Graphite & Kaolin projects

Before ITM would list on ASX, I did a bit of research on the potential value of the flagship ITM projects, namely the Eyre Peninsula/Franklyn Kaolin and Graphite (Campoona) prospects.

Whilst, the kaolin projects are still in fairly early days seemingly, the Campoona project is in a relatively advanced stage with a scoping study already done back in 2016. The study came with a JORC complaint resource estimate of 8.55m tonne of 9.0% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) resource and an estimated project NPV of $126m across a 17 years of mine life (mining processing lease granted already). The potential NPV since then could have dramatically improved, especially now that ITM is looking into developing high purity (99+%) Spherical Graphite that is highly sought after by li-ion battery manufacturers and has a price tag of US$3400 to US$4,400. Just for reference, this new spot price range is approx. 40-70% higher than the historical price used in the 2016 NPV calculations (US$2500). ITM is also looking into partnering with a leading European industrial and specialty minerals producer Dorfner Group (ANZAPLAN) to further advance their battery material product offerings.

Overall, it looks like a very interesting IPO, not just because of the graphite project, but lately there have been a lot of exciting news in the high purity alumina (kaolin) space too with Alpha HPA and FYI Resources getting close to HPA production. It'll be worth following the news around the kaolin developments as well.

More from the 2016 Eyre Peninsula Graphite scoping study by Archer:
https://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20160919/pdf/43b8qlg9wqf2w0.pdf