Renascor Resources has received early contractor involvement (ECI) submissions from its engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors.
The submissions are part of a competitive ECI process for its proposed upstream graphite mining and processing operation in South Australia.
The ECI process resulted in key engineering improvements to the mineral processing plant, including enhancements to the comminution, flotation and re-grind circuits.
This is expected to increase graphite production with size fractions greater than 150 microns (+100 mesh) by approximately 60 per cent, from a projected 17 per cent to 27 per cent of total production.
Operating costs is estimated to decline due to the elimination of higher-cost reagents and a reduction in overall reagent consumption in the flotation circuit.
The targeted graphite grade is expected to improve to 95.3 per cent carbon, while the recovery rate is set to increase to 96.7 per cent, surpassing the targets established in the 2023 battery anode material definitive feasibility study (2023 BAM study).
There was a 4.7 per cent increase in the capital cost estimate for the mineral processing plant.
However, the overall impact on the pre-production estimate for the stage one upstream operation remains modest, accounting for only a 2.8 per cent rise from the $214.5 million total outlined in the 2023 BAM study.
The cost increase is primarily attributed to design enhancements, inflation and foreign exchange fluctuations.
“The competitiveness of Renascor’s BAM project is based in large part on the quality of the Siviour graphite deposit and its potential to offer amongst the lowest operating cost and most capital efficiency of any ex-China graphite project,” Renascor managing director David Christensen said.
“The ECI process further underscores Siviour’s global competitiveness by offering material improvements to the mineral processing plant and providing confidence that the capital cost estimates developed in the 2023 BAM Study are reasonable and achievable.”
Renascor is now reviewing the ECI submissions to select a preferred contractor for delivering the mineral processing plant under an executable EPC contract.
The company is assessing factors such as pricing, construction schedules, commercial delivery models, and contractor incentives before advancing to the next stage.