JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - ASX-listed Battery Minerals has completed a $50.1-million scoping study on its Balama Central graphite project, in Mozambique, to determine the potential viability of an openpit mine and building a graphite processing plant on site.
The study was also aimed at determining the order of magnitude potential and a basis on which to complete further studies, including a feasibility study, which Battery Minerals expects to finish midyear.
The scoping study targeted product specifications, operations costs, capital costs and a development strategy that would ideally complement the company's other graphite development project, Montepuez.
On completing this scoping study, the company now has sufficient tonnes in the indicated resource category, about 55 000 t/y at 10.6% total graphic content (TGC), to support a highly commercial second mining operation at Balama Central.
It is proposed that 100% of this ore will be mined from the indicated resources of 8.9-million tonnes at 9.3% TGC.
Battery Minerals MD David Flanagan said the study showed Balama Central had outstanding potential, with a mine life of ten years and a project payback of less than a year-and-a-half.
"We have identified a very strong operating and financial balance for Balama Central and, while the outcome is extremely strong, we still think there is room for further improvements as part of the feasibility studies.
"With this robust development strategy now clearly mapped out, we will move to secure our mining concession, progress the detailed engineering and design work and additional offtake agreements," he highlighted.