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Sovereign Metals Limited: Kasiya Graphite Global Warming Potential Among Lowest in IndustryKASIYA’S GRAPHITE GLOBAL WARMING POTENTIAL TO BE AMONGST LOWEST IN THE WORLD
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Independent benchmarking indicates Sovereign’s graphite co-product from Kasiya should have significantly lower global warming potential versus current and developing natural graphite projects |
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Global warming potential (GWP) of producing one tonne of flake graphite concentrate at Kasiya estimated to be 0.2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions (CO2e) |
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Kasiya has the lowest GWP compared with currently known and planned future natural graphite projects: |
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Up to 60% lower than currently reported GWP of graphite producers and developers, including suppliers to Tesla Inc. |
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3x less polluting than proposed Tanzanian natural graphite production from hard rock sources |
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6x less polluting than current Chinese natural graphite production which accounts for up to 80% of current global graphite supply |
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In 2022, the lithium-ion battery market became the biggest end-market for natural flake graphite |
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Despite graphite being only a co-product to future potential rutile production, Kasiya is still one of the largest and potentially lowest production cost flake graphite resources in the world as it is hosted in soft and friable saprolite material instead of hard rock |
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Mining is planned to be via hydro-methods (high-powered water monitors) with the operation powered almost 100% by renewable sources (hydro-generated grid and on-site solar power) |
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Previously, Sovereign had announced that its primary product of natural rutile is expected to have a GWP of only 0.1 tonnes CO2e – up to 97% lower than alternative titanium feedstocks produced by upgrading ilmenite |
Sovereign Metals Limited (ASX: SVM, AIM: SVML) (the Company or Sovereign) is pleased to announce the combined results of internal company analysis, supplemented with an independent benchmarking study by UK-based consultancy Minviro Ltd (Minviro) which compared the global warming potential (GWP) of producing natural flake graphite from the Kasiya Project (Kasiya or the Project) against relevant current and future natural graphite projects.
The cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out by Minviro comparing current natural graphite production from China which produces almost 80% of the world’s natural graphite, and proposed near-term production from Tanzania, which offers a regional benchmark against Kasiya in Malawi. The LCA study followed ISO 14067:2008 guidelines and was critically reviewed by a panel of three independent experts.
A number of graphite producers and explorers/developers have conducted their own LCAs, with conclusions of a select number being made public. Kasiya’s graphite product currently has the lowest GWP of publicly reported current and future potential graphite production.
The benchmarking study found that the total GWP of 0.2 tonnes CO2e per tonne of natural flake graphite concentrate produced at Kasiya is significantly lower than the total GWP per tonne produced in Heilongjiang Province, China (1.2 tonnes CO2e) and the total GWP per tonne produced in Tanzania (0.6 tonnes CO2e).
Sovereign’s Managing Director, Dr Julian Stephens, commented: “It is remarkable that our graphite co-product from planned rutile production at Kasiya will not only be potentially one of the lowest cost flake graphite projects in the world but now can also be considered to have one of the lowest global warming potentials of current and future graphite mines. Producers and users of lithium-ion batteries are already taking note of the carbon footprint associated with the raw materials that feed into battery technology – so to be developing Kasiya at this time is truly exciting.”
Minviro’s LCA has already previously shown the potential for Sovereign’s primary product of natural rutile to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the titanium pigment industry.
Each tonne of natural rutile produced at Kasiya is expected to have a Global Warming Potential of only 0.1 tonnes CO2 eq., which equates to a 95% to 97% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions (20 to 33 times less) compared to production of titania slag and synthetic rutile respectively – both of which are alternative titanium feedstocks produced by upgrading ilmenite via energy and carbon intensive processes.
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