Zimbabwe’s sole graphite mine is seeking joint venture partners or capital lenders willing to provide $5.9-million to fund plant upgrades and the purchase of equipment to start mechanised underground mining, as well as exploration projects to increase the operation’s resource base.

Lynx Graphite board member Chris Chitambira told the Zimabwean media recently that the company needed at least $1.2-million for plant upgrades and for the partial mechanisation of underground mining operations.

The mine would require up to $4.7- million to complete the underground mechanisation project and fund new exploration initiatives in the long term.

“Debt is the preferred option but equity could be considered,” Chitambira said.

“We believe this investment will improve the quality and quantity of the [graphite] we are able to extract,” said Chitambira.

He said the Lynx mine, located near the north-western town of Karoi, currently used obsolete equipment that was costly to maintain. As a result, it was operating at 75% to 80% capacity, producing about 6 600 t of graphite a month.

The mine, which came on stream in 1965, currently employs 260 people and has enough reserves to last another 12 years. The life-of-mine can be extended to beyond 18 years if new exploration projects are undertaken in the short term. It is a joint venture operation between the State-owned Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation and German company Graphit Kropfmhul.

An excellent conductor of electricity, graphite has experienced a surge in demand over the past few years. It is used to make lithium-iron batteries to power cars, cellular phones and other gadgets that use accumulated power.

The crystalline carbonated mineral can also be used as a solid lubricant, in pencils and as a moderator in nuclear reactors, as well as a
thermal conductor in consumer electronics and as a reinforcement in plastics.

The combined global market demand for both amorphous and flake graphite is estimated at about one-million tonnes a year.

Zimbabwe is ranked tenth on a producer list topped by China, followed by Brazil, India, Turkey, Canada, Mexico, North Korea, Russia
and Norway.

Zimbabwe produced 7 000 t of graphite in 2015.