Zentek (TSX-V:ZEN) will immediately begin testing the suitability of its graphite for use in the anodes of lithium ion batteries after achieving a purity of 99.999%.
The purity, which is also referred to as “five nines”, was achieved from a graphite sample from the Albany deposit in northern Ontario.
For graphite to be suitable for use in the anodes of lithium ion batteries it needs to reach a purity of over 99.9%, or three nines.
Graphite has been classified as a critical mineral by the Canadian Government because it is a key component of electric vehicle batteries, which require around 50-100kg.
Zentek, which has a market capitalisation of $142.5 million, says it was able to achieve such high purity via a simple hydrometallurgical process that upgraded the sample from 85% to over 99%.
A 100g sample of the +99% feed was thermally purified in the National Research Council of Canada’s fixed-bed furnace at a temperature of 2,700 degrees celsius for five minutes in an argon atmosphere.
A 10g sample of the purified material was then shipped to Eurofins EAG Laboratories for a full 72-element glow discharge mass spectrometry analysis.
The results showed an “extremely low” concentration of total impurities of less than 8.5 parts per million (ppm) compared to the generally accepted maximum of 500ppm for most advanced battery applications.
Greg Fenton, CEO of Zentek and Albany Graphite, says the purification results using an unoptimised, simple process have exceeded expectations.
“The unique nature of the Albany deposit has created a competitive advantage for Zentek and its partners and with substantial investment flowing into the North American markets, we believe we are ideally positioned to develop the Albany project,” he says.
“In addition, we are pursuing the value-add processing component of the anode supply chain to create a vertically integrated, anode solution.”
Zentek is a graphene-based nanotechnology company investigating the use of the graphite from the Albany Deposit, which is held by wholly owned subsidiary Albany Graphite Corporation, for use in bioscience and pharmaceuticals as well as clean energy.
On the clean energy front, Zentek will also investigate the potential for its graphite to be used in the nuclear market.
Graphite is used as a moderator and reflector of neutrons in nuclear power plants, as well as for other parts such as fuel sleeves.
The Albany deposit hosts indicated resources of 22.9 million tonnes @ 4.1% for 933,000 tonnes of contained graphite and inferred resources of 13.1 million tonnes @ 2.9% for 375,000 tonnes of contained graphite.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: Zentek
