Newly-listed graphite explorer NGX (ASX:NGX) is finalising plans for a range of testwork and studies to underpin a Scoping Study for its Duwi Natural Graphite Project in Central Malawi.
The $20.84 million market capitalisation company reports this testwork includes revisiting and updating infrastructure and transport options, including grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) generation to provide a ‘cost-effective’ and sustainable power supply.
Additional metallurgical testwork will be undertaken to produce a ‘high-grade’ Duwi concentrate with low levels of impurities suited to anode materials production, which builds on previously conducted testwork.
NGX says a secondary focus will be on optimising the tailings produced to minimise environmental impacts. Concentrates generated in the metallurgical testwork program will be evaluated for downstream applications including battery anode materials.
The company reports Duwi was the subject of a Scoping Study completed in September 2015 by Sovereign Metals (ASX:SVM), which focused mainly on traditional industrial graphite markets and less on the anode market.
These traditional applications for natural flake graphite include steelmaking, non-ferrous metals, and cement and glass production. The 2015 study was subsequently revoked by Sovereign, as it was considered that the parameters used were no longer relevant.
The Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for Duwi stands at 85.9 million tonnes @ 7.1% total graphitic carbon (TGC) for 6.1 million tonnes of contained graphite.
NGX is a Perth-based graphite explorer and developer that owns the Duwi Natural Graphite Project, which lies 15km from Malawi’s capital city of Lilongwe on a single retention licence.
The company says mineralised graphitic gneisses occur in numerous bands ranging from a few metres to up to 100m thick across hundreds of kilometres of cumulative strike length in Central Malawi.
NGX was admitted to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in June 2023 as a spin-out of Sovereign Metals’ graphite assets, including the Duwi, Nanzeka, Malingunde, and Mabuwa projects.
Write to Harry Mulholland at Mining.com.au
Images: NGX Ltd
