Name of the Project
Montepuez graphite project.

Location
Mozambique.

Client
Battery Minerals.

Project Description
Montepuez Stage 1 (M1) is a 50 000 t/y graphite flake project. 

The current project life is 20 years, which Battery Minerals expects to expand to about 100 000 t/y in Stage 2. 

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $146-million and an internal rate of return of 36.2%. Payback has been reduced from 4.75 years in the definitive feasibility study (DFS) to two years in the value engineering study (VES).

Value
Total capital expenditure in the VES is estimated at $42.33-million, compared with $126-million in the February 2017 DFS.

Duration
Steady-state production is expected in the final quarter of 2019.

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

Latest Developments
Battery Minerals has reported a 14% increase in the mineral resource estimate of the Elephant deposit at its Montepuez project.

The project is now estimated to host a total measured and indicated resource of 76.9-million tonnes at 7.3% total graphitic carbon.

“These results underpin our view that there is potential for substantial growth in the inventory, forecast production rates and mine life at Montepuez,” Battery Minerals MD David Flanagan has said.

“We are confident that we will also continue to increase the run-of-mine grade, which would reduce costs and increase revenue, due to the increased tonnage of concentrate we would produce.”

In addition to the resource upgrade, Battery Minerals has also identified the Warthog prospect about 1.5 km south of Elephant, and follow-up drilling has confirmed that geological alterations continue down dip and along strike for more than 500 m.

Assay results from follow-up drilling at Warthog are pending.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Battery Minerals, tel +61 8 9322 7600, fax +61 8 9322 7602 or email info@batteryminerals.com.