REG - Alba Mineral Resrcs. - GROC Update: Milestone Key Passed at Amitsoq

Alba Mineral ResourcesAnnouncement

08/11/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 6004F  Alba Mineral Resources PLC  08 November 2022

Alba Mineral Resources plc  

("Alba" or the "Company") 

 

GROC Update: Key Milestone Passed at Amitsoq Graphite Project

 

Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA) is pleased to note the announcement
today by its portfolio company, GreenRoc Mining plc ("GreenRoc") (AIM: GROC),
of the completion of a successful spheronisation test work programme on
graphite from the Amitsoq Island deposit, part of GreenRoc's flagship Amitsoq
Graphite Project in South Greenland.  Alba holds a 54% majority interest in
GreenRoc. The announcement is set out below without material changes. 

Alba's Chairman, George Frangeskides, commented:

 

"Confirmation that Amitsoq graphite is suitable for the production of
spherical graphite marks the achievement of a key milestone for the project.
The success of this latest phase of the commercialisation test work programme
for Amitsoq graphite provides a very solid foundation for discussions with
potential EV industry partners and customers.

 

"The rapid progress which is being made at Amitsoq underscores the importance
to Alba of its considerable stake in GreenRoc."

 

 

GreenRoc Mining Plc

("GreenRoc" or the "Company")

 

Amitsoq Graphite Update

GreenRoc Passes Key Milestone Following Successful Spheronisation Tests

 

GreenRoc Mining Plc (AIM: GROC), a company focused on the development of
critical minerals projects in Greenland, is pleased to announce the results of
advanced spheronisation test work conducted by its technical consultants,
ProGraphite GmbH ('ProGraphite'), an industry leading graphite research and
testing laboratory based in Germany. Sample material taken from the Lower
Graphite Layer (LGL) at the Amitsoq Island deposit, part of the flagship
Amitsoq Graphite Project in South Greenland ('Amitsoq'), has been tested to
assess its ability to produce spherical graphite.

 

Spherical graphite is used by Electric Vehicle ("EV") battery manufacturing
companies as the anode material in an EV battery.  The anode sector is the
fastest growing market for graphite and the ability to upgrade natural
graphite to a high purity spherical graphite product is a prerequisite for
entry into that market.  GreenRoc is delighted to announce that the
micronisation and spheronisation test work conducted by ProGraphite confirms
that Amitsoq graphite easily upgrades to a spherical graphite product.

 

Key Points

·      Graphite concentrate from Amitsoq is very suitable for
micronisation and spheronisation, with a high-quality spherical graphite
easily produced and exhibiting good commercial properties.

·      A primary concentrate product of at least 96.5% graphite can be
achieved with relatively little processing.

·      The concentrate micronised easily and with relatively little
energy input, resulting in a very uniform micronised material.

·      Two spherical graphite products were then produced, with median
diameters of 15 and 19 micrometers, respectively.

·      The physical target values for spherical graphite, such as narrow
particle size distribution and high tap density, were achieved and exceeded.

 

GreenRoc's CEO, Stefan Bernstein, commented:

 

"The successful micronisation and spheronisation of graphite concentrate from
the Lower Graphite Layer at the Amitsoq Island deposit is a very significant
milestone for our flagship project. It shows that our graphite can be
processed into anode-grade graphite, a key raw material in the manufacturing
of EV batteries for electric cars. Furthermore, the characteristics of the
Amitsoq spherical graphite, such as tap density and narrow size distributions,
meet important requirements for anode material.

 

"It is notable that ProGraphite found that only four flotation cleaning stages
were required to reach a primary concentrate product of at least 96.5%
graphite. This is very positive as it suggests that our future processing
plant in Greenland will be able to run with a reduced number of cleaning
stages compared to what had previously been assumed. This will shorten
processing time, conserve energy and reduce the costs of production. Over the
coming weeks we will conduct further testing and characterisation of our
spherical graphite product.

 

"Spherical graphite is presently only produced in China, so with these test
results, Greenroc Mining is well positioned to become an important supplier of
raw materials to the EV industry."

 

Details

ProGraphite in Germany received quarter core intersections of LGL graphite
from five drillholes drilled in 2021 at the Amitsoq Island deposit, which is
part of the flagship Amitsoq Graphite Project. One single homogenous sample,
weighing 45kg, was prepared by compositing crushed material from all the
pieces of drill core. After passing one rougher and four cleaner flotation
stages, a concentrate with 96.5% graphite was produced. This concentrate was
then subjected to micronisation, which serves to reduce the graphite grain
size to pre-determined sizes before spheronisation. The micronisation size in
turn determines the mean grain size of the spheronised material. Micronisation
produced two fractions of graphite, namely one at d50 of 16µm and one coarser
at d50 of 21 µm.

 

Spheronisation was then carried out on that micronised material, using a
laboratory-scale spheronisation unit. No issues were encountered in this step
either, and the Amitsoq graphite concentrate proved to be easily spheronised.
The two micronised size fractions both yielded spherical graphite, with d50 of
19.03µm for the coarser of the two fractions and 15.06µm for the finer. Such
size fractions are common spheronised graphite products used by EV-battery
makers.

 

Both size fractions of spheronised graphite show good specifications,
expressed as a low size ratio of d90/d10 which are at 2.4 (d50 of 19.03µm)
and 2.5 (d50 of 15.06µm) - the requirement for anode material is a ratio of
d90/d10 of lower than 3.0 and low values suggest a narrow size interval.

