Demonstrates Battery Anode Material Made from LDI Graphite is Suitable to Supply Northern's Planned Baie-Comeau Battery Anode Plant
Indicates Higher Capacity and Potential for Longer Life than Commercially Available Battery Anode Material
Ottawa, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 19, 2023) - Northern Graphite Corporation (TSXV: NGC) (OTCQB: NGPHF) (FSE: ONG) (XSTU: ONG) (the "Company" or "Northern") is pleased to announce that results of testing on graphite samples from its cornerstone Lac des Iles ("LDI") mine have verified that LDI graphite is suitable for the production of Battery Anode Material ("BAM"), a key component for Lithium-Ion batteries.
Testing was carried out by Heraeus Battery Technology ("Heraeus"), a Hanau, Germany-based laboratory. Heraeus analyzed the electrochemical characteristics of BAM produced from LDI graphite samples and demonstrated its potential to perform at or above the standards of commercially available reference materials.
"This testing is another step in our progress toward becoming a sustainable, leading provider of next generation carbon materials for the energy transition. Heraeus was able to show, in layman's terms, that our BAM material has a performance that is comparable to or better than what is commercially available today," said Northern Chief Executive Officer Hugues Jacquemin. "As the industry strives to extend the life of Lithium-Ion batteries, testing also showed that our graphite is more stable, and we expect it to have better cycle efficiency, which extends battery life."
The Company's LDI mine, located in Quebec, 180 kilometres northwest of Montreal, is North America's only producing natural graphite mine. LDI will provide part of the supply required by Northern's planned Baie-Comeau BAM plant, which is currently projected to come online in 2026 at an initial production rate of 50,000 tonnes per year. Producing BAM from the future Baie-Comeau plant is a key component of Northern's growth strategy.
"These results, combined with our efforts to prove out a longer mine life at Lac des Iles, represent a key pillar in our strategy to be a vertically integrated, sustainable, mine-to-market supplier to the EV revolution," said Northern Chief Operating Officer Kirsty Liddicoat.
The Heraeus laboratory results confirmed that anode electrodes produced in the laboratory and electrochemically tested in half-cells for Critical to Quality markers including first cycle efficiency, reversible specific capacity and cycling efficiency, demonstrated that graphite samples from the Company's LDI mine that had been milled, shaped, purified and coated using currently available technologies meet or exceed current industry standards.
The specific capacity of graphite, the active material in the anode of Lithium-Ion batteries, is a key indicator of the quality of the graphite and of how much energy can be stored per gram of material. Its value is measured in milliampere-hours per gram of active material ("mAh/g"). In second-cycle testing, used to determine the reversible capacity, a key indicator of the energy storage capability, LDI samples showed a specific capacity of 361 mAh/g versus an industry comparative of 358 mAh/g. The theoretical maximum storage capacity of graphite is 372 mAh/g and the goal of processing is to get as close to that figure as possible.
| Initial coulombic efficency (%) (a) | Charging (lithiation) capacity (mAh/g) (b) | Discharging (delithiation) capacity (mAh/g) (b) | Coulombic efficency (%) (b) |
BAM demonstrator* | 92.0 | 364 | 361 | 99.4 |
Industry standard* | 94.0 | 360 | 358 | 99.3 |
Theoretical value |
| 372 | 372 | 100.0 |
* Values from first cycle (a) and second cycle (b) half-cell measurement using an anode with 96% graphite 1% carbon black and 3% binder (CMC+SBR). The BAM demonstrator is closer to the theoretical values than the measured industry standard (also based on natural graphite) which highlights the potential of Northern's graphite for this application.
"This is proof of concept that natural graphite from Northern's LDI mine is suited for use as Battery Anode Material in Lithium-Ion batteries, with the kind of graphite quality required to enable close to theoretical cycling performance, and is ideal for use in electric vehicles," said Dr. Moritz Hantel, Head of Innovation at Heraeus.
