The Collie Micronising Facility will be built on vacant lots...

The Collie Micronising Facility will be built on vacant lots across the road from the existing site of IG6's Collie location in a light industrial estate on Morrison Way.

The facility will micronise graphite concentrate initially from imported product and later from Springdale concentrate. Stage 1 will produce ~3,000tpa of micronised product suitable for use in cathode additives, polymers, adhesives, ceramics and specialty lubricants, etc or being further processed by purification, spheroidisation and coating for use as a battery anode material (BAM). Stage 2 would expand this facility to ~10,000tpa.

Cost to build and fit out the Collie Micronising Facility for Stage 1 is estimated to cost A$4m, of which A$2m is from a government grant with the rest to come from the remainder of other grants, R&D credits, cash reserves. IRR was forecast as ~53% when this was a ~4ktpa facility at a cost of $12.5m.

From slide 8 of their RIU Explorers Conference presentation in February 2024:

▪ Broad range of battery / energy storage and industrial uses eg thermal management, lubricants, engineered
products, polymers and battery cathodes
▪ Australian and international customers
▪ Average market price US$1,750/t – US$8,500/t (standard -> high purity range)
▪ Operating costs US$1,500/t – US$1,850/t (varies by product)
▪ Product range – standard and high purity micronised graphite flake 5-45um (D90)


The Collie Micronising Facility is separate from the proposed Collie BAM Facility which would eventually process ~40ktpa of graphite concentrate forecasted to produce around 18.6ktpa of coated spheroidised purified graphite and ~17ktpa of micronised by-product on a currently optioned 20ha site in Collie's Coolangatta Industrial Estate. Note that recent lab testing has indicated the potential for the yield to be up to 76% higher, although likely to be lower given that testing was under laboratory conditions.