similar project in the world.
Development of the Siviour project remains on schedule. We are currently completing an accelerated small-scale start-up study, as well as a scoping study regarding the production of spherical graphite. Results of these studies are expected this quarter, with the completion of the pre-feasibility study expected shortly thereafter.