Zentek’s Albany Graphite awarded $500,000 CMIF grant

Zentek’s (ZTEK) Albany Graphite Corp. has been awarded a grant of $500,000 from the Ontario Government’s Critical Minerals Innovation Fund for its Albany Graphite Purification and Anode Material Development Project. With electric vehicle batteries requiring up to 125 kg of graphite per vehicle, graphite is a key mineral identified in Ontario’s Critical Minerals Strategy 2022-2027. Unlike other critical minerals, the value of graphite varies widely based on its specific use cases, which require different purity, crystallinity, shape, and flake size thresholds. CMIF provides funding to projects that help strengthen Ontario’s critical minerals sector. AGC will contribute $314,500 to the project and is also collaborating with NRCan CanmetENERGY’s G3M project to include purification testing of Albany Graphite in their custom-built electrothermal “FBR”. NRCan CanmetENERGY will provide $200,000 of in-kind support. The project will entail the production of approximately 5-6 tonnes of flotation concentrate from the 110-tonne bulk sample that was collected in 2019. Concurrently, testwork will also involve purification testwork via NRCan’s newly developed Canadian FBR, and suitability testing of ultra-high purity Albany graphite samples for lithium-ion battery and nuclear applications.