PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Graphite developer Triton Minerals on Tuesday said that recent work carried out by the government of Mozambique and its regional and international partners has seen an improvement in the security status and stability of the Cabo Delgado province.

The company’s directors and management recently met with government officials following the June attack at its Ancuabe graphite project, which resulted in the fatality of two of the company’s security and caretaker staff.

Triton has reiterated its commitment to the development of the Ancuabe project, saying that part of its meetings with the government included the potential reinstatement of Nicada Hill. These discussions were ongoing.

Triton also met with a number of other government departments and agencies, including railway and port operators, the Environmental Ministry and State-owned energy company EDM to provide progress on a range of matters relating to the development of Ancuabe.

Additionally, the company also met with regional funders, contractors and potential offtake partners in relation to establishing alternative funding mechanisms for the development of the project.

Triton recently undertook a strategic review and desktop study to consider various alternatives to bring the project into production in the short term, identifying the initial development of a commercial pilot plant (CPP) as part of a two-stage development strategy.

Stage 1 would consist of the development and construction of the CPP for a small-scale processing plant, capable of producing flake graphite concentrate on a commercial basis, and targeting processing of 100 000 t/y to 125 000 t/y, producing 5 000 t/y to 8 000 t/y of graphite concentrate.

Stage 2 would see the expansion to a large-scale operation, as planned in the 2017 definitive feasibility study, with processing targeted at one-million tonnes a year for the production of up to 60 000 t/y of graphite concentrate.

Triton is hoping to be in production at Ancuabe by the September quarter of next year.