Zentek’s Albany Graphite achieves five nines purity from Albany graphite deposit

Zentek’s Albany Graphite Corporation has achieved a five nines purity of 99.99915% for a graphite sample from the Albany graphite deposit. Highlights: Ultra-high purity “five nines” 99.99915 weight % graphite by Glow Discharge Mass Spectrometry analysis on a 100-gram sample; Purification performed utilizing an existing, two-step graphite purification process, without the use of hydrofluoric acid; Proof of concept thermal purification testing yielded extremely low total impurities concentration of less than 8.5 ppm against the generally accepted maximum of 500 ppm for most advanced battery applications; Material to be immediately tested for suitability as anode component for lithium-ion batteries; Purified samples will be evaluated for suitability for the nuclear market; Exploring both production and processing of graphite to create battery ready anode material; In collaboration with Zentek’s Canadian technology partner, a sample of the homogenized bulk flotation concentrate produced by SGS Canada Inc. in the 2017 flotation pilot plant campaign was upgraded from ~85% to greater than99% using a simple hydrometallurgical process. A 100 g sample of the greater than99% feed was subsequently thermally purified in the National Research Council of Canada’s fixed-bed furnace at a temperature of 2,700 degrees C for five minutes in an argon atmosphere. A 10 g sample of the purified material was then shipped to Eurofins EAG Laboratories for a full 72 element GDMS analysis. The concentrations of all elements above the detection limits were summed to yield the total concentration of the detectable impurity elements that remained in the purified sample at 8.48 ppm wt. or 0.00085% wt. The boron concentration in the sample was 0.42 ppm wt. The material will be evaluated for its suitability for both the lithium-ion battery and nuclear markets. With significant investment being made in the North American battery supply chain, and growing demand for finished anode material, the Company is exploring both graphite production from the Albany deposit and processing of the graphite to produce a battery ready anode material. The CEO of Zentek and Albany Graphite Corporation, Greg Fenton commented: “These purification results utilizing an unoptimized, simple process has exceeded our 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. In addition, we are pursuing the value-add processing component of the anode supply chain to create a vertically integrated, anode solution.”