Trabajo exitoso de prueba de batería con grafito Amitsoq
GreenRoc Mining Plc / EPIC: GROC / Mercado: AIM / Sector: Minería
31 de enero de 2024
GreenRoc Minería plc
("GreenRoc" o la "Compañía")
Successful Battery Test Work using Amitsoq Anode Material &
Update on Processing Plant Feasibility Study
GreenRoc Mining plc (AIM: GROC), a company focused on the development of critical mineral projects in Greenland, is pleased to announce the successful results of electrochemical battery test work using graphite from its Amitsoq Graphite Project ("Amitsoq" or the "Project") in southern Greenland, along with an update on its Processing Plant Feasibility Study following a visit to processing plant manufacturers in China last week.
General
· An anode electrode was prepared at a specialised battery research facility in Europe using Amitsoq uncoated purified spherical graphite and then assembled with other components in a test battery cell.
· A series of charging and discharging cycles were performed. The Amitsoq graphite anode performed well against all studied parameters, was very stable and had no signs of damage or loss of capacity after several cycles of both short and intensive charging.
· This was the first battery test work of Amitsoq graphite. The positive results are important because not all natural graphite is suitable for use as active anode material in battery cells.
· As part of GreenRoc's ongoing Feasibility Study into the construction of an active anode processing plant, GreenRoc representatives recently visited several of China's leading manufacturers of spheronisation equipment and graphite processing plants.
Detalles
Battery Test Work
To qualify as potential feedstock for the production of active anode material for lithium-ion ("Li") batteries, graphite concentrate must have its performance tested in a battery setup. In autumn 2023, GreenRoc contracted ProGraphite GmbH in Germany to order and oversee an electrochemical test work programme at a well-established battery research centre on graphite extracted in 2022 from the Lower Graphite Layer orebody at Amitsoq.
Amitsoq graphite concentrate was processed into spherical graphite with D50 of 16 µm (average particle size of 16 micrometre) and purified to >99.95% graphite. This material was combined with other components to form a final slurry, which was coated onto a copper foil to form the anode. This anode was then inserted within a newly assembled single, disc-shaped Lithium-based battery cell with a diameter of 10.95 mm. The battery cell was then subjected to a series of charging and discharging cycles.
The results of the programme reported a first discharge specific capacity after battery formation and condition of 369 mAh/g. This is close to the theoretical maximum achievable value of 372mAh/g, which is considered a good result. In subsequent cycles, the charging capacities achieved were also considered good for uncoated spherical graphite.
In tests with a long charging time (3-10 hours), the discharge performance was very good with near 100% Coulombic Efficiency (99.81% +/- 0.06% to 100.09% +/- 0.2%).
At a high number of charge/discharge cycles (40-44), the battery maintained a high capacity (363 mAh/g), which suggests good durability, and, after a high charging rate/short charging time (6 minutes) cycle, the performance was still good, showing that no damage occurred to the material at such elevated charging rates.
Finally, differential capacity measurements showed staged intercalation of Li-ions both during charging and during discharging, which in turn demonstrates good crystallinity of the Amitsoq graphite anode material. This is also a positive, since long cycle life correlates with stable graphite crystallite size.
Please refer to the Glossary below for an explanation of certain technical terms used in this section.
Active Anode Material Processing Plant
GreenRoc aims to become a vertically integrated producer of active anode material ("AAM", also known as coated spherical purified graphite or "cSPG") using graphite concentrate from its Amitsoq project in Greenland.
In September 2023, the Company commenced a Feasibility Study into establishing a processing plant supported by a ca. £260,000 grant from the UK's Automotive Transformation Fund. It is planned that the Feasibility Study will be delivered by end of Q2, 2024.
The Company is pleased to report that the first and second work phases of the Feasibility Study, namely collecting market and technical data and material for the study, are now complete. As part of that work, GreenRoc representatives, together with a metallurgist from SLR Consulting Ltd, an adviser on the Feasibility Study, last week visited three leading manufacturers of processing equipment in the Zhejiang and Shandong provinces in China. These manufacturers are able to provide both complete and modular graphite processing lines and have extensive experience of delivering equipment to graphite processing plants in China, a country which today manufactures more than 90% of the world's AAM.
While in China, GreenRoc's representatives also visited an operating graphite processing plant, including chemical purification lines, to view processing equipment in operation.