 

Tap densities are 0.98 and 0.96 kg/l for the coarse and fine fractions,
respectively, which exceed the standard minimum requirements of 0.96 kg/l for
the coarse fractions and 0.93 kg/l for finer fractions (Tables 1 & 2). A
high tap density provides higher capacity for EV batteries.

 

 

Table 1, showing result of spheronisation of the Amitsoq graphite concentrate, micronised to 21 and 15 µm, respectively. D50 is the median size of the spheronised graphite, here at 19 and 15 µm.

 

 

 

Table 2, giving further specifications of the two spheronised graphite products.

 

The yield was 54% for the coarse fraction and 55% for the fine fraction -
which is at the higher end of the typical range for batch spheronisation and
suggests a minimal loss of material to undersize during processing.

 

The high quality of the spheronised graphite from Amitsoq can be appreciated
by inspecting the Scanning Electron Microscope images presented in Figures 1
and 2 - both are from the coarse fraction with d50 of 19.03µm, with the
images captured at different magnifications. In both images, the graphite
grains can be seen as being well rounded and with quite narrow size
distribution, in turn ensuring close packing and high capacity when used as
anode material for EV batteries.

 

Further tests relating to purification and the measurement of various physical
and electrochemical parameters of Amitsoq graphite will be conducted in due
course in order to provide potential customers and end users with a full set
of specifications in future commercial discussions.

 

 

 

Figure 1. SEM image of Amitsoq spheronised graphite (d50 of 19.03µm). Note
the well-rounded potato-shape particles. Scale bar of 100µm (=0.1mm).

 

 

Figure 2. SEM image of Amitsoq spheronised graphite (d50 of 19.03µm). Scale
bar of 20µm (=0.02mm).

 

Conclusion

Only four stages of flotation cleaning were required to achieve a concentrate
containing 96.5% graphite, thus vastly exceeding the minimum requirements of
94% graphite for spherical graphite production. The concentrate micronised and
spheronised easily and the two size fractions which were produced not only
meet but in fact exceed the physical requirements for the anode material used
in the manufacturing of EV batteries.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of the UK
Market Abuse Regulation and the Directors of the Company are responsible for
the release of this announcement.

 

Glossary

 

C(g)% or Graphitic Carbon: Carbon may be present in rocks in various forms
including organic carbon, carbonates or graphitic carbon. Carbon in rocks may
be reported as fixed or total carbon (i.e. organic carbon + carbon in
carbonate minerals + carbon as graphite) or as graphitic carbon or total
graphitic carbon (or TGC) (i.e. total carbon - (organic + carbonate carbon)).
In this report, graphite results are indicated as graphitic carbon or % C(g).

d10: The portion of particles with diameters smaller than this value is 10%.
d50: The portions of particles with diameters smaller and larger than this
value are 50%. Also known as the median diameter.
d90: The portion of particles with diameters smaller than this value is 90%.

µm: micrometer. One µm = 1/1,000 mm.

Tap density: Density measured after a certain volume of spherical graphite is
stored in a container and subjected to low frequency vibration. The higher the
density, the more closely packed are the graphite spheres, which is good for
the resulting battery capacity.

 

Competent Person Declaration

 

The information in this release that relates to Exploration Results has been
reviewed by Mr Mark Austin. Mr Austin is a member of SACNASP (Reg. No.
400235/06), Fellow of The Geological Society and Fellow of the Geological
Society of South Africa. He has a B.Sc. Honours in Geology with 38 years'
experience.

 

Mark Austin has sufficient experience that is relevant to the style of
mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity
being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012
Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration targets,
Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves', also known as the
JORC Code. The JORC code is a national reporting organisation that is aligned
with CRIRSCO. Mr Austin consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the
matters based on his information in the form and context in which they appear.

 

 

Forward Looking Statements

 

This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or
anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in
nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such
as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for qualified
staff, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation,
uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans,
uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction,
uncertainties regarding the results of exploration, uncertainties regarding
the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties regarding the
timing and granting of regulatory and other third party consents and
approvals, uncertainties regarding the Company's or any third party's ability
to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of unexpected
events.

 

Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a
result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other
factors.

 

About ProGraphite

 

ProGraphite GmbH is a specialist consultancy laboratory based in Germany and
has served the carbon and graphite industry for more than 20 years.
ProGraphite provides in-house testing capacity over a wide range of carbon and
graphite products and is an industry-leading expert.

 

 

**ENDS**  

 

For further information, please visit www.albamineralresources.com
(http://www.albamineralresources.com/)  or contact:  

 

Alba Mineral Resources plc  

George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman
+44 20 3950 0725 

 

SPARK Advisory Partners Limited (Nomad)   

Andrew Emmott 
                       +44 20 3368 3555 

 

OvalX (Broker)  

Thomas Smith
                        +44 20 7392 1494 

 

St Brides Partners (Financial PR)  

Isabel de Salis / Catherine Leftley  alba@stbridespartners.co.uk 

Alba's Projects and Investments

 Mining Projects Operated by Alba   Location   Ownership
 Clogau (gold)                      Wales      100%
 Dolgellau Gold Exploration (gold)  Wales      100%
 Gwynfynydd (gold)                  Wales      100%
 Limerick (zinc-lead)               Ireland    100%
 Investments Held by Alba           Location   Ownership
 GreenRoc Mining Plc (mining)       Greenland  54%
 Horse Hill (oil)                   England    11.765%

 

 

 

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