Source : THE AGE NEWS
By Doug Bright
Sarytogan Graphite has been fortunate to catch the eye of experienced graphite sales and marketing executive Antonio De Assis, who today begins full-time role taking the company’s graphite products to customers around the world.
Mr De Assis joins Sarytogan from his most recent role as head of graphite sales at TSX-listed South Star Battery Metals, which recently commissioned its Santa Cruz graphite mine in Brazil.
Sarytogan Graphite is milling its trial mine product to an initial 5mm particle size before reducing it to 106 microns (0.106mm) for ongoing trials.
His significant industrial minerals marketing experience also includes a solid 15-year stint selling graphite for Brazilian Group Unimetal, Technografit in Germany, Syrah Resources in Mozambique and Nacional De Grafite in Brazil.
He will now be introducing a range of Sarytogan’s graphite products to customers around the world, armed with several hundred kilograms of customer samples.
‘Sarytogan Graphite is delighted to attract the talents of such an experienced graphite marketeer in Antonio.’
Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory
Sarytogan Graphite managing director Sean Gregory said: “Sarytogan Graphite is delighted to attract the talents of such an experienced graphite marketeer in Antonio. Antonio’s decision to join us is a ringing endorsement of the quality and potential of the Sarytogan graphite project from a true expert in the field.”
Mr De Assis joins the company at a busy time – a 20-tonne trial mining sample from its Central Graphite zone is undergoing crushing and milling laboratory testwork in Kazakhstan in an important scale step-up to validate the company’s equipment choice nominated in its pre-feasibility study.
Sarytogan also proposes sending a tonne of the graphite milled to a size of 106 micron (0.106mm) to Perth for flotation tests, which are crucial for separating graphite from undesirable gangue and for size classification.
Sarytogan says the flotation process is expected to produce more than 300 kilograms of Micro80C graphite, comprising 80-85 per cent total graphitic carbon, of which 200kg will be classified into three size fractions for sale to industrial customers.
The company will also airlift 100kg of its Micro80 product to the United States for purification to ultra-high purity fines and for spheronisation to yield spherical purified graphite, which will be available to possible future customers for their own validation tests.
Sarytogan is looking to secure offtake agreements this year for each of its product groups to complement the significant strides it has already made on the project’s technical development and in gaining the strong financial support of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Sarytogan’s major shareholder.
The company secured the first tranche of $2,641,210 in equity investment cash from the bank about a month ago and has issued it 16,507,563 shares. The bank now holds 9.99 per cent of the company.
A further tranche is expected ahead of the long-stop date of February 8 agreed with Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, which will take the bank’s total commitments to $5 million.
The European bank’s equity in the company will increase to 17.36 per cent, which Sarytogan welcomes as a ringing endorsement of its credibility and project quality, underpinned by its recently estimated indicated and inferred resource of 229 million tonnes at 28.9 per cent total graphitic carbon.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au