The next stages of the Feasibility Study include the design of both a pilot and a full-scale processing plant, estimation of production rates, energy requirements and consumables, a full discounted cash flow model for the full-scale processing plant and integrating a risk model.
El CEO de GreenRoc, Stefan Bernstein, comentó:
"The outcome of this battery test programme is hugely pleasing. This is the first time that graphite material from our Amitsoq Project has been tested for its performance within an assembled lithium ion battery cell. These results demonstrate that uncoated purified spherical graphite from Amitsoq performs very well as the active anode material in a battery cell, which is excellent news given that not all natural graphite material is suitable for use in the manufacture of batteries.
"Our Feasibility Study into the establishment of an active anode material processing plant is also progressing well and is on schedule. We now have comprehensive reports on the graphite anode market, on specifications for graphite anodes, and on the various options for processing techniques and equipment. During our visit to China, we saw at first hand the state-of-the-art processing equipment which today, in Chinese processing lines, is delivering active anode material to all of the world's battery producers.
"We now have a much clearer understanding of the steps towards establishing an AAM processing plant in our part of the world and look forward to completing the Feasibility Study in the next few months. This will be a key step towards GreenRoc becoming one of the first producers of active anode material for EV batteries in a Western economy."
Este anuncio contiene información privilegiada para los propósitos de la Regulación de Abuso del Mercado del Reino Unido y los Directores de la Compañía son responsables de la publicación de este anuncio.
Declaraciones prospectivas
Este anuncio contiene declaraciones prospectivas relacionadas con eventos futuros esperados o anticipados y resultados anticipados que son de naturaleza prospectiva y, como resultado, están sujetos a ciertos riesgos e incertidumbres, tales como condiciones generales económicas, de mercado y comerciales, competencia por personal calificado, el proceso y las acciones regulatorias, problemas técnicos, nueva legislación, incertidumbres resultantes de posibles retrasos o cambios en los planes, incertidumbres resultantes de trabajar en una nueva jurisdicción política, incertidumbres con respecto a los resultados de la exploración, incertidumbres con respecto al momento y la concesión de prospección derechos, incertidumbres con respecto al momento y la concesión de consentimientos y aprobaciones regulatorias y de terceros, incertidumbres con respecto a la capacidad de la Compañía o de cualquier tercero para ejecutar e implementar planes futuros, y la ocurrencia de eventos inesperados.
Los resultados reales obtenidos pueden diferir de la información proporcionada en este documento como resultado de numerosos riesgos e incertidumbres conocidos y desconocidos y otros factores.
Glosario
Battery formation and condition: During the first charging/discharging cycles, a solid electrolyte layer is formed at the surface of the graphite anode particles. This is an integral process for the creation of Litio agresión con lesiones for the performance in terms of cycle life limitations, the capacity for reversibility and safety.
Charging and discharging cycles: A discharge/charge cycle is commonly understood as the full discharge of a charged battery with a subsequent full recharge.
Coulombic Efficiency: Also known as "Current Efficiency", this describes the efficiency by which electrons are transferred in batteries. Coulombic Efficiency is the ratio of the total charge extracted from the battery to the total charge put into the battery over a full cycle.
Differential capacity: This tracks a battery's capacity change on charge and discharge as a function of voltage. Peaks in capacity during charge/discharge are indications of graphite crystallinity (phase transitions).
Rendimiento de descarga: This indicates how efficiently the graphite anode releases the lithium ions.
** ENDS **?
Para más información, por favor póngase en contacto con:?
GreenRoc Minería Plc? ¿Stefan Bernstein, director ejecutivo? ? | +44 20 3950 0724
|
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (nómada)?????? ¿James Caithie/Sandy Jamieson/Louise O'Driscoll? ? | +44 20 7213 0880
|
SP Ángel (Broker)? Ewan Leggat / Charlie Bouverat ?? | +44 20 3470 0500 |
St Brides Partners Ltd (relaciones públicas e relaciones financieras financieras) Paul Dulieu / Isabel De Salis / Isabelle Morris ? | +44 20 7236 1177 |
Acerca de GreenRoc
GreenRoc Mining plc es una empresa cotizada en AIM que está desarrollando proyectos mineros en Groenlandia en minerales críticos, de alta demanda y alto valor.
