Significant advances were made by ASX-listed Triton Minerals at its flagship Ancuabe graphite project, in northern Mozambique, the company announced in April.

The announcement outlined its activities for the three-month period ending March 31, 2020.

The Ancuabe project is located within the established graphite region of Cabo Delgado in north-eastern Mozambique and, of all East African graphite projects, it is the one situated closest to the Port of Pemba.

The Ancuabe project is “the only large-scale, large flake graphite project in the region and its high-purity, large flake graphite – suited to the premium priced expandable graphite markets – commands a market price premium compared with smaller flake products”.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) confirms Ancuabe is a quality, high margin graphite project underpinned by a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant reserve of 24.9-million tonnes at 6.2% total graphite content (TGC) that supported the DFS’s evaluation of a mine life of 27 years.

“Triton is aiming at becoming the next East African graphite producer, currently targeting production of up to 60 000 t of high purity, large flake graphite concentrate a year,” the company said.

Additionally, binding offtake agreements have been signed with integrated graphite processor and distributor Tianshengda Graphite and Chinese graphite company Chenyang Graphite – each for up to 16 000 t/y of Ancuabe graphite concentrate production. This equates to over 50% of yearly production.

Chinese project developer MCC International Incorporation has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the mineral processing facility and other infrastructure at Ancuabe.

The company also announced an investment of $19.5-million by Jigao International Investment Development – a subsidiary of State-owned enterprise Jinan Hi Tech – which was completed late last year, to provide financial support for the early construction activities at Ancuabe. This investment saw Jigao becoming Triton’s major shareholder as it gained a 34.01% stake.

In March this year, Triton announced the release of its 2019 yearly report that demonstrates that the company is well-funded following the placement to Jigao, and the resulting cash investment of A$8.5-million in December 2019. This will enable the company to proceed with early construction activities.

Additionally, Triton released an update to the market in March which detailed that the company had been informed by its various Chinese partners that their business in China was in the process of returning back to normal following the country’s response to Covid-19.

“Given that China appears to be returning to business as usual, discussions with financing institutions will accelerate, working toward enabling construction to [start] in the near term.”