International Graphite (ASX: IG6) has been awarded a $4 million grant by the Western Australian government to support commercialisation and integration activities for its Springdale-Collie mine-to-market battery graphite supply strategy.
The grant falls under the Investment Attraction Fund (IAF) New Energies Industries Funding Stream administered by the WA Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation.
It brings Springdale’s total funding from Australian state and federal governments to $17.2 million to date.
Funds will be largely used for the bulk extraction of ore from International Graphite’s Springdale deposit near Ravensthorpe and for process development and customer offtake analysis.
The new grant will also be applied to the installation of Australia’s first demonstration-scale spheroidiser at the company’s graphite processing and research and development facility at Collie.
The Collie plant is a key component of International Graphite’s fully-integrated graphite supply strategy which will see battery material exported from WA to global markets.
The state-of-the-art spheroidiser is expected to expand the plant’s current product qualification milling capacity to around 10,000 tonnes per annum, making it one of the most significant global producers of micronised graphite outside of China.
International Graphite managing director Andrew Worland welcomed the latest grant.
“We are grateful for the ongoing support we have received from the WA government which recognises the importance of backing new industries to create jobs and support a clean energy future,” he said.
“This grant acknowledges the critical importance of building a reliable sovereign supply of battery graphite materials as quickly as possible and the opportunities this opens for WA to attract trade and investment from international markets.”
He said the funds would pay for essential activities to help propel the company’s mine-to-market strategy through feasibility to commercialisation.
The latest round of government funding follows the granting of a mining lease in November for the Springdale Central deposit.
The lease sits alongside the M74/0253 permit awarded recently over the neighbouring Mason Bay discovery, with both permits covering nearly all of Springdale’s existing mineral resources.
The Springdale project is considered to be one of the largest graphite resources in Australia and among the top 15 worldwide.
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