Name of the Project
Montepuez graphite project.

Location
Mozambique.

Project Owner/s
Tirupati Graphite acquired the project from Battery Metals in April 2023.

Project Description
Montepuez Stage 1 is a 50 000 t/y graphite flake project.

The current project life is 20 years, which Battery Minerals expects to expand to about 100 000 t/y in Stage 2.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $146-million and an internal rate of return of 36.2%. Payback has been reduced from 4.75 years in the definitive feasibility study (DFS) to two years in the value engineering study.

Capital Expenditure
Not stated.

Planned Start/End Date
Steady-state production is expected in the final quarter of 2019.

Complete ramp-up of the first stage of the mine is expected in the third quarter of 2019.

Latest Developments
Tirupati has completed various workstreams to optimize the Montepuez project.

Tirupati confirms that it can modify the process flowsheet as per the DFS using technology currently used by the company, which can potentially reduce the graphite concentrate circuit by three stages.

Improvements can also potentially be made in the dehydration, drying, and screening circuits.

The company aims to update the DFS to incorporate the process and technological improvements, as well as to take account of 600 kg of core and openpit samples that have been sent for testing.

Following some pilot trials of the technology, Tirupati aims to reduce the Montepuez project's capital expenditure estimates for the first 50 000 t/y processing module, reduce operating costs, lower carbon emissions, reduce waste generation, and generate initial samples of concentrate for market development.

Alongside these pilot trials, Tirupati will conduct an overall review of production plans, ancillary facilities, and energy sources.

Further, Tirupati plans to progress Battery Minerals' studies for the extraction of vanadium pentoxide as a by-product from the Montepuez tailings, as part of the pilot trials it will be conducting.

Key Contracts, Suppliers, and Consultants
ThirdWay Africa (capital adviser).

Contact Details for Project Information
Battery Minerals, tel +61 8 9322 7600, fax +61 8 9322 7602, or email info@batteryminerals.com.