Mineral Commodities Ltd - MRC - SUCCESSFUL ELECTROCHEMICAL RESULTS ON SKALAND ANODE MATERIAL

Published: 2021-12-15 08:46:45 ET MRC.AX

Mineral Commodities Ltd ('MRC' or 'the Company') is pleased to announce the first coin cell electrochemical testing results on Skaland Uncoated Purified Spherical Graphite, which has been purified using a new environmentally sustainable process developed by Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, under the Australian Federal Government Co-operative Research Centres Project's, CRC-P Project1.

The purification process developed by CSIRO uses standard industrial reagents and avoids the use of toxic Hydrofluoric Acid ('HF').

The cells produced using Skaland uncoated purified spherical graphite achieved an average first cycle efficiency of 90.6% and 90.7% for the commercial reference material. The first cycle efficiency is an important industry performance indicator. It measures the loss of lithium in forming a protective layer on the graphite anode known as the Solid Electrolyte Interface ('SEI'). It is expected to improve further on coating of the graphite.

The Skaland anodes reached a steady-state discharge capacity of 369 mAh/g, in comparison to 363 mAh/g for the cells containing the commercial reference anode. Both results are very close to the theoretical maximum electrical energy storage capacity of 372 mAh/g for graphite anodes.

The electrochemical testwork was undertaken by CSIRO Manufacturing, Clayton Victoria. Testing was conducted on a sample of Skaland uncoated spherical graphite purified using the process developed with the CSIRO under the CRC-P Project and a high-quality commercially available natural graphite anode material as a reference. Ten half-cells were produced from each anode material under identical conditions, with high loadings of 10 mg/cm2 and densities of at least 1.6 g/cm3 to simulate realistic anode conditions.

Further testwork is in progress, including testing on Munglinup spherical graphite and on a number of alternative coating options. Chief Executive Officer, Jacob Deysel, said, 'We are very pleased with these results which support Skaland concentrate and the non-HF purification process as an element of our value-creating, vertically integrated European graphite strategy. We are looking forward to further optimisations on Skaland anode performance as well as the results for Munglinup to support a similar strategy for Australia.'

Chief Executive Officer designate of Ascent Graphite, Peter Fox, said 'These results demonstrate the favourable electrochemical properties of Skaland material and it appears that the environmentally sustainable purification process produces anode material with similar performance to commercially available anode materials from China. With these results, we are demonstrating that CSIRO's innovative new purification process can produce material that looks promising in today's market but made using technology that is environmentally responsible and sustainable.'

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