Sarytogan Graphite has shipped concentrate from its Kazakhstan project to Chicago for bulk purification trials with American Energy Technologies Company. The testing will cover granulation, calcining, thermal purification, spheronisation, and battery performance in 5Ah pouch cells. Previous small-scale tests in Australia and Germany showed high purity levels, with thermal purification reaching 99.9992% carbon without chemical pre-treatment. The trials are part of Sarytogan's plan to produce spherical purified graphite for lithium-ion batteries. The company has funding from Kazakh investor Dias Sarsenov and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is a major shareholder. A definitive feasibility study for the upstream mine is due in Q3 2026, with a downstream study to follow based on the Chicago results. The project holds 225 million tonnes of graphite resource grading 29.2% total graphitic carbon. If purification works at scale, Sarytogan could supply anode material for EV and storage batteries, reducing reliance on Chinese processing. The EBRD backing signals institutional confidence in the project's strategic value for clean energy supply chains.
