Name: Balama mine.
Location: The mine is located in Cabo Delgado province, in Mozambique.
Mine Owner/s: Syrah Resources.
Brief Description: Balama is a globally significant natural graphite resource, with a and high reserve grade (16% total graphitic carbon) and a life-of-mine of more than 50 years.
Brief History: The Balama mine transitioned to operations on January 1, 2018, following the achievement of first production of graphite in late 2017. Commercial production was declared on January 1, 2019.
Primary Metals/Minerals: 94% to 98% fixed carbon graphite concentrate.
Secondary Metals/Minerals: Vanadium.
Geology/Mineralisation: The mine is situated within the Neoproterozoic Xixano complex, which in the Balama region comprises a north-north-east-trending synform with a core of mafic orthogneisses surrounded micaceous gneiss and schist, quartz-feldspar gneiss, quartzite and marble. Graphitic gneiss and schist, which are locally enriched in vanadium occur within the micaceous gneiss unit that dominates the Balama area.
Higher-grade graphite mineralisation is hosted by graphitic schists interlayered with lower-grade psammites and intruded by volumetrically minor pegmatites. At Balama East the graphitic units bifurcate around a granitic intrusion that outcrops as a dominant hill. The graphitic units dip variably to local grid north at an average of 45°. Relative to the premining surface, the graphitic schists were overlain by an average of about 2 m to 3 m of unmineralised soil and variably weathered to an average of about 30 m deep.
Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves as at December 31, 2019, were estimated at 107.54-million tonnes grading 15.73% total graphitic carbon.
Resources: Total mineral resources as at December 31, 2019, were estimated at 1.42-billion tonnes grading 10% total graphitic carbon.
Mining Method: Simple openpit mining.
Major Infrastructure and Equipment: The mine features a two-million-tonne-a-year conventional processing plant, which includes crushing, grinding, flotation, filtration, drying, screening and bagging.
Water is supplied from the Chipembe dam, which has a capacity of about 25-million cubic metres and is located 12 km away.
The mine’s 15.4 MW diesel-driven power station comprises seven 2.2 MW generators.
The mine’s facilities include medical and emergency response centers, an accommodation village and a canteen.
Prospects: The vanadium resource at Balama remains an attractive future growth option for Syrah Resources.
Contact Details:
Syrah Resources
Tel +61 3 9670 7264
Email enquiries@syrahresources.com.au
Website: http://www.syrahresources.com.au