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The company also said Wednesday that the much-anticipated PEA for its Albany graphite deposit will be released in the near term. Shareholders reacted well to both pieces of news, sending Zenyatta’s share price up an impressive 20.43 percent for a close of $2.24.
Zenyatta Ventures (TSXV:ZEN) shareholders have been waiting for the company to release a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Ontario-based Albany graphite deposit since last year, and it’s finally looking like their patience is going to pay off.
The company said in a Wednesday press release that it’s not only successfully completed and tested a purification process for the production of high-purity graphite from Albany, but has also submitted all process flow sheet data to RPA, which will “produce a PEA report in the near term.”
That information pushed the company’s share price up an impressive 20.43 percent by close of day Wednesday, leaving it at $2.24. That’s a significant rise from $1.57, where Zenyatta’s share price was sitting on the first trading day of the year, and well up from $1.05, where it sank after a disappointing update in December.
All in all, Zenyatta is up 49.33 percent year-to-date, though it’s down 32.73 percent in the last year.
Purification process
Looking more closely at the new purification process, Zenyatta notes in its press release that it’s unique to the Albany deposit and was developed by SGS Canada. In terms of exactly what results it yielded, the company states that SGS’ analysis of six purified graphite samples from Albany came in at greater than 99.9 percent purity.
As mentioned, the completion and testing of the process has allowed the company to put together a process flow sheet that’s been submitted to RPA. It includes data on “crushing, grinding, flotation, residence time, temperature, energy requirements, water treatment, reagent consumption, equipment sizing, mixing, separation and handling.” Additional optimization may be possible following the completion of “metallurgical work under a pre-feasibility study and full feasibility study.”
Speaking further about the benefits of the process, Aubrey Eveleigh, Zenyatta’s president and CEO, said, “SGS has developed a relatively benign purification process from an environmentally benign deposit to produce highly crystalline graphite exceeding 99.9% purity. Feedback from the market, including potential strategic partners in the CleanTech sector, suggests that environmental considerations are critical when sourcing raw materials for today’s high tech applications like energy storage.”
Eveleigh’s mention of energy storage applications is no doubt an allusion to Tesla Motors’ (NASDAQ:TSLA) recent announcement that it’s expanding into the energy storage market. Though the company has yet to announce which graphite, cobalt and lithium companies it will be sourcing materials from, CEO Elon Musk has emphasized Tesla’s commitment to being environmentally friendly.
What’s next?
As mentioned, it seems like those watching Zenyatta can finally anticipate a PEA for Albany in the near future. It will certainly be interesting to see if the company’s 2015 share price recovery will be sustained when it hits the market.
Securities Disclosure: I, Charlotte McLeod, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Related reading:
Are Large Shareholders a Burden for Junior Miners?
Investors Dump Zenyatta as Metallurgical Process Update Disappoints
Zenyatta’s Albany Graphite Could be Used in Lithium-ion Batteries
