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Flake graphite feedstock required to supply the lithium-ion anode market is projected to grow from 120,000 tonnes per annum in 2017 to 1,250,000 tonnes per annum by 2025 (Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, 2017c).
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Flake graphite is a critical battery material due to its role as the primary anode component in lithium-ion batteries. With the shift to electrification of vehicles, it is forecast that in the next five years flake graphite's number-one use will be in battery applications, overtaking its traditional industrial uses. The burgeoning demand for batter...
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... 2035, while the chief commercial officer of mining giant BHP (Reuters, 2017) has predicted this total to reach 140 million by 2035. Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (2017c) has predicted that the amount of flake graphite feedstock required to supply the lithium-ion anode market will grow from a current total of 120,000 tpa to 1,250,000 tpa by 2025 (Fig. ...
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... The Green Giant and Molo deposits in the Tulear Region are the most important vanadium-graphite concentrations in Madagascar (Next Source Materials 2017; Scherba et al., 2018) (Fig. 3; Table 1). The Bekily Block, within which the Green Giant project lies, is situated in southwest Madagascar and is considered to be of Proterozoic age. ...
... The latter type, with its metallic suite of V-Mo-U-C, is a typical product of metamorphism of black shale deposits (Barrie, 2009;Desautels et al., 2011;Parnell, 2022). Green Giant type (3), described as the largest known vanadium deposit in the world, consists of a series of graphite-bearing bodies (Jaky, Manga, and Mainty) that are 15 km away from the Molo Graphite Project (AGP Mining Consultants Inc., 2011; Next Source Materials, 2017; Scherba et al., 2018). The lithostratigraphy of the Green Giant property mainly consists of quartz-feldspathic gneisses (Lardeaux et al., 1999;Scherba et al., 2018), with bands of hornblende, biotite gneiss, marble, granitoid, and amphibolite. ...
... Green Giant type (3), described as the largest known vanadium deposit in the world, consists of a series of graphite-bearing bodies (Jaky, Manga, and Mainty) that are 15 km away from the Molo Graphite Project (AGP Mining Consultants Inc., 2011; Next Source Materials, 2017; Scherba et al., 2018). The lithostratigraphy of the Green Giant property mainly consists of quartz-feldspathic gneisses (Lardeaux et al., 1999;Scherba et al., 2018), with bands of hornblende, biotite gneiss, marble, granitoid, and amphibolite. The rocks with the highest vanadium content are sillimanite-and graphite-bearing quartz-feldspathic gneiss with minor phlogopite, graphite, pyrite, muscovite, apatite, titanite, chalcopyrite, hematite, and calcite. ...
As part of the critical metals group, vanadium is an essential commodity for the low- and zero-CO2 energy generation, storage and transport. This contribution aims to carry out a review of the most significant vanadium ore sources and mineralizations located in Africa, which are highly diversified in their geological and mineralogical characteristics, and can be classified in:
1. Vanadiferous (titano)magnetite deposits;
2. Sandstone-hosted (U)-vanadium deposits;
3. Calcrete-hosted (U)-vanadium deposits;
4. Vanadate deposits;
5. Vanadium deposits associated with crude oil, coal, and shale-hosted deposits;
6. Graphite-associated vanadium deposits;
7. Vanadium occurrences associated with laterite, bauxite, and phosphate ores.
The economically most significant vanadium sources in Africa are associated with titanomagnetite layers in mafic-ultramafic magmatic intrusions (e.g., the Bushveld Complex in South Africa and the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe). Vanadium has been historically mined also in vanadate deposits deriving from the supergene alteration of Pb-Zn-Cu sulfide ores in Namibia and Zambia. Several areas in these countries, where potentially re-processable old tailings and slags have been accumulated, still have economic potential. Vanadium mineralizations are associated with graphite bodies in the Mozambique Metamorphic Belt. Vanadium is also enriched in uranium ores occurring in the Upper Paleozoic-Mesozoic Karoo continental sediments: typical examples are found in Botswana, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. Significant uranium-vanadium concentrations (where carnotite prevails) occur in relatively recent (Tertiary-Quaternary) calcrete duricrusts in paleo-fluviatile beds, which are widespread throughout the African continent. These derive from the weathering of U-(V)-fertile source rocks, which under favorable paleoclimatic conditions resulted in the vanadium precipitation in the critical zone. Variable vanadium amounts have been also recorded in iron ore deposits, phosphorites, and laterites, even though the phosphate deposits seem to have the most favorable characteristics for potentially economic vanadium concentrations.
On the whole, South Africa holds the highest-grade vanadium ore resources globally. However, also many other African countries, where this metal could be profitably extracted as a by-product from other economic ores, will probably be at the forefront of vanadium production in the near future.
... The two end-member genetic models for flake graphite mineralization are graphitization (conversion of organic carbon to graphite) and hydrothermal deposition (Luque et al. 2012;Beyssac and Rumble 2014); however, some graphite deposits are formed through a combination of both (Papineau et al. 2010;Luque et al. 2012;Parnell et al. 2021b). Notwithstanding the uncertainty regarding the formation of extra-large flake sizes, protolith clay content and the development of granoblastic microstructures (Scherba et al. 2018) may play critical roles. However, it is unclear if extra-large Editorial handling: G. Beaudoin, K. Kelley flake graphite deposits may also be influenced by hydrothermal carbon mobilization in addition to in situ metamorphic processes. ...
