Quantum Graphite has secured a further five years tenure over its flagship Uley 2 graphite deposit on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. Uley 2 boasts an impressive 6.3 million tonne resource going 11.1 per cent total graphitic carbon, or “TGC” for 697,000 tonnes of graphite.
The prospective tenure also hosts the Uley 3 graphite deposit chipping in a further 0.9 million tonnes going 6.6 per cent TGC for a combined resource 7.2 million tonnes at 10.5 per cent TGC for some 757,000 tonnes of contained TGC.
Quantum sees the Uley 2 deposit as the next stage of development of the historical Uley mine, located a stone’s throw to the north. The century-old mine was reportedly one of the highest-grade natural flake graphite deposits in the world in its heyday.
A revised 2019 definitive feasibility study evaluating only the Uley 2 reserves projected a 12-year first-phase mining operation with an impressive graphitic carbon grade of 11.89 per cent.
The study envisaged $310.5 million in total undiscounted cash flows for the life of the mine, with capital costs for the proposed 500,000 tonne per annum operation estimated at just $80m.
Quantum is already eyeing off the vertical integration of its product and has paired up with Melbourne-based Sunlands Co to develop thermal energy storage, or “TES” cells using natural flake graphite after launching independent test work to accelerate the commercialisation of the technology.
Under the agreement with Sunlands, Quantum will be the exclusive supplier of flake graphite products for the partnership, whilst the joint venture will be the sole manufacturer and supplier of graphite storage media for Sunlands’ thermal energy storage battery cells.
The company says recent test work results confirm the media’s heat storage capacity and operational range was sufficient to drive utility-scale steam turbines giving it the potential to be used to fuel thermal power plants.
The duo is looking to use Quantum’s flake graphite within TES cells to construct ‘long-duration energy storage’ solutions earmarked as a key pillar in delivering stable and flexible power in the renewable energy space.
Wind and solar power generation are inherently unreliable and it is anticipated the flexibility and stability provided by TES batteries could benefit both systems.
According to Quantum, Australia’s net-zero ambitions are highly contingent on solar and wind energy along with the introduction and maturity of new technologies – such as its TES batteries.
Quantum believes the use of graphite in thermal storage media will contribute to the long-term growth in demand for its flake graphite, with at least 100,000 tonnes required annually to meet Australia’s net-zero by 2050 plan.
The budding graphite developer is also making firm strides toward financing the Uley 2 project, recently ticking off multiple key milestones needed to issue corporate bonds on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange including nailing down a comprehensive insurance policy.
In May 2021, Quantum appointed European-based ACT Capital GmbH as its lead agent to steer the company towards a bond offering on the LuxSE-regulated Euro MTF market for the financing of stage 1 of the Uley 2 process plant.
The company is angling to have its bonds classified as “sustainably linked bonds” -or “SLB” demonstrating that its proposed mining and processing operations meet stringent environmentally sustainable criteria.
With a green tick of approval, the SLB issue will attract a lower rate of interest, generating long-term savings in the financing of Uley 2.
With its key tenure bedded down for a further five years, a pilot thermal energy storage and power generation system fresh from the drawing board and financing rapidly progressing, Quantum Graphite is nudging closer to meeting increasing global graphite demand from its South Australian graphite deposit.
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