Hexagon Resources Ltd (ASX:HXG) continues to focus on its strategy to supply high purity flake graphite for use as anode material in lithium-ion batteries.
The company recently commenced its pre-feasibility study (PFS) on the McIntosh flake graphite project in Western Australia.
McIntosh has a JORC resource estimate of 17.2 million tonnes at 4.63% total graphitic carbon for 797,200 tonnes of contained graphite.
This is the largest JORC compliant flake graphite resource in Australia with less than 15% of the strike length at McIntosh drilled to date.
Lab work has found that a >99% carbon concentrate can be produced from the bulk McIntosh samples through a simple grind and float process.
Commercial samples of the McIntosh ultra-high purity flake graphite concentrate have been produced for end users to test in their specific applications.
Discussions with potential off-take partners is ongoing with the company focusing its efforts on the end-user groups in the lithium-ion battery market.
University test program
A detailed test work program on the McIntosh flake graphite concentrate with University of Adelaide is ongoing.
The test work program will include characterisation of the physical, electrical, structural and chemical composition using a number of specialist techniques.
It will also evaluate the extraction of graphene using 3 exfoliation methods and determine the quality and yield of the isolated graphene.
Graphene
Graphene is a single layer of pure carbon first discovered in 2003 with world changing properties.
These properties quickly gained interest from the electronics and other industries, even amid questions about feasibility and cost.
Now, a new wave of low-cost manufacturing processes is opening the door for its use across a range of applications.
The ten year budget of the European Commission’s Graphene Flagship is $1.1 billion.
Graphene conducts electricity six times more effectively than copper.
Corporate
In March, Hexagon completed a successful placement of shares and options to institutional fund managers and sophisticated investors to raise a total of $1.333 million.
A total of 16,662,500 ordinary shares were issued at $0.08 each with a free unlisted option for every 2 shares subscribed to.
Tony Cormack was appointed CEO in April 2015 and has been a driver of both change for the company and the extraction of value from assets.
At the end of the March, the company had $1.26 million in cash and estimates expenditure of $430,000 in the June quarter.
One of the world's largest hedge funds, Och-Ziff Capital Management remains the company's largest shareholder.
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