PERTH (miningweekly.com) – An updated definitive feasibility study (DFS) into the Ancuabe graphite project, in Mozambique, has resulted in a decrease in up-front capital expenditure (capex) and an increase in expected yearly production.
ASX-listed Triton Minerals on Tuesday said that the updated DFS had reduced the up-front capex from the $99.1-million previously estimated, to $90.3-million, while increasing processing plant throughput from 1-million tonnes a year to 1.2-million tonnes a year, resulting in graphite production increasing from 60 000 t/y to 70 000 t/y.
Triton last year re-committed itself to the full-scale development of the Ancuabe project, as envisioned in the original 2017 DFS, which estimated a mine life of 27 years.
The decision to pursue a large-scale development came after Triton completed a strategic review and desktop study in 2022 considering various alternatives to bring the Ancuabe project into production in the short term, including a Stage 1 development of a commercial pilot plant producing 5 000 t/y to 8 000 t/y of graphite concentrate, which would later be expanded to the Stage 2 project targeting the 60 000 t/y production.