SGA raises $5M in new capital

Our 2022 Small Cap Pick of the Year, Sarytogan Graphite (ASX: SGA) has just raised $5M.

The capital raise was done at 33c per share, and the shares are expected to be issued on the 14th of April.

SGA has the highest grade graphite resource on the ASX, and in terms of size, the project’s resource ranks second only to Syrah Resources in terms of contained graphite.

The company recently put out a resource upgrade and immediately kicked off a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS).

This will be SGA’s first crack at laying out the financial metrics for its giant graphite project and the market’s first look at the overall project economics.

SGA expects to have that PFS run throughout the year.

What else is SGA up to?

Ongoing metwork 🔄

SGA continues to work with its processing partners to achieve the required Uncoated Spherical Graphite (USpG) specifications of 99.95% purity in spherical graphite balls of 5-20 microns in size.

SGA has already achieved 99.87% but is chasing that all-important 99.95%+ purity level.

Achieving these specifications will be key to accessing the battery anode market with a high priced spherical graphite product.

We think that this will be the major catalyst for SGA and the final step validating SGA’s giant resource as suitable for use in the lithium ion battery industry.

To get this done SGA has already delivered a bulk sample to its German lab partner.

SGA will be running a bulk flotation program through Q2-2023 to then feed into the spheroidization program in Q3-2023 ahead of battery performance tests in Q4 2023.

We touched on all of this in our last SGA note: SGA Scaling up its High Value Battery Quality Graphite Aspirations.

Permitting and access 🔄

The on-ground SGA team in Kazakhstan, including six geologists, is busy securing land access and approvals. It is also undertaking some exploration work, leveraging swathes of historical data left by past exploration in Kazakhstan by Russian companies.