PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The results from an updated feasibility study for the Stage 1 development of the Bunyu graphite project, in Tanzania, are anticipated in early August, ASX-listed Volt Resources said on Friday.
The company in August of last year announced the updated study, saying at the time that the results would be delivered in the December quarter of 2022.
“Volt would like to acknowledge the delays to the delivery of the updated feasibility study for its Bunyu graphite project, and wants to thank investors for their patience,” said CEO and MD Prashant Chintawar.
“We are very pleased to be able to inform the market that we anticipate releasing the updated study in early-August 2023. We are very grateful to our various expert consultants, whose hard work has been invaluable, and we anticipate being able to deliver a positive result for investors.”
The updated feasibility study is aimed at reducing the engineering, procurement and construction management costs, as well as the power plant costs, while increasing project life and updating the graphite pricing.
The initial feasibility study into the Stage 1 operation was based on a mining and processing plant with a throughput rate of 400 000 t/y of ore to produce an average 23 700 t/y of graphite products. The Stage 1 project is aimed to establish Volt’s market position and infrastructure to support the development of the larger Stage 2 expansion project, which will increase production to 170 000 t/y of graphite product yearly.
Volt told shareholders on Friday that despite the recent increases in both capital and operating costs globally, the company was expecting capital costs for Bunyu to remain well below estimates for companies in Volt’s peer group, and for Bunyu’s project economics to remain strong.