Dirigido por un grupo de profesionales de la industria minera altamente experimentados, GreenRoc tiene una cartera de proyectos 100% propios, todos los cuales tienen recursos definidos:
· Proyecto de grafito Amitsoq, uno de los depósitos de grafito de más alta ley en el mundo con un recurso JORC medido, indicado e inferido combinado de 23.05 millones de toneladas (Mt) con una ley promedio de 20.41% de grafito, lo que da un contenido total de grafito de 4.71 Mt;
· Proyecto de ilmenita Thule Black Sands ('TBS'), que tiene un Recurso Mineral inicial de 19Mt con un 43.6% de Minerales Pesados Totales con una ley de ilmenita in situ de 8.9%; y
· Proyecto de hierro de la bahía de Melville, que tiene una estimación de recursos minerales de 67Mt con un 31.4 % de hierro y ha demostrado ser procesable a un concentrado de 70 % de alta ley con pocas impurezas.
Acerca de Amitsoq
Amitsoq está ubicado en la región de Nanortalik, en el sur de Groenlandia, y ha sido confirmado como uno de los proyectos de grafito en escamas de mayor calidad del mundo. GreenRoc se centra en acelerar el desarrollo de Amitsoq hasta convertirlo en una mina productora en el menor tiempo posible para satisfacer la demanda crítica de los fabricantes de vehículos eléctricos ('EV') en Europa y América del Norte de fuentes de grafito nuevas, de alta calidad y libres de conflictos. .
Puntos clave sobre Amitsoq:
· GreenRoc holds the Amitsoq exclusive exploration licence MEL2013_06 of a total of 72.52km2 in the South of Greenland.
· Amitsoq has a total inferred, indicated and measured JORC Resource of 23.05 million tonnes (Mt) at an average grade of 20.41% Graphitic Carbon ("C(g)"), giving a total graphite content of 4.71 Mt.
· Results of the Preliminary Economic Assessment were released on 31 October 2023 stating a post-tax NPV8 of US$179M at an IRR of 26.7%. Capex estimated at US$131M including a 25% contingency.
· Se han extraído varias muestras con el fin de probar la calidad del grafito Amitsoq.
· Trabajos de pruebas independientes de micronización y esferonización han demostrado que el grafito Amitsoq se puede actualizar fácilmente a grafito de alta calidad de ánodo, también conocido como grafito esférico de alta pureza o cSPG, una materia prima clave en la fabricación de vehículos eléctricos.
· En los programas de trabajo de prueba de GreenRoc, el grafito esferonizado de Amitsoq logró una pureza superior al 99.95 % con relativamente poca entrada de energía y procesamiento y utilizando un método de purificación alcalino más suave en comparación con el ácido fluorhídrico estándar de la industria, lo que es un buen augurio para los costos de producción futuros y los compromisos de sostenibilidad.
· Existen importantes ventajas adicionales en Amitsoq, ya que el depósito de la isla de Amitsoq está abierto en al menos dos direcciones con potencial para una expansión adicional considerable a través del depósito continental Kalaaq de calidad similar, así como una serie de otros objetivos de alta calidad en el paquete de licencia de GreenRoc.
· El depósito estaba en producción a pequeña escala hace unos 100 años, y desde entonces sigue existiendo un considerable desarrollo de mina subterránea, lo que será de considerable beneficio para GreenRoc en la fase de construcción de la mina.
· Tras un detallado proceso de evaluación, la Alianza Europea de Materias Primas ha expresado su apoyo a GreenRoc y su proyecto de grafito Amitsoq, afirmando que "el recurso de grafito de GreenRoc es de importancia global y, junto con la estrategia de la Compañía, permitirá a la Unión Europea alcanzar un cierto nivel de independencia para la cadena de suministro de vehículos eléctricos. ERMA ha aprobado el proyecto Amitsoq Graphite y se comprometerá a apoyar su desarrollo y financiación para producir estas materias primas críticas en beneficio de los objetivos de la Unión Europea". (ver RNS de 8 de febrero de 2023).
· On 9 October 2023, GreenRoc was awarded a grant of approximately £250,000 by the Automotive Transformation Fund in the UK to part-finance a feasibility study into the establishment of a graphite spheronisation processing plant in the UK to produce active anode material from graphite concentrate delivered from Amitsoq.
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