Vatomina Project - flake graphite mining and processing, MADAGASCAR
The project was acquired in May 2017 along with the team, technology, project plans and brand values. It has a 25 km2 permit area with mining permits issued for 40 years that are renewable. The project is being developed to a total production capacity of 60,000 TPA in modules. The first module, comprising a 6,000 TPA plant is substantially constructed and nearing completion.
The company has carried out multiple activities for the development of the project:
Exploration & RESOURCE
- A third of the mineralised zones have been explored to date
- Exploration activities include >3000m core drilling, >4800m auger drilling, pitting, trenching, mapping, surveys and exploration mining of 36 MT ore.
- Maiden JORC Resources (by SRK Consultants):
- Indicated - 3.2mt @ 4.3% GC
- Indicated - 15.2mt @ 4.7% GC
- Exploration target of between 8 to 10 million tonnes of flake graphite with an average grade of 3-4% TGC
- Resource upside potential on both lateral and vertical axis
- Staged exploration strategy, establishing enough resource for development plan
- The currently defined Mineral Resource Estimate under JORC (2012) implies total contained graphite of 852,000 tons resulting in a mine life of over 14 years based on the planned 60,000 TPA production capacity.
- Cost optimisation - bought a diamond core drilling rig and developed an expert team for exploration activities
