"IMO Talga's flagship graphite project would not be a viable...

"IMO Talga's flagship graphite project would not be a viable graphite project based on its flake distribution, its flake size is around 75 micron..."

Larger flake sizes have historically sold at a premium due their use as a flame retardant, but finer flake size is ideal for batteries. See the paragraph below, via the Investor's Guide to Graphite by Matt Fernley (which I have linked previously).

"While natural graphite’s layers increase the surface area for lithium ions to attach themselves to, battery manufacturers require the graphite to be significantly reduced in size to between 5-70 microns, with the 80% mid-range being between 9 - 35 microns. If the graphite particles are larger, there are too many voids, lowering the surface area that lithium-ions can attach themselves to and hence the energy density."

And since Talga's Vittangi deposit consists of these finer flakes, there is less product lost during the value-added processing steps. Which is why a lot of other companies with varying flake sizes, such as Nouveau Monde, have to sell a basket of different products to keep margins high whereas Talga doesn't:




Talga's DFS even makes brief mention of this (see below), as does their YouTube video with The Limiting Factor: https://youtu.be/902K5fWggjQ?t=450

"Over the last 2-3 years, the increased battery demand has led to a rapidly increasing anode pre-cursor graphite capacity in China, causing a temporary oversupply. However the market is forecast to turn into structural deficit by 2023 unless significant new capacity is brought on stream, as global demand growth for coated spherical purified graphite far outstrips operational capacity and planned supply. This will be underpinned by the geological fundamentals of most flake graphite deposits,which produce a ‘basket’ of different flake sizes, with only a fraction suitable for downstream processing into anode materials. The remainder is sold into a vast range of industrial products outside the battery market. Therefore, natural graphite mines that yield only low amounts of anode per resource tonne cannot meet demand, and prices must rise to incentivise new supply."