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Australian miner reports advantages of graphite beneficiation in Mozambique

25th September 2015

By: Keith Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

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Australian Securities Exchange-listed Triton Minerals has reported that a study has emphasised the economic benefits of the miner’s plan to establish vertically integrated graphite product manufacturing at its Nicanda Hill project, in Mozambique. Nicanda Hill is part of the company’s Balama North project, in the African country’s north-eastern Cabo Delgado province. Triton also has the Ancuabe and Balama South projects in the same region. It holds 80% of all three.

The economic study was done internally as part of the modelling process for the definitive feasibility study. It concluded that setting up facilities to manufacture spherical and enhanced graphite products at Nicanda Hill would lead to a faster return on investment and a near- term increase in profit margins, as much as five to ten times more than would be achieved by exporting only graphite concentrate. It would also allow the company to benefit from tax and development incentives from the Mozambique government.

“The recent confirmation that TMG(Triton Mozambique graphite) can produce a wide range of high-quality graphite products, including a full range of high-grade flake graphite concentrates, graphite composite material, graphite sheets and foils, spherical graphite and graphene, places Triton in a unique position to supply a broad and diverse market base,” affirmed company MD Brad Boyle. “Triton currently has the largest known graphite deposit in the world which provides longevity and certainty of supply. Nicanda Hill has an indicated and inferred resource of 1 457-million tons at a grade of 10.7% total graphitic carbon and 0.27% vanadium pentoxide. The high-quality nature of the TMG products and the strong support of the Mozambique government will allow Triton to rapidly advance all the projects and operations.”

Graphite composite material, graphite sheets and foils and spherical graphite are high-value products for which there is high demand from the electronics and energy storage industries. The proposed manufacturing facility would be able to make use of the mine’s infrastructure, including power and water. This would reduce both the required investment and the operating costs. “Triton is focused on an in-country value- adding strategy, as it is the logical step to utilise the established and future infrastructure, maximising the value of TMG products before selling and transporting them elsewhere,” he added. “Finally, Triton’s strategy aligns with the new fiscal and mining regimes of the Mozambique government and provides the company with the advantage of obtaining a number of development incentives and rebates which are associated with in-country value adding.”

Only days earlier, the company announced that commercial-grade graphene oxide had been successfully made from a number of grades of graphite concentrate from its Mozambique projects. This took place in a laboratory in Singapore. Using standard extraction techniques, the lab used only 1.5 g of TMG to produce 250 mℓ of high concentration graphene oxide solution. Diluted graphene oxide solution can be sold commercially, the company reported, for as much as $ 400 for 260 mℓ.

By only reducing, or drying, the TMG graphene oxide solution, the Singapore lab also produced graphene powder. These results mean than Triton can expand its range of products. “The remarkable properties of graphene are well known and now that TMG has shown to be ideally suited to create the wonder material, this creates further possibilities for Triton to expand their market presence and to explore an even broader client base-band revenue streams.”

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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