MUSCAT, SEPT 29
Plans for a high-purity graphite refinery in Oman’s Al Buraimi Governorate are advancing alongside engineering work on its Australian feedstock operations, as developers progress an integrated supply chain targeting global battery and energy-storage markets.
Australian critical minerals company Quantum Graphite Limited said workstreams in Oman and South Australia are proceeding in parallel under the integrated downstream structure established by Sunlands Pure Group (SPG). The model envisages flake graphite concentrate produced on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula being refined into high-purity material at Al Buraimi.
In Oman, an Environmental Impact Study for the proposed refinery has been completed, while negotiations with the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), the Sultanate’s industrial land agency, over the project site are “well progressed”, Quantum reported.
Preparatory work will now include a LIDAR survey to produce high-resolution three-dimensional mapping of the approximately 2.6 million-square-metre site, followed by land surveys and detailed survey plans. Hydrology and geotechnical work will subsequently be undertaken based on the survey outputs.
The latest progress follows an agreement announced earlier this year between SPG and Al Buraimi Governorate for the development of the graphite refinery and supporting facilities. The proposed complex is designed to serve lithium-ion battery anode, isostatic graphite and thermal energy-storage markets. SPG’s purification technologies are capable of processing natural flake graphite to around 99.9 per cent graphitic carbon purity.
The Omani development is closely linked to Quantum Graphite’s Uley 2 project on South Australia’s Southern Eyre Peninsula, which is intended to supply the refinery with flake graphite concentrate.
Quantum said Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work on Uley 2 is progressing on schedule, with process plant design reaching 80 per cent completion and a review updating capital and operating costs from the 2023 Definitive Feasibility Study now 75 per cent complete.
The plant location has also been reassessed following finalisation of a 20-year ore supply agreement in June, with the layout intended to accommodate future expansion without disrupting existing operations.
Together, the two workstreams underpin an emerging cross-border graphite value chain linking Australian mineral resources with downstream processing in Oman. Once FEED is completed, Quantum expects to have the detailed engineering definition, updated costs and documentation required to move towards EPC negotiations and eventual project execution.
