The Environmental Review Committee within the Norrbotten County Administration Board issued a three-year environmental permit for Stage 1 mining operations at the Vittangi graphite project in northern Sweden.
Vittangi is owned by Australia’s Talga Resources (ASX: TLG), whose management is planning for a trial mine that allows for the extraction of up to 25,000 tonnes of graphite ore.
The environmental and statutory permits for Stage 2 of the project are planned to be submitted in March 2020, which will include an on-site plant at Vittangi with a processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes per annum of graphite ore
The material is to be processed into concentrate at an off-site toll milling facility before refining it at Talga’s operations into Talnode-C, the company’s flagship Li-ion battery anode product.
The permitting process included comprehensive test work and studies to minimise the environmental footprint of the operation along with community and stakeholder consultations.
“This is a significant milestone in our execution of developing the Vittangi project, and towards a truly localised European supply chain for lithium-ion batteries,” Talga managing director, Mark Thompson, said in a media statement. “Furthermore the approval comes at a time when our engagement with European carmakers has increased, amid tougher emissions laws and stronger consumer sentiment for cleaner mobility.”
Located approximately 20 kilometres east of LKAB’s iron ore mine and railhead at Svappavaara, the Vittangi graphite project has a total JORC resource of 12.3Mt at 25.5% graphite which, according to Talga, is the highest resource grade of any JORC/NI 43-101 graphite deposit in the world.