Aim-listed investment group Armadale Capital has been granted a mining licence for its 100%-owned Mahenge Liandu graphite project in south-east Tanzania from the Tanzanian Ministry of Energy and Minerals.
The mining licence provides the company with exclusive development and mining rights over the graphite resources within the 8.54 km2 licence area and is a major de-risking milestone for investors, the company states.
The project has an estimated pre-tax net present value of $430-million, an internal rate of return of 91% and a payback period of 1.6 years.
Armadale chairperson Nick Johansen says receipt of the ten-year mining licence for the Mahenge Liandu graphite project is one of the final and most important de-risking milestones for the company, enabling it to push forward towards construction of its planned initial first-stage operation with a 60 000 t/y capacity.
The project, he says, will bring significant benefits to stakeholders, both local communities and investors.
“Armadale continues to make progress in other crucial workstreams and as previously indicated, we are making positive progress in development funding options, specifically a debt package for the project.
“The company is also currently in discussions with a number of potential finance partners; we are hoping to be able to announce some further progress with regards to these efforts and also with our offtake discussions in the near term,” says Johansen.