There is effectively no capacity in the West to convert graphite mine concentrates into anode material and EV manufacturers are depending on project proponents such as Northern to fill the void and supply existing and planned Lithium-Ion battery manufacturing plants throughout North America. The proposed Baie-Comeau BAM plant will be one of the world's largest and cleanest such conversion facilities and will process concentrates from Northern's mines as well as from other producers that will be coming online. The plant will have among the lowest CO2 footprints in the industry due to its access to green, hydroelectric power, with pricing that is among the most competitive in the world.
The Baie-Comeau plant will be made up of modules of 10,000-20,000 tonnes of production which will be scaled up to meet individual customers' demands. Northern is also working to increase natural graphite production at LDI and plans to restart its Okanjande mine in Namibia in 2024 and start production at its Bissett Creek property in Ontario in 2026, subject to financing.
"This is the first time that we have made full anode material with graphite from Lac des Iles, which is shaping up to be our cornerstone mine, and these trials, while preliminary, are very, very encouraging," said Mr. Jacquemin. "We are actively engaging with electric vehicle makers and OEMs that require natural graphite for their processes, and with these advancements, we will be able to supply them with samples tailored to their individual specifications."
About Northern Graphite
Northern is a Canadian, TSX Venture Exchange listed company that is focused on becoming a world leader in producing natural graphite and upgrading it into high value products critical to the green economy including anode material for Lithium-Ion batteries/EVs, fuel cells and graphene, as well as advanced industrial technologies.
Northern is the only graphite producing company in North America and will become the third largest producer outside of China when its Namibian operations come back online. The Company has the large scale Bissett Creek development project in Ontario that will be a source of continued production growth in the future. All projects have "battery quality" graphite and are located close to infrastructure in politically stable jurisdictions.
For media inquiries contact
Pav Jordan, VP of Communications
Email: pjordan@northerngraphite.com
Qualified Persons
Gregory Bowes, B.Sc. MBA P.Geo, the Chairman of Northern, is a "qualified person" as defined under National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the content of this news release.
