PERTH (miningweekly.com) – BlackEarth Minerals on Thursday confirmed that it had secured port access in Madagascar to export graphite concentrate from its Maniry project.
The Port d’Ehoala SA (POE) had confirmed that BlackEarth had the right to initially export up to 30 000 t of graphite concentrate, with a provision to increase this volume over time to cater for its Stage 2 expansion plans at Maniry.
POE will provide all shiploading services, and will provide services comparable to, and in accordance with safety standards set by mining major Rio Tinto, which are currently applied to service this port.
“This is a really important achievement for the BlackEarth team and is a significant milestone in the development of our Maniry mine operations in the rapidly growing graphite region of Southern Madagasar,” said BlackEarth MD Tom Revy.
“Having access to world class infrastructure is critical to any mine operation, in any part of the world, and this right now allows us to move forward with certainty, and also provides yet another strategic advantage to our planned Maniry large flake graphite plant development.”
The $41-million Stage 1 operation at Maniry will produce around 30 000 t/y of graphite, with the Stage 2 development requiring a further $29-million investment to increase output to 60 000 t/y, from the fourth year of operations.
The project is expected to have a mine life of around ten years, and is estimated to have a pre-tax net present value of $103-million and an internal rate of return of 42%.