Aim-listed Armadale Capital has confirmed that premium-quality, high-value graphite concentrates can be produced from its Mahenge Liandu deposit, in Tanzania.
The company on Thursday reported exceptionally high-purity results from ongoing metallurgical testwork from a diamond core drilling programme at the project.
The results from the testwork found concentrates of 96.8% of jumbo size graphite flakes, and 97.1% for both large and medium flakes. This exceeds the 95% average that the company used in a scoping study.
Further optimisation work is under way to maximise the proportion of large flake sizes.
The testwork forms part of a definitive feasibility study for the 400 000 t/y, 32-year mine life graphite operation.
The company aims to finalise the study towards the end of this year.
“The ability to deliver a premium product to fast-growing end markets such as lithium-ion batteries clearly enhances the project’s overall economics at a time when we are steadily progressing from explorer to emerging producer,” said Armadale director Nick Johansen.