https://www.miningweekly.com

Battery Minerals on track to produce graphite after raising A$20m

STAGE ONE The Montepuez graphite mine will produce 45 000 t/y to 50 000 t/y of graphite concentrate

STAGE ONE The Montepuez graphite mine will produce 45 000 t/y to 50 000 t/y of graphite concentrate

8th June 2018

     

Font size: - +

Minerals explorer Battery Minerals is advancing its Montepuez graphite project in the north-west of Montepuez, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, following the latest fund-raising. The company has received financial commitments for A$20-million through a share placement at 6c a share.

The proceeds will be used to continue construction of the mine where commissioning for the equipment is set for the first quarter of 2019 and first concentrate export is expected in the second quarter of 2019.

Stage 1 at the Montepuez graphite mine will produce 45 000 t/y to 50 000 t/y of graphite concentrate, which will generate $25-million of net operating cash flow a year, based on current published prices.

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

According to Battery Minerals, the placement was at 6c a share with a free one-for-two exercisable at 10c with an expiry date of July 2023. The placement will be done in two tranches, with the second tranche of all shares and all options subject to shareholder approval at a meeting to be planned for June.

The company’s largest shareholder, Australian company Farjoy has committed to subscribe for A$5-million in tranche two of the placement, while stockbroking and wealth management firm the Morgans and financial advisory Hartleys acted as joint lead managers to the placement.

“The highly successful raising marked another step towards commencing production and cash flow from the Montepuez graphite project,” says Battery Minerals MD David Flanagan.

“We were overwhelmed with offers from investors who were attracted to the short lead time to production and cash flow,” he adds.

In March, the company announced that construction at Montepuez was already well advanced. “We have ordered our long lead items and these will be delivered over the coming months,” Flanagan says, adding that the crushing circuit has also been commissioned.

The company has made progress ahead of its commissioning in November. A temporary construction camp has been installed, while construction water dams have been built and are full.

Contracts have also been awarded for the supply of ball mill flotation cells, regrind mills, the flash dryer and thickener.

In addition to the raising, Battery Minerals will undertake a securities purchase plan (SPP) which will enable all eligible Battery Minerals shareholders to apply for up to $15 000 of shares on the same terms as the placement, providing shareholders with an opportunity to participate in capital raising. “The funds raised through the placement and the SPP will primarily be applied towards advancing the development of the Montepuez graphite project.”

The Mozambique government granted Battery Minerals a mining licence for its Montepuez graphite project and accepted the company’s environmental-impact assessment for the graphite project in March.

The expenditure of the SPP and placement will include the Montepuez construction works being completed later this year, the performance guarantee and environmental licence fee related to Montepuez mining licence approvals, study work at the company’s other Mozambique project – the Balama Central graphite project – as well as general working capital.

Balama

Meanwhile, the feasibility study on Battery Minerals’ Balama graphite project is set for completion later this year.

Balama is currently the subject of the study after a scoping study indicated a project with “globally competitive low operating costs and a high-value concentrate with potential to deliver strong operating cash flows over a long period”.

Combined with Montepuez and subject to continued positive economic, social and technical investigations, Balama Central provides scope for self-funded growth from a 50 000 t/y production rate in 2019 to more than 200 000 t/y in 2022.

The scoping study at Balama targeted product specifications, operations costs, capital costs and a development strategy that would ideally complement Montepuez. On completing this scoping study, Battery Minerals now has sufficient tonnes in the indicated resource category to support a highly commercial second mining operation at Balama Central.

Battery Minerals says it has produced high-quality graphite flake concentrate at multiple laboratories from the Mozambique projects. Therefore, the company intends to start graphite flake concentrate production from its Montepuez graphite project with first shipment in the March 2019 quarter at export rates of 45 000 t/y to 50 000 t/y at an average flake concentrate grade of 96.7% total graphitic content.

As Battery Minerals executes subsequent expansions, it expects production to grow to over 100 000 t/y graphite flake concentrate from Montepuez by 2020.

According to the company, the Montepuez project will create more than 170 jobs when it is operating. With the Montepuez and Balama graphite projects, Battery Minerals is set on becoming a significant graphite supplier to the lithium battery industry.

Edited by Mia Breytenbach
Creamer Media Deputy Editor: Features

Comments

Showroom

Condra Cranes
Condra Cranes

ISO-certified Condra manufactures overhead cranes, portal cranes, cantilever cranes and crane components: hoists, drives, end-carriages, brakes and...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
Hyphen, Eva mine, ferrochrome price make headlines
27th March 2024
Resources Watch
Resources Watch
27th March 2024

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.108 0.145s - 93pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now