Advanced materials company Talga Resources has announced the commissioning of its Phase 2 pilot scale test facility in Germany, which represents an improvement on its Phase 1 equipment and involves processing shaped raw graphite ore from Talga’s Swedish deposits in slabs up to 50kg in weight each.
Image credit: Telga ASX release
The Perth-based company said additional modified cells have been installed to increase total capacity of the facility to 365kg ore feed at a time.
Talga managing director Mark Thompson said the Phase 2 expansion was an important operational milestone as the company continues to scale up and optimise its processing technology in order to provide higher volume and tailored sample materials for specific industry based testing.
“Commencement of Phase 2 commissioning is an exciting milestone for Talga, marking a transition from setting the foundations and achieving a better understanding of the fundamentals that impact graphene manufacturing – at a sale well beyond that possible in a laboratory,” he said.
After the successful process scale up of its pilot test-work facility in Germany, the company plans to construct its full-sale commercial production facility near its Swedish deposit.
“Prior to anticipated full scale mining in Sweden, Talga aims to develop graphene and graphite product specifications hand in hand with industry, and identify applications that improve the performance of existing materials using current manufacturing techniques,” the company said in a statement to the ASX.
“The Company intends to work with industries that can benefit through the availability of large volumes of high-quality, cost effective graphene and graphite and then work with a small number of partners to develop high volume production that meet their product needs.”
The company has also announced an agreement with a USA based Li-ion battery developer under which Talga will provide graphite for performance testing in its emerging Li-ion battery technology. Sample materials will be manufactured at Talga’s pilot test-work facility in Germany, with testing expected to commence in the June 2016 quarter.
