Kibaran Resources issues Epanko Graphite Project update

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Image credit: www.kibaranresources.com.au

Kibaran Resources, an exploration company with highly prospective graphite and nickel projects in Tanzania, has initiated a review of the mining and processing schedule at its flagship Epanko Graphite Deposit located within the Mahenge graphite Project in Tanzania which found that production at the mine can easily be expanded from 40,000  tonnes per annum (tpa) to 100,000 tpa of graphite concentrate.

Image credit: www.kibaranresources.com.au

The review, which was undertaken with the view to developing a growth strategy for the project, showed that it would be prudent for Kibaran Resources to meet current demand by commencing production at 40,000tpa and ramp up production to 100,000tpa should an increase in demand occur in the future.

The study scheduled the ramp up in two stages and placed the timeframe for development at 2–4 years for stage 1 and 4–5 years for stage 2.

According to the scoping study – which was conducted by Intermine Engineering Consultants – the 5-year expansion strategy to 100,000 tpa will be internally funded  and will increase Epanko Graphite Deposit‘s Net Present Value (NPV) to $251 million at the current resource base, which the company can easily expand in a relatively short time-frame and with minimal expenditure.

Adertisement

Kibaran also advised that the feasibility study is progressing well and is on schedule and within budget, with strong a focus on finalising the plant site, ROM pad, tailings storage facