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Australia

Uley 2 Mine

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Summary

Mine TypeOpen Pit
Study CompletedFeasibility
StageRestarting
Commodities
  • Graphite
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
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SnapshotThe Uley Mines (Uley 2,3,4,5,6) comprise several discrete, highly mineralised envelopes all located within a 1200-metre radius representing a potential certified resource of more than 5 million tonnes of natural flake – equivalent to 15 times the annual global flake graphite production.

The Uley 2 graphite mine is shovel ready, with activities including mining flake graphite.

In H1 2025, the Australian Federal Government awarded Major Project Status to the EPG Hub, a complete graphite supply chain that includes mining, processing and the refining of flake graphite together with associated logistics. The EPG Hub is being developed by the Company and joint venture partner, Sunlands Energy Co. The centrepiece of the Hub is the Company’s fully permitted Uley 2 project and Sunlands Energy Co.’s thermal energy storage technologies.

Existing process plant support buildings will be decommissioned, and new plant support building will be constructed.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Quantum Graphite Ltd. 100 % Direct
Uley 2 sits within the greater Uley graphite resource province which is defined as a series of highly mineralised envelopes including the historical Uley 1 and Uley 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and consists of five contiguous tenements on the Eyre Peninsula of South Australia, of which two are retention leases (RL66 & RL67), two are mining leases (ML5561 & ML5562) and one is an exploration license (EL6224).

Quantum Graphite Ltd. has a 100% interest in these tenements.

Contractors

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Deposit type

  • Metamorphic hosted

Summary:

The Uley Graphite Project target horizon is within the Hutchinson Group member the Cook Gap Schist. The Warrow Quartzite and Katunga Dolomite units have been intersected and are horizons below the target. Thrusting, faulting and folding with subsequent metamorphism have resulted in graphite mineralisation being developed in thickened locally anticlinal rootless folds.

The Uley Graphite Project is hosted within a suite of graphitic schists and biotite-garnet gneisses. This has been historically interpreted as a basal sub-horizontal thrust, with folded and thrust schists and gneiss in the hanging wall of the thrust. Locally the stratigraphy has been metasomatised during high grade metamorphism and siliceous pegmatite veins invade the schists and gneiss.

The Uley Graphite Project deposits are located in slightly undulating landforms, c.a. 80 metres above sea level. The graphite mineralisation is hosted by the Cook Gap Schist, a partially migmatised medium grained biotite+/-garnet+/-muscovite+/-sillimanite-quartzofeldspathic schist/gneiss with leucocratic pegmatite sweats.

Graphite is developed as a constituent mineral in coarse prograde metamorphic assemblages as well as in the fabric and foliation of micaceous schists. These are interpreted to be the folded, thrusted and metamorphosed equivalents of the Cook Gap Schist. Folding of stratigraphy on various local scales is obvious from the core logging.

The drilling relevant to the Mineral Resource estimate at Uley 2 extends over a distance of 375 m (from 9,225 m grid N to 9,600 m grid N) and includes a 125 m vertical interval from approximately 375 m to 500 m. The graphitic mineralisation is interpreted to extend along the full strike distance. Depth of interpreted mineralisation varies as structural events resulted in the plunge to the north-east of the tight isoclinal folds that host mineralisation. Mineralisation becomes shallower and closer to the surface towards the south-west of Uley 2.

The nose of the fold structure from Uley 1 Pit is believed to be missing in the Uley 2 deposit, having been eroded from near the Uley 1 Pit southern face, and that the resultant geology consists of one or both of the fold limbs extending to the south of Uley 1 Pit through the Uley 2 deposit. As a result the multiple Graphite horizons within the Cook Gap Schist are vertical to sub vertical westerly dipping units which may be structurally repeated as a result of the anticlinal fold system and its associated rootless parasitic folds.

Mineralisation at Uley 2 deposit represents strike continuity of that seen at Uley 1 Pit, along a known geophysical anomaly. Graphitic horizons are found within the Cook Gap Schist unit and parallel with intrustive Amphibolites thought to be of the Burrawing unit.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Required Heavy Mobile Equipment

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

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Processing

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Commodity Production

CommodityProductUnitsAvg. Annual
Graphite Concentrate kt 100

Operational metrics

Metrics
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe
Stripping ratio  ....  Subscribe4.64 *
Waste tonnes, LOM  ....  Subscribe18.6 Mt *
Ore tonnes mined, LOM  ....  Subscribe4 Mt *
Tonnes processed, LOM  ....  Subscribe4 Mt *
* According to 2023 study.

Production Costs

CommodityUnitsAverage
Assumed price Graphite USD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study / presentation.

Operating Costs

CurrencyAverage
OP mining costs ($/t milled) AUD  ....  Subscribe
Processing costs ($/t milled) AUD  ....  Subscribe
Total operating costs ($/t milled) AUD  ....  Subscribe
* According to 2023 study.

Project Costs

MetricsUnitsLOM Total
Working capital $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Total CapEx $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Gross revenue (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
Pre-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax Cash Flow (LOM) $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax NPV @ 8.5% $M AUD  ......  Subscribe
After-tax IRR, %  ......  Subscribe

Aerial view:

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