Aim-listed Armadale Capital says it has sufficient data to fully define a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource update for the Mahenge Liandu graphite project, in Tanzania.
The resource update will underpin an initial 10- to 15-year mine life, based on 30% of ground tested by drilling and incorporated within the resource.
The company is progressing a definitive feasibility study (DFS), which will include the mineral resource estimate, as well as project level financing and offtake agreements with Chinese partners.
The existing indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate, which was announced in February, stood at 51-million tonnes, grading 9.3% total graphite content (TGC), with 38.7-million tonnes grading 9.3% in the indicated category,
The latest assay results received from the final diamond drilling campaign at Mahenge include 5 m, grading 19.8% TGC from 1 m depth; 14 m, grading 14.3% TGC from 22 m depth; and 8 m, grading 15.3% TGC from 7 m depth.
The company says these diamond drill results confirm broad intervals of high-grade mineralisation, consistent with findings concluded from a reverse circulation drilling campaign at the project.
A scoping study, which is being used to inform the DFS, highlighted that the project could produce an average of 49 000 t/y of high-quality graphite products over a 32-year mine life, at a low operating cost of $408/t and a development capital expenditure requirement of $35-million.