Name of the Project
Mahenge Liandu graphite project.

Location
Tanzania.

Project Owner/s
Armadale Capital.

Project Description
The Mahenge Liandu deposit is one of the highest-grade, large-flake deposits globally after the recent upgrade to 51.1-million tonnes at 9.3% total graphitic carbon (TGC), including 38.7-million tonnes in the indicated category at 9.3% TGC and 12.4-million tonnes in the inferred category at 9.1% TGC.

The scoping study completed on the project is based on a throughput of 400 000 t/y, producing an average of 49 000 t/y of high-quality graphite products during a 32-year life-of-mine.

The deposit has a low average strip ratio of 1:1 for the life of the mine and a very low operating cost of $408/t. There remains significant scope to further improve returns using staged expansions, as the current mine plan is based on about 25% of the total resource.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $348.7-million and an internal rate of return of 122%, with a payback of 1.2 years.

Capital Expenditure
The project has a low development capital expenditure of $34.9-million.

Planned Start /End Date
The company plans on starting production in 2021.

Latest Developments
Armadale Capital has confirmed that premium-quality, high-value graphite concentrates can be produced from its Mahenge Liandu deposit.

The company has reported exceptionally high-purity results from ongoing metallurgical testwork from a diamond core drilling programme at the project. 

The results from the testwork has found concentrates of 96.8% of jumbo size graphite flakes, and 97.1% for large and medium flakes. This exceeds the 95% average that the company used in the scoping study.

Further optimisation work is under way to maximise the proportion of large flake sizes.

The testwork forms part of a definitive feasibility study for the 400 000 t/y, 32-year mine life graphite operation.

The company aims to finalise the study towards the end of this year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Battery Limit (scoping study).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Armadale Capital, tel +44 20 7236 1177 or email info@armadalecapitalplc.com.