Talga Group Ltd (ASX:TLG) is preparing to trial mining this month at the Vittangi graphite project in northern Sweden.
The trial mine, operating under a three-year permit issued by the Environmental Review Commission within the Norrbotten County Administration Board (CAB), covers the extraction of 25,000 tonnes graphite ore from Talga’s Niska South deposit at Vittangi.
Trial mined ore will be subsequently refined into Talnode-C, the Ccmpany’s flagship Li-ion battery anode product for large scale production testing in the EV supply chain. This coated high-performance anode product has been developed over several years by Talga to provide a sustainable and European source of anode for battery manufacturers.
Trial mine operations are scheduled to begin in mid-September and in this first phase of the campaign, approximately 2,500 tonnes of graphite ore is planned to be extracted before the site is rehabilitated for the northern hemisphere winter.
Rehabilitation will use the successful measures previously used in the Company’s 2015-2016 trial mining campaign at its nearby Nunasvaara South deposit. The balance of the permitted 25,000 tonnes graphite ore is planned to be accessed in 2022.
Niska Mining Applications Submitted In addition, exploitation concession applications have been submitted over the Niska North, Niska South and Nunasvaara North deposits of the Vittangi project/ These pertain to expansion plans defined in the Niska Scoping Study which detail a pathway for Talga to produce a total of more than 100,000tpa anode for Li-ion batteries – sufficient for the production of approximately one million passenger electric vehicles1 per year.
Managing Director, Mark Thompson, said the company will submit Niska’s environmental permit application once an environmental permit has been granted for the nearby Nunasvaara South deposit, which is expected to be granted in mid-2022.
The trial mining of our Niska South deposit will allow Talga to begin testing Talnode-C samples on a mass production scale,” Mr Thompson said.
“The graphite anode products created from the ore will help progress Talga’s battery manufacturing customer qualification trials and market testing towards future expanded commercial production.”
Mr Thompson said annual demand from Talga’s engaged customers’, including current expressions of interest and targeted 2025 anode supply, now exceeds 14 times the 19,500tpa Talnode-C production capacity outlined in the Vittangi Anode Project DFS.
By 2030, customers’ estimated demand exceeds 50 times the DFS capacity, with 30% of this demand coming from European manufacturers. Confidential commercial processes using Talnode qualification samples have increased to 62 active programs across 48 customer engagements.
Talga is now working directly with 11 automotive companies and the majority of announced battery manufacturers in Europe under advancing qualification and procurement processes.