London- and OTCQX-listed Tirupati Graphite said on March 31 that it was making progress with the expansion of its Sahamamy primary graphite project in Madagascar.

“We have maintained progress with the development of the . . . project despite difficult weather conditions in recent months. Sahamamy remains on track to complete construction and commence commissioning by the end of June . . . as we continue to ramp up our primary graphite production capacity,” Tirupati executive chairperson Shishir Poddar said.

He was referring to the construction of an 18 000 t/y second module to increase the company’s flake graphite capacity in Madagascar to 30 000 t/y.

Poddar stated that the completion of the expansion would be a material step towards the mid-term target of increasing Tirupati’s production capacity to 84 000 t/y by the end of 2024.

So far, the first set of processing plant equipment has been shipped from India to Madagascar, with further shipments continuing until mid-May.

Meanwhile, to add to the mining fleet which arrived at the project site in January, two Komatsu 30-t articulated dump trucks (ADTs) have arrived and been deployed. The final two Komatsu ADTs are expected to arrive in May, which will complete the fleet planned for the enlarged operations at Sahamamy.

The new road built by Tirupati, which connects the Sahamamy project to the national highway leading to Tamatave sea port and to its Vatomina project, has been widened to accommodate heavy plant equipment for the plant and the transport of product from the enlarged operations.

Further, a 100 kW hydropower plant equipment, including turbine and generator, has been shipped to Madagascar and construction of the canals and water embankments is nearing completion.

Finally, the commissioning of the hydropower plant is expected to be complete by June and will reduce use of diesel generators at Sahamamy, thereby resulting in a reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions and power costs.