Overview
| Stage | Construction |
| Mine Type | Open Pit |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
|
| Mine Life | 50 years (as of Jan 1, 2018) |
Battery Minerals Limited is completing the sale of the Montepuez Graphite Project to Tirupati Graphite (TGR: LSE or ‘Tirupati’). |
Source:
p. 21
The Montepuez Project 8770C Mining License comprises an area covering 3,666.88ha and is held 100% by Battery Minerals Limited (Metals of Africa Limited prior to December 2016) via a locally owned subsidiary Suni Resources SA.
17 August, 2021 - Battery Minerals Limited (ASX: BAT) (“Battery Minerals” or “the Company”) is pleased to advise that it has entered into agreements, together with its subsidiary Rovuma Resources Limited, to sell its Mozambique graphite assets, through the sale of all the shares in its subsidiary Suni Resources SA, to the London Stock Exchange listed company, Tirupati Graphite plc for a total aggregate consideration of $12.5 million in cash and shares.
Tirupati Graphite will acquire the Montepuez and Balama Graphite Projects in Mozambique.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Montepuez Graphite Project is located within the Xixano Complex and traverses the tectonic contacts between the Nairoto, Xixano and Montepuez Complexes. The Xixano Complex includes a variety of metasupracrustal rocks enveloping predominantly mafic igneous rocks and granulites that form the core of a regional north-northeast to south-southwest trending synform. Graphite-bearing mica schist and gneiss are found in the Xixano Complex. Locally, graphitic schists occur with dolerites, meta-sediments, amphibolites and minor intrusions of cross-cutting pegmatite veins. Graphite forms as a result of high-grade metamorphism of organic carbonaceous matter and vanadiumbearing minerals such as roscoelite occur as secondary minerals.
The 8770C license occurs on the Xixano Complex and traverse the tectonic contacts between the Nairoto, Xixano and Montepuez Complexes. The Xixano Complex includes a variety of metasupracrustal rocks enveloping predominantly mafic igneous rocks and granulites that form the core of a regional north-northeast to south-southwest-trending synform. The paragneisses include mica gneiss and schist, quartzfeldspar gneiss, metasandstone, quartzite and marble.
The metamorphic grade in the paragneiss is dominantly amphibolite facies, although granulitefacies rocks occur locally in the region. The oldest dated rock in the Xixano Complex is a weakly deformed meta-rhyolite which is interlayed in the meta-supracrustal rocks and which gives a reliabl ........
Summary:
A mining schedule was developed based on mining of the pit designs for the Elephant and Buffalo deposits. The mining rate was determined based on the processing plant target production of 100 ktpa at 96% TGC. A commissioning and ramp-up period of 12 months is included in the mine schedule. Over the life of the project, the throughput rate is expected to vary between 1.5Mtpa (weathered) and 1.34Mtpa (fresh). Ore Resource to Reserve conversion is 86% for Buffalo and 77% for Elephant calculated by contained graphite.
Mining will commence at the Buffalo pit for the first 4 years. A nine month pre-strip period is scheduled to provide sufficient waste to construct the ROM pad. After mining the shallow ore from Buffalo, the mining fleet will move to Elephant to mine the shallow ore in year 5. Over the first 7 years of production the strip ratio will be extremely low, approximately 0.2 (waste to ore ratio), and the mining rate will be approximately 1.7Mtpa (including ore and waste). After 7 years, an additional mining fleet will need to be mobilised to enable mining cutbacks at both Buffalo and Elephant pits simultaneously. At this time the mining rate will increase to approximately 3.2Mtpa. Overall, the strip ratio for the life of mine is estimated to be 0.6 (waste to ore ratio) and the life of mining (including pre-strip) is 27 years of the current Ore Reserve, which remains open along strike. Following the cessation of mining the remaining long-term stockpiles will be ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Projected Production:
Test work has been conducted to demonstrate that V2O5 can be extracted as a by-product of graphite processing at the Project. Tailings from the graphite plant will undergo a secondary process that involves further grinding to liberate Vanadium minerals (predominantly roscoelite) and a two stage magnetic separation process with stage 1 removing high iron gangue and stage 2 recovering the Vanadiumto the magnetic fraction. The Vanadium rich magnetic fraction recovered from the magnetic recovery circuit contains approximately 75% of the Vanadiumin the graphite plant tailings. This material, upgraded to approximately 1.3% V2O5, will form the feed to a standard roast and leach process to recover the Vanadium content as a V2O5 product.
| Commodity | Units | Avg. Annual |
|
Graphite
|
kt
| 50 |
All production numbers are expressed as concentrate.
Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | |
|
Annual processing rate
| 500 Mt * |
|
Stripping / waste ratio
| 0.8 * |
* According to 2018 study.
Reserves at October 24, 2019:
Montepuez Graphite Project Mineral Resource Estimate(2.5% TGC Cut-off).
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Graphite |
|
Probable
|
42.19 Mt
|
Graphite
|
9.27 %
|
3.9 Mt
|
|
Total Resource
|
119.6 Mt
|
Graphite
|
8.1 %
|
9.66 Mt
|
|
Total Resource
|
34.6 Mt
|
V2O5
|
0.25 %
|
86 kt
|
Commodity Production Costs:
| | Commodity | Units | Average |
|
Cash costs
|
Graphite
|
USD
|
360.9 / t *
|
|
Assumed price
|
Graphite
|
USD
|
1,065 / t *
|
* According to 2018 study / presentation.
2018 Study Costs and Valuation Metrics :
| Metrics | Units | LOM Total |
|
Pre-Production capital costs
|
$M USD
|
......
|
|
Pre-tax payback period, years
|
|
......
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Mine Management:
| Job Title | Name | Profile | Ref. Date |
|
.......................
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.......................
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|
Oct 24, 2022
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