JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Madagascar-focused StratMin Global Resources achieved an overall average carbon grade of 94.3% in production carried out over an eight-day period, it said on Thursday.

The graphite mining and production company said its Lohorano plant was taken through a series of performance improvements since commissioning and was now steadily producing at grades in excess of 94% carbon, as required to achieve premium pricing under an existing offtake agreement with an undisclosed independent graphite merchant.

The customer would buy all graphite produced at Lohorano.

It would also provide StratMin with technical assistance by sharing graphite marketing information and its own processing knowledge.

“Producing 94% carbon consistently further validates the commercial viability of the Lohorano mine and plant. The team has [also] demonstrated that it is able to increase volumes with the existing plant.

“This increase in carbon content means that all the graphite we produce is now profitable, something that makes StratMin stand out among its peers,” StratMin MD Manoli Yannaghas said in a statement.

Speaking in a video interview, he added that this meant that the company was now producing higher-grade commercial graphite, “which the market wants.”

“About a year ago, the market moved from 92% carbon graphite to the 94% [standard]. That’s a very big difference and it is quite difficult to achieve,” he added.

Yannaghas enthused that: “We have now cracked it.”

MILL TRIALS
The company installed new milling equipment at the Lohorano property, in March, which was trialled over the following month.

The team managed to avoid significant flake size degradation usually associated with excess milling, retaining over 50% of the total run of production as large and jumbo flake.

The Aim-listed company also identified further improvement opportunities and expected the large flake proportion to increase along with grade improvements as the process was further optimised.