For additional information
Please visit the Company's website at , the Company's profile on , our Social Channels listed below or contact the Company at (613) 271-2124.
安大略省渥太華--(Newsfile Corp.,2023 年 10 月 19 日)-Northern Graphite公司 (TSXV: NGC) (OTCQB: NGPHF) (FSE: ONG) (XSTU: ONG) (XSTU: ONG) (那個”公司“或”北方“) 很高興地宣佈,對其基石 Lac des Iles (”) 的石墨樣品進行測試的結果LDI“) 我已經證實 LDI 石墨適用於生產電池陽極材料 (”BAM“),鋰離子電池的關鍵組件。
測試由總部位於德國哈瑙的賀利氏電池技術(“賀利氏”)進行。賀利氏分析了由LDI石墨樣品生產的BAM的電化學特性,並證明了其性能達到或超過市售參考材料標準的潛力。
“這項測試是我們朝着成爲能源轉型下一代碳材料的可持續領先供應商邁出的又一步。簡而言之,賀利氏能夠證明,我們的BAM材料的性能與當今市售的材料相當或更好,” 北方首席執行官Hugues Jacquemin說。“隨着行業努力延長鋰離子電池的使用壽命,測試還表明我們的石墨更穩定,我們預計它的循環效率會更高,從而延長電池壽命。”
該公司的LDI礦位於魁北克,位於蒙特利爾西北180公里處,是北美唯一生產天然石墨的礦。LDI將提供北方航空計劃中的Baie-Comeau BAM工廠所需的部分供應,該工廠目前預計將於2026年上線,初始產量爲每年5萬噸。從未來的Baie-Comeau工廠生產BAM是北方航空增長戰略的關鍵組成部分。
北方首席運營官Kirsty Liddicoat表示:“這些結果,加上我們爲延長Lac des Iles的礦山壽命所做的努力,是我們成爲電動汽車革命垂直整合、可持續的、礦山到市場的供應商戰略的關鍵支柱。”
賀利氏實驗室的結果證實,實驗室生產的陽極電極在半電池中進行了電化學測試,以確定質量的關鍵標記,包括第一週期效率、可逆比容量和循環效率,這表明該公司LDI礦的石墨樣品使用當前可用技術進行研磨、成型、純化和塗層,符合或超過當前的行業標準。
鋰離子電池陽極中的活性物質石墨的比容量是衡量石墨質量以及每克材料可以儲存多少能量的關鍵指標。其值以每克活性物質(“mAh/g”)的毫安時爲單位測量。在用於確定可逆容量(儲能能力的關鍵指標)的第二週期測試中,LDI樣本顯示比容量爲361 mAh/g,而行業比較值爲358 mAh/g。石墨的理論最大存儲容量爲372 mAh/g,處理的目標是儘可能接近該數字。
| 初始庫侖效率 (%) (a) | 充電(鋰化)容量 (mAh/g) (b) | 排放(消毒)容量 (mAh/g) (b) | 庫侖效率 (%) (b) |
BAM 演示者* | 92.0 | 364 | 361 | 99.4 |
行業標準* | 94.0 | 360 | 358 | 99.3 |
理論值 |
| 372 | 372 | 100.0 |
* 使用含有 96% 石墨、1% 炭黑和 3% 粘合劑(CMC+SBR)的陽極進行第一週期(a)和第二週期(b)的半電池測量值。BAM演示器比測得的行業標準(也基於天然石墨)更接近理論值,後者凸顯了北方石墨在這一應用中的潛力。
賀利氏創新主管莫里茨·漢特爾博士說:“這證明了北方LDI礦的天然石墨適合用作鋰離子電池的電池陽極材料,其石墨質量可實現接近理論循環性能,非常適合用於電動汽車。”
西方實際上沒有能力將石墨礦精礦轉化爲陽極材料,電動汽車製造商依靠北方等項目支持者來填補空白,爲整個北美現有和計劃中的鋰離子電池製造工廠供貨。擬建的Baie-Comeau BAM工廠將成爲世界上最大、最乾淨的此類轉化設施之一,它將加工來自北方礦山以及其他即將上線的生產商的精礦。該發電廠將是業內二氧化碳足跡最低的發電廠之一,因爲它可以獲得綠色水力發電,而且定價是世界上最具競爭力的發電廠之一。
Baie-Comeau工廠將由產量爲10,000-20,000噸的模塊組成,這些模塊將擴大規模,以滿足個人客戶的需求。北方航空還努力增加LDI的天然石墨產量,並計劃在2024年重啓其位於納米比亞的Okanjande礦,並於2026年在安大略省的Bissett Creek物業開始生產,但須視融資而定。
Jacquemin先生說:“這是我們第一次用Lac des Iles的石墨製造完整的陽極材料,該石墨將成爲我們的基石,這些試驗雖然是初步的,但非常非常令人鼓舞。”“我們正在積極與需要天然石墨用於其工藝的電動汽車製造商和原始設備製造商合作,隨着這些進步,我們將能夠爲他們提供根據其個人規格量身定製的樣品。”
關於Northern Graphite
Northern 是一家加拿大多倫多證券交易所風險投資交易所上市公司,致力於成爲生產天然石墨並將其升級爲對綠色經濟至關重要的高價值產品的全球領導者,包括鋰離子電池/電動汽車、燃料電池和石墨烯的負極材料,以及先進的工業技術。
Northern是北美唯一的石墨生產公司,當其納米比亞業務恢復生產後,它將成爲中國以外的第三大石墨生產商。該公司在安大略省擁有大規模的Bissett Creek開發項目,這將是未來產量持續增長的源泉。所有項目都採用 “電池質量” 石墨,並且位於政治穩定的司法管轄區的基礎設施附近。
媒體垂詢,請聯繫
Pav Jordan,傳播副總裁
電子郵件:pjordan@northerngraphite.com
合格人員
Gregory Bowes,理學學士Northern 董事長 MBA P.Geo 是 National Instrument 43-101 所定義的 “合格人士”,並已審查並批准了本新聞稿的內容。
欲了解更多信息
請訪問公司的網站,在我們的公司簡介上 社交渠道 下面列出或致電 (613) 271-2124 與公司聯繫。