Name of the Project
Ancuabe graphite project.

Location
Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique.

Project Owner/s
Graphite developer Triton Minerals. Shandong Tianye Mining (STM) has a 19.4% shareholding in Triton.

Project Description
Ancuabe has a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant ore reserve of 24.9-million tonnes at 6.2% total graphitic carbon based on the T12 and T16 mineral deposits.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the deposits has confirmed the high quality, long life and high margin of the graphite project.

The DFS is based on the production of about 60 000 t/y of graphite concentrate over 27 years. The mine plan is based on the ore reserve, and less than 5% of the production is sourced from inferred mineral resources, which are mined to access the ore reserve.

It is planned that conventional drill-and-blast, load-and-haul, openpit mining will be used to extract the mineralised material. Run-of-mine (RoM) feed will be defined by grade-control procedures in the pit, and delivered by truck to the RoM pad located centrally between the T12 and T16 deposits. Waste will need to be classified according to its acid-forming potential and be dumped in managed waste dumps adjacent to the openpits. It is planned that mining will be carried out by an experienced earthmoving contractor.

Ancuabe’s process plant will have a throughput of between 900 000 t/y and 1.1-million tonnes a year to produce an estimated 60 000 t/y graphite concentrate. The proposed process plant facilities include:
• an RoM pad;
• a tertiary crushing circuit;
• a rod mill feed bin and grinding circuit;
• rougher flotation;
• three stages of attritioning and five stages of cleaner flotation;
• concentrate filtration;
• concentrate drying, classification and bagging of three products;
• tailings thickening and storage; and
• reagents.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has an unleveraged pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $298-million and an internal rate of return of 36.8%, with a near-term payback of 3.8 years.

Capital Expenditure
Preproduction capital costs are estimated at $99.4-million, including contingency.

Planned Start /End Date
Production is planned to start in the second half of 2019, subject to financing and board approvals. First production is expected in late 2020.

Latest Developments
Triton Minerals has identified a power solution for its Ancuabe graphite project, signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with generator manufacturer Himoinsa Southern Africa.

The MoU will result in the development of a modular, scalable, cost-effective and sustainable power solution for the project, with Himoinsa to develop, build, own, operate and maintain the power generation facilities.

The MoU covers a small-scale Stage 1 startup operation, and a Stage 2 expansion to full capacity.

Stage 1 would require energy to power a processing plant with a capacity of between 100 000 t/y and 125 000 t/y of ore, producing between 5 000 t/y and 8 000 t/y of graphite concentrate, with Himoinsa to supply 1.5 MW of diesel-powered electrical generation and potentially a solar/battery hybrid energy solution.

Stage 1 is likely to be operational by the third quarter of 2023.

The Stage 2 expansion would scale up the supply of energy to between

5 MW and 6 MW, with the addition of diesel and solar/battery hybrid energy solutions, and potentially backed by connection to the grid.

The Stage 2 expansion is expected to start in 2025, with processing targeted at one-million tonnes a year for the production of up to 60 000 t/y of graphite concentrate.

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
Lycopodium and ADP Group (process and plant infrastructure); Knight Piésold (tailings and water storage facilities and site geotechnical investigations); CSA Global (geology and resources, as well as mining and mine design); IMO, ALS Metallurgy (metallurgical testwork); Major Drilling (project drilling); Intertek and Bureau Veritas (assays); EOH Coastal & Environmental Services Limited (environmental-, social- and health-impact assessment); and MCC International (construction contract).

Contact Details for Project Information
Triton Minerals, tel +61 8 6489 2555 or fax +61 8 6489 2556.