Sarytogan Graphite Limited (ASX: SGA, “the Company” or “Sarytogan” is pleased to report that it has selected global engineering houses GR Engineering Services Limited (“GR Engineering” and Snowden Optiro to lead the Pre-Feasibility Study for the development of the giant and exceptionally high-grade Sarytogan Graphite Deposit in Central Kazakhstan.
The Company will be advised on the critical marketing aspects of the study by graphite expert, Lone Star Tech Minerals USA (“Lone Star”.
Highlights
• The process engineering will be led by GR Engineering, a global engineering firm with direct experience in Kazakhstan and surrounding countries who is presently engaged in downstream feasibility studies for other ASX graphite companies.
• The mining engineering, including geotechnical studies and hydrogeology, will be led by global engineering company Snowden Optiro.
• Graphite marketing services and advice is being provided by Texas based Lone Star.
• The PFS will run in parallel with the ongoing technical studies including metallurgical test work that is currently underway in Germany and Australia
Sarytogan Managing Director, Sean Gregory commented: “We are thrilled to be partnering with renowned engineering firms GR Engineering and Snowden Optiro together with graphite marketing advisor Lone Star. These are all companies with outstanding international credentials and direct graphite industry experience. The Pre-Feasibility Study is a very important stepping-stone for the Company that will enable the quantification and optimisation of the Sarytogan Graphite Project development.”
Process Engineer
GR Engineering is a leading engineering consulting and contracting company that specialises in providing high quality engineering design and construction services to the mining and mineral processing industries. Their services cover all aspects of the project life cycle from the initial evaluation and study phase through to design, construction, commissioning, and operational support.
GR Engineering is headquartered in Perth, Western Australia and will run the project through their subsidiary in the United Kingdom. They have extensive international experience including work in Kazakhstan and nearby countries.
They are presently engaged by other ASX graphite companies on graphite feasibility studies, including the important aspects of downstream processing.
Mining Engineer
Snowden Optiro is a global mining consultancy specialising in Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimation and optimisation. Snowden has completed several graphite feasibility studies for ASX graphite companies and has a global presence including an office through its parent company Datamine in Almaty, Kazakhstan that will incorporate the work of local Kazakh engineers.
Snowden Optiro’s scope includes mining engineering, geotechnical engineering, and hydrogeology. This will include designing geotech and hydrogeology drill holes for the 2023 field season. The hydrogeology will be completed by Pennington Scott Pty Ltd. Sarytogan will directly contract a tailings engineer. Preliminary Studies identifying potential tailings storage facility locations have already been completed by Knight Piesold Pty Ltd.
Marketing Consultant
Lone Star, located in Dallas, Texas USA, provides industrial minerals and graphite / carbon products consulting services focusing on all aspects of graphite and carbon products. The firm’s owner and principal consultant, Mr Christopher Whiteley (MBA), has successfully implemented global marketing and sales initiatives for many international graphite and carbon companies for fuel cells, li-Ion batteries, lead acid batteries, alkaline batteries, refractories, hot metal forming, engineering applications, pencil, ceramics, polymers and plastics, drilling fluids, automotive products, fire retardants, lubricants, dispersions, SiC, CGI, and geothermal applications.
Any future project development will not be limited by size of the giant and exceptionally high grade Sarytogan Graphite Deposit, but rather the growth the graphite market and the segments penetrated. To this end the advice of our graphite marketing advisor will be invaluable.
Study Strategy
Demand for natural graphite is forecast to rapidly increase by 650% by 2035 (Benchmark Mineral Intelligence infographic “How many new mines do we need?”. There are insufficient new mines in the development pipeline to meet this demand. Macquarie Bank share this view and forecast key battery precursor, Uncoated Spherical Graphite (USpG), prices to increase from US$3,400/t in 2021 to more than US$5,000/t by 2026 (Macquarie Research, March 2023).
Sarytogan is well positioned to meet this demand with its sheer scale and battery anode product strategy. To transform this vision into reality, the Sarytogan Graphite Project needs to progress through the necessary studies to demonstrate technical and economic feasibility. For Sarytogan to publish any economic evaluation of the Sarytogan Graphite Project on the ASX, two key inputs are required.
The first milestone was recently achieved with a Mineral Resource upgrade that includes a majority of Indicated classification (see ASX release dated 27 March 2023).
The second milestone (important to claim the high-value revenue stream of USpG) is the metallurgical test work and battery performance testing scheduled to run throughout 2023, as outlined in the ASX announcement dated 27 February 2023.
The PFS Engineers will initially provide input into phase one of the PFS that will include critical data collection work such as the ongoing technical studies in metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and hydrogeology. The first phase will also include an internal conceptual study as a toll-gate for the Board’s due diligence. Phase two will then involve the bulk of the detailed engineering, informed by the ongoing technical studies.
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Looks good, getting a lot into indicated builds high confidence with JORC.
Ultimately we are waiting on graphite testing, but a PFS underway shows these guys are not mucking around.
SGA Price at posting:
39.5¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
is pleased to report that it has selected global engineering houses GR Engineering Services Limited (“GR Engineering”
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