McIntosh – Graphite

Graphite is the largest component in a Lithium-Ion Battery and requires the largest production increase of any battery mineral

  • 3rd Largest Graphite Resource in Australia with 1.1Mt Contained Graphite
  • One of Australia’s Most Advanced Graphite Projects With Over $14million spent on Drilling and Metallurgical Test Work
  • Nationally Strategic Project – Graphite is a listed US, EU, JPN & Au Critical Mineral
  • McIntosh Flake is a Unique High Purity Graphite Project
    • Extremely Low Impurities
    • Easily Purified to Nuclear Grade Purity – 99.999% C
    • Globally Significant Flake Size Endowment
    • Excellent Crystallinity – “HOPG-like” (Extremely Rare
    • Excellent Electrochemical Properties
    • Tier 1 Location – Western Australia
    • Sealed Roads – 12km to Great North Highway
    • Proximity to Clean Energy – Ord River Hydropower
    • Proximity to Clean Energy – Ord River Hydropower

Location Benefits

  • Attractive mining jurisdiction – Ranked the most attractive mining jurisdiction globally by the Fraser Institute
  • Renewable (green) energy provided to Wyndham from Ord River Hydro, the largest generator of hydroelectricity in Western Australia
  • Strong government support for development of critical mineral deposits
  • Project is well positioned to deep water port & key customer groups in Asia, Europe & USA
  • Tracking of carbon footprint throughout the supply chain (Traceability)
  • Battery anode end users are attracted by supply from stable, reputable countries with good environmental practices (Responsible Sourcing)
  • Project is well positioned to deep water port & key customer groups in Asia, Europe & USA

Emperor Deposit

  • Emperor & Longtom comprise ~92% of the McIntosh resource
  • Emperor ranks in the top quartile for flake size distribution globally, with over 85% in the high value large flake size (+80 Mesh)
  • 81% of Resource is in the higher confidence Indicated category
  • Metallurgical test work produced 98% TGC concentrate by simple flotation
  • Confirmed ultrahigh purity flake with 5N purity ‘easily’ achievable
  • Ample core available for further metallurgical test work

Globally Significant Flake Size Distribution

Ultrahigh Purity Advantages

Easily Purified to 5N (99.999% C) Nuclear Grade Purity

Impurities occur on the flake surface, as opposed to being trapped in the flake

Making it amenable to “light” purification methods

Light purification results in lower environmental impact downstream process

Lower cost of purification

Ability to produce Nuclear Purity means targeting of the highest value graphite products up to US$30,000/t

Low-cost purification + high value markets = High Margin

Battery Anode Test Work

  • Significant amount of battery anode test work completed to date, with sample material passing on all the key preliminary assessment criteria (Table 1)
  • Purity of 99.999% far exceeds the 99.95% required for battery anode material, allowing targeting of premium advanced battery markets – up to $22,000/t

Only flake graphite with 99.95% purity can be used in batteries, however, the critical question is: What impurities exist in the remaining 0.05%?

  • At McIntosh, all critical battery impurities were reduced magnitudes lower than advanced lithium-ion battery anode requirements after light purification (Table
HXG ASX Announcement 16 Aug 2017 – Battery Anode Test Work Table
  • No Hydrofluoric Acid required to purify – HF Free
  • Material is easily micronised, spheroinised & milled

HXG ASX Announcement 11 Dec 2018 – Critical Battery Impurities Table

Resource Expansion

  • 50Mt – 100Mt Exploration Target*, not including current resource.
  • Marlin & Marlin West high priority targets
  • The Marlin prospect is the largest exploration target, having a Mineral Exploration Target* of 30-60Mt
  • At Marlin West extensive graphite outcrops up to 21m wide occur intermittently over a considerable strike length of 2.6km
  • The Threadfin target was previously reported to have an exploration target of 25-50Mt* and is not included in the companies current Exploration Target due to small-fine flake size
  • Petrography at Threadfin is being re-evaluated to access its suitability for the Purified Spherical Graphite market (PSG)
  • 65 Rock chip samples have been collected over key EM target areas, with assays & petrography results due shortly
  • GCM preparing for an April drill program at priority targets
*Cautionary Statement: The potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Targets is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration work to estimate a mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in defining a mineral resource as determined by JORC 2012 guidelines.