JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Kibaran Resources has started the process of fast-tracking its Epanko graphite deposit, in Tanzania, towards production, director Andrew Spinks has said.

The company recently released an updated scoping study for Epanko – located within the Mahenge graphite project – following an upgrade to the Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant mineral resource estimate to an indicated mineral resource of 12.8-million tons at 10% total graphitic carbon for 1.28-million tons of contained graphite.

The study estimated the capital cost for Epanko at A$56-million for an operation that produced 40 000 t/y of graphite concentrate, while operating costs had been pegged at A$489/t.

The net present value, meanwhile, was projected at A$213-million, with a capital payback period of 2.5 years and a mine life of 27 years.

Kibaran earlier this week appointed GR Engineering Services (GRES) to undertake the feasibility and project evaluation study for Epanko and, under the agreement, GRES would provide its services to Kibaran exclusively in terms of graphite projects within the Southern African Development Community.

Kibaran secured its first binding, take-or-pay graphite offtake agreement for Epanko late last year, with an undisclosed European graphite trader – becoming the first publicly listed company to secure a binding agreement in Europe.

“Kibaran is in continuing discussions regarding a second but separate binding offtake agreement for the company’s flagship Epanko graphite deposit. While we are not prepared to disclose the name at this point, we can say it is with a major industrial group in Europe.

“The graphite sector is very competitive in terms of securing market share and, as such, Kibaran has actively protected its competitive edge by securing binding agreements, including the exclusive agreement with GRES and by not making public our current and prospective offtake partners prematurely,” Spinks said in a statement.

This strategy formed part of a broader Tanzanian focus, which included a memorandum of understanding agreed to earlier this year with Aim-listed Richland Resources subsidiary TanzaniteOne Mining and the Tanzanian State Mining Corporation.

Kibaran was hopeful that all parties would finalise and execute a binding agreement in due course and that the graphite assets within the Merelani area would be consolidated to provide a second frontier of premium-quality graphite production from within Tanzania.