PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Graphite developer Triton Minerals has been given a provisional environmental licence for its Ancuabe project, in Mozambique.
The company told shareholders that the grant of the provisional environmental licence was a precursor for the receipt of the final environmental licence, which completed the environmental approvals process.
“This is a major milestone in the development of the Ancuabe graphite project, which paves the way for final construction approvals,” said MD Peter Centerbury.
“The grant of the provisional environmental licence comes at a timely stage as we progress early works and move towards construction of the raw water dam.”
In addition, the review period for the Environmental, Social and Health Impact Assessment application has passed without any objections, with Triton telling shareholders that there were no anticipated impediments to receiving the final environmental license.
Triton can now apply for the construction permit required for the mine, plant and infrastructure. Once the construction permit and final environmental licence are granted, Triton will have all the critical permits in place required to complete full construction at Ancuabe.
The company said on Tuesday that a mining concession for Ancuabe is expected in the near-term, however, this is not required to be granted until mining operations start, which is expected in the second half of 2019.
The $99.4-million Ancuabe project is expected to produce some 60 000 t/y of graphite concentrate to generate yearly revenues of $82.6-million and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margins averaging 53% over a 27-year evaluation period.