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The petrogenesis of extra-large flake graphite is enigmatic. The Bissett Creek graphite deposit, consisting of flake graphite hosted in upper-amphibolite facies quartzofeldspathic gneisses and rare aluminous gneisses, provides an analogue for graphite exploration. In the Bissett Creek gneisses, graphite is homogeneously distributed and composes 2-10 vol. % of the rocks. Disseminated graphite flakes (~ 1 to 6 mm in size) are interleaved with biotite and are petrologically associated with upper-amphibolite facies metamorphic mineral assemblages. Thermobarometry and phase equilibrium modeling yield peak temperatures of > 760 °C at 0.5-0.9 GPa. Whole-rock samples with abundant graphite yield δ13CVPDB from - 28 to - 14‰. δ34SVCDT values of sulfide-bearing samples vary from 10 to 15‰. Sulfur and carbon isotope values are compatible with a biogenic origin, flake graphite probably formed from metamorphism of in situ organic material. However, the variability of δ13C values from the deposit along with graphite microstructures suggest that carbon-bearing metamorphic fluid (or melt) generated during metamorphism may have remobilized carbon resulting in anomalously large to extra-large flake sizes. This may be a common mechanism globally to explain large graphite flake sizes where graphite formed through in situ metamorphism of organic matter is coarsened due to remobilization of CO2-rich fluids (or melt) during high-temperature metamorphism.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00126-022-01145-9.
... 1). These SZs are characterised by high concentration of diferent types of mineralization (iron for the Ejeda SZ-Boulanger 1954, graphite for the Ampanihy SZ-Scherba et al. 2018, phlogopite for the Beraketa SZ-Pili et al. 1999;Martelat et al. 2014). However, in the ield, due to poor exposure and relative homogeneity of metamorphic conditions, SZ limits are more diicult to decipher even for SZs considered as possible oceanic sutures(Rakotovao et al. 2014;Boger et al. 2015). ...
This study uses gravimetric data integrated with recent seismic data published on south Madagascar to investigate geometry of crust–mantle interface. The regional tectonic framework of Madagascar is characterised by anastomosing network of up to 15-km-wide, 600-km-long and north-oriented high-strain zones, which originated during Neoproterozoic convergence. The studied Bouguer anomalies obtained from the International Gravimetric Bureau were high-pass filtered to emphasise short-wavelength gravimetric variations (shorter than 200 km). The Pan-African high-strain zones coincide with the positive gravimetric anomalies suggesting a link with deep seated high-density material. Considering the present-day thickness of the crust (35 km) and its seismic velocity record, the gravimetric anomalies can be visualised as narrow vertical tabular bodies located at the base of the Moho. Modelling further confirmed that such narrow vertical bodies could be stable over geologic time scale since these structures are relatively small (10 to 30 km wide). The vertical tabular bodies possibly reflect material transfer such as vertical motion of sub-crustal weak and possibly partially molten mantle along vertical deformation zones. It is proposed that these structures were initiated by folding of weak mantle–crust interface characterised by low-viscosity contrast between weak mantle and stronger granulitized lower crust during bulk pure shear-dominated horizontal shortening. It is proposed that the cuspate-lobate “mullion-type” geometry mimics rheological inversions of mafic and felsic rocks and shape of folds of variable scale observed in southern Madagascar. The formation of such mega-mullion structures is possibly an expression of “crème brulée” rheological model, where the deformation of the lithosphere is governed by stronger granulitic lower crust and weaker partially molten and/or hydrated mantle.
The Huzyk Creek area is situated along the boundary between the Reindeer Zone and the Superior Boundary Zone of the Paleoproterozoic Trans-Hudson Orogen, where the Precambrian rocks are overlain by Phanerozoic cover. Two drill holes intersect graphite schist that is enriched in V, as well as U, Zn, Mo, and Cu, and is hosted by a metamorphosed wacke-mudstone sequence interleaved with variably altered mafic rocks. Whole-rock lithogeochemistry and Sm-Nd isotope chemistry suggest that the wacke-mudstone package is related to the turbidite-derived Burntwood Group of the Kisseynew Domain and was likely deposited relatively proximal to the Flin Flon arc-collage. A model is proposed in which redox-sensitive metals were leached from rocks of the Flin Flon arc-collage during weathering under oxidizing conditions. The metals were transported in oxygenated surface run-off draining the arc-collage and discharged into the Kisseynew Basin. Shallow waters of the Kisseynew Basin were likely oxygenated and biologically productive; however, the basin was likely euxinic at mid-depths. The mixing of the metal-enriched, oxygenated water with organic matter and euxinic water resulted in the reduction of the redox-sensitive metals and the formation of insoluble organometallic complexes and particles. A highstand, or period of tectonic quiescence, likely halted turbidite deposition and allowed for the settling organic and metal-rich particles to create relatively thick deposits. Burial and metamorphism resulted in the organic-rich material being transformed into graphite, while Mo, Cu, and Zn were partitioned into sulfides. The mineral hosts of V and U are not known at this time. The model calls for the fractionation of redox-sensitive metals from the water column shortly after discharge into the Kisseynew Basin and implies that graphitic horizons in relatively close proximity to the Flin Flon arc-collage have a greater potential for metal enrichment than graphite deposits farther removed from the arc. This model could apply to basins of similar metamorphic grade, age, and tectonic setting around the globe.
The anticipated high demand for new vanadium resources in support of the green energy revolution will be partly met by vanadium in carbonaceous deposits. This type of deposit is particularly developed during a 200 Myr period from Cryogenian-Cambrian. During this period, anoxic conditions were widely developed and provided a template for vanadium deposition. Vanadium became available to the surface during the Neoproterozoic when anomalously high levels were introduced in large igneous provinces. Global glacial erosion transported vanadium to the oceans, along with trace elements that engendered organic carbon accumulation. The combination of vanadium and organic carbon gave rise to a range of deposits, and provides a model to support exploration for further resources.
