PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Graphite developer Volt Resources has unveiled plans to develop its Namangale project, in Tanzania, in two stages, with first concentrate production starting in mid-2018.

A previously completed prefeasibility study (PFS) considered a number of production scenarios ranging from 60 000 t/y to 240 000 t/y of graphite concentrate over a mine life of 20 years.

However, Volt said on Thursday that the company had refocused its feasibility studies on the project to focus on the staged development of the Namangale project.

Stage 1 of the project will be focused on the development of a 10 000 t/y to 20 000 t/y graphite mine and processing facility, with products to be exported to the US, China and other markets.

The Stage 2 development will be completed in 2020 to meet expected increases in demand, and the expansion will be based on market demand.

“The board and management have reviewed the product and financial markets and developed a clear strategic pathway for Volt to become a producer of material quantities of high quality graphite products on an accelerated basis via the staged development of the project,” said Volt chairperson Stephen Hunt.

“This is an exciting period for the company and its shareholders as we work on this important transition from early stage developer to producer by mid next year.”

Volt is now working on preparing the Stage 1 feasibility study, while also determining an interim processing solution to produce graphite concentrate to deliver product to offtake partner Nano Graphene, in accordance with a January offtake agreement.

The company will also work to complete sufficient binding offtake agreements, complete project approvals and the grant of a mining licence, while arranging for development funding, engineering, procurement and construction contracts to enable the start of construction by the fourth quarter of 2017.

A feasibility study on the Stage 2 expansion is also expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2018, and will be based on the scalable development of the Namangale project, building on the previous PFS.