Oct 4 2012
Zenyatta Ventures is pleased to announce that a first pass beneficiation test at SGS Canada Inc. ("Lakefield") demonstrated a leaching process capable of producing a 97.2% C (total) graphite product from a rough concentrate. Work is on-going to target purity levels of >99.0% C with results from a second series of tests expected soon.
Aubrey Eveleigh, President and CEO, stated "It is very significant and remarkable to start with such a high purity level of greater than 97% graphite on the first test. Management is excited with the latest successful metallurgical developments and considers higher purity graphite achievable with fine-tuning of the process."
In conjunction with Don Hains of Zenyatta, Lakefield metallurgical test work of the Albany graphite material continues to develop a simple concentration and leaching process to produce an ultra-high purity (>99.0% C) graphite product. Again, mineralogical work shows the graphite material to be very simple and contains insignificant amounts of undesirable material. This confirms an earlier mineralogical report prepared by Dr. Andrew Conly, Ph.D. of Lakehead University.
Aubrey Eveleigh also stated "Presently, Zenyatta's Albany is the only new vein type graphite deposit being developed in the world. It is the only one of its kind outside of the mined vein type graphite deposits of Sri Lanka."
Sri Lankan vein type graphite grades are available in purities ranging from 80-99% carbon with the majority above 90%. The Bogala Mine, a Sri Lankan graphite deposit, has been in production since 1847. It is a narrow (20cm), high grade underground mine. Sri Lankan graphite still enjoys great demand due to its unusually high purity and unique physical properties. Graphite veins are quite rare and in many industrial applications offer superior performance due to higher thermal and electrical conductivity.
The Albany (vein-type) graphite deposit is located 30km north of the Trans Canada Highway, power line and natural gas pipeline. A rail line is located 70km away and an all-weather road approximately 4-5km from the graphite deposit. The Albany deposit is near surface, underneath glacial till overburden.
The outlook for the global graphite market is very promising with demand growing rapidly from new applications in clean technology. China produces over 70% of global supply and, like other commodities, now has less available for export as domestic demand grows. As global demand outstrips supply, graphite prices have increased substantially, more than doubling over the past three years.
Graphite is a natural form of carbon with the chemical formula C, which it shares with diamond and coal. It is now considered one of the more strategic elements by many leading industrial nations, particularly for its growing importance in high technology manufacturing and in the emerging "green" industries, such as electric vehicle components. The application for graphitic material is constantly evolving due to its unique chemical, electrical and thermal properties. It maintains its stability and strength under temperatures in excess of 3,500°C and is very resistant to chemical corrosion. It is also one of the lightest of all reinforcing elements and has high natural lubricating abilities. Some of these key physical and chemical properties make it critical to modern industry.