Name of the Project
Epanko graphite project.

Location
Tanzania.

Client
Kibaran Resources.

Project Description
An updated bankable feasibility study (BFS) has demonstrated a highly robust business case for a 60 000 t/y operation at Epanko and has also substantially enhanced and derisked the project’s development.

The project has an ore reserve of 11.7-million tonnes grading 8.32% total graphitic carbon for 971 000 t graphite, supporting an 18-year mine life.

The BFS is based on a mining contractor scenario.

Mining will be undertaken using the conventional drill-and-blast technique, with the fleet comprising an 80 t backhoe excavator and 40 t off-highway haul trucks.

Mining operations will start in the Eastern pit and progress to the Western pit in Year 6 to the scheduled reserve exhaustion in Year 16. The average life-of-mine strip ratio is expected to be 0.4:1 (waste to ore).

The Western deposit entails mining a strike length of 1 360 m along the top of the ridge to a depth of 210 m in the south. 

The Eastern deposit, located partially over a hill within a small valley, will be mined to a depth of 125 m and will have a strike extent of 350 m.

The process plant is designed with a throughput capacity of 720 000 t/y for an average total graphitic carbon grade of 96% and average production of 60 000 t/y. The plant is based on a crush-and-grind comminution circuit (two-stage crushing circuit with single-stage rod mill), followed by rougher flotation.

The tailings are reground in a ball mill before entering the scavenger flotation. The rougher and scavenger concentrates will be combined and transferred into the primary cleaner section, comprising polishing mills and cleaner flotation banks.

The concentrate will then be screened into fractions of two sizes, with subsequent polishing and four-stage cleaning undertaken with no further milling required in the cleaning circuit.

The product will be dewatered, dried and screened into saleable size fractions. The flow sheet is optimised for a high yield of large flakes; however, it could be easily modified to get higher carbon content by flotation if required. There is potential to extend the forecast mine life beyond 18 years.

Jobs to Be Created
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $211-million and an internal rate of return of 38.9%, with a 3.4-year payback.

Value
Capital costs have been estimated at $88.9-million.

Duration
The project will take about 19 months to complete.

Latest Developments
A debt financing programme has started under the leadership of KfW to determine the optimum structure, quantum and terms of debt facilities, subject to all the necessary approvals, to allow for a final investment decision so that construction of the mine can start.

Kibaran is progressing an assessment process with South African bank Nedbank and Australia’s Export Finance and Insurance Corporation.

Discussions are also progressing with several strategic equity investors to determine the preferred debt and equity funding structure.

Kibaran is also nearing the completion of the feasibility study for the production of battery-grade spherical graphite, targeting value capture of high-quality Epanko graphite in the battery anode supply chain and other value added products. 

The study is due to be completed in the third quarter of 2017 and is based on a staged integration with the ramp-up of graphite production at Epanko. The initial downstream processing throughput of 10 000 t/y will deliver about 6 000 t/y of spherical graphite, with testwork supporting a 50% yield that is superior to existing feedstock.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Kibaran Resources, tel +61 8 6424 9000 or email info@kibaranresources.com.