Surging demand revives SA graphite project for Oar

Surging demand for graphite, alongside other electric vehicle-related commodities could breathe life back into Oar Resources’ Oakdale project in South Australia which has already demonstrated the potential to produce the highly sought Purified Spherical Graphite or ‘PSG’.

The company initially kicked off a scoping study at the operation back in 2015, however with the EV revolution yet to be fully embraced Oar decided to hold back from advancing the project at the time. Now, with investors diving headfirst into low carbon energy and EV commodities, the company has recast its gaze back towards the asset and will look to build on the work already completed at the venture.

Oar's Oakdale project has already seen considerable drilling, with 330 air core and 11 diamond holes totalling 19,124 metres drilled logged by the company at the site to date.

Notably, the drilling yielded outstanding results, including in the delivery of an initial indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate of 13.47 million tonnes with a total graphite content, or ‘TGC’, of 3.3 per cent.

The results produced a 6.31 million tonne resource going 4.7 per cent TGC that formed the basis of the previous scoping study.

According to Oar, the original study projected a flotation concentrate grade of more than 90 per cent TGC. It also suggested the oxidised soft graphitic clays in the existing deposit could be extracted efficiently in a shallow, open-pit scenario, avoiding more expensive recovery methods such as drilling and blasting.

However, the company pointed out that demand for battery-grade graphite was significantly lower when the original scoping study was completed and as a result made the decision not to advance it further at the time.

Now, with the EV revolution in full swing the company is again actively exploring methods to scrub up the project to position it as an enviable new source of graphite - a key ingredient in the anode of lithium-ion batteries.

OAR says it is collaborating with several technical experts to undertake additional processing and metallurgical test work to pump out a graphite concentrate with a TGC in excess of 95 per cent

According to the company, the move is the first step in delivering a higher-grade product known as Purified Spherical Graphite or ‘PSG’.

Importantly, the project is supported by the Australian Government's Critical Minerals Facility allowing it to claim a slice of a $2 billion financing facility that could very well help drive the project’s resurrection as a go-to for graphite.

Currently, all graphite anode production is done in China and with global economies working to diversify graphite supply chains, Oar believes its Oakdale project may have a part to play.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au