The consummation of the EBRD’s partnership with Sarytogan today was recently highlighted by the European bank as a prime example of how countries are working together on critical mineral supply chains. Sarytogan has also secured the backing of the Kazakhstan Government for its project with the Kazakhstan Vice-Minister of Industry and Infrastructural Development, Iran Sharkhan, offering to help smooth out any necessary approvals.

The next big milestone for Sarytogan will be securing the environmental permit for its mining licence, which, according to management, is well on its way. As land studies for the purification plant push forward, the town of Agydyr is still in the running to win selection, with the final decision expected soon.

The project has a long history dating back to Soviet-era exploration in the 1980s. Since taking up ownership in 2018, Sarytogan’s work has uncovered an impressive resource estimate of 229 million tonnes of graphite at 28.9 per cent total graphitic carbon at an impressive purity of 99.9992 per cent – otherwise known as the “five 9s” standard. Further metallurgical tests revealed a recovery rate of 81.4 per cent for the concentrate.

Armed with its initial resource estimate and successful test results, management then moved forward to conduct a prefeasibility study which was released last month. The study has laid out plans to produce 50,000 tonnes of three unique graphite products each year, with a focus on using smaller, modular processes that can easily be scaled up in the future.

With a TGC grade approaching 30 per cent, Sarytogan’s project is one of the best out there – which might explain its $800m predicted net present value.

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