Name of the Project
Ancuabe graphite project.

Location
Cabo Delgado province, Mozambique.

Project Owner/s
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 is 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 from 900 000 t/y to 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 aims to start full construction of its Ancuabe graphite project in the third quarter of this year.

The project size and deliberately straightforward flowsheet will allow for first production about 16 months after the start of construction.

The Mozambique government granted the company a mining concession in May for the project, paving the way for project development. Ministerial approval was the final step in the mining concession application process, with Triton having secured the necessary regulatory approvals to progress the development of Ancuabe.

The grant of the mining concession is a critical milestone in terms of finalising funding negotiations for the project. Financing discussions for Ancuabe are well advanced and, once complete, Triton expects to start design work, mobilisation to site and construction immediately.

Meanwhile, the major project milestones achieved include the execution of binding offtake agreements for more than 50% of Ancuabe’s expected production with two Chinese graphite companies, the mobilisation of contractors in June last year to start early works on the raw-water dam and site clearing for the processing facility, as well as the execution of an engineering, procurement and construction contract with Chinese construction company MCC International.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
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) and EOH Coastal & Environmental Services Limited (environmental-, social- and health-impact assessment) and MCC International (construction contract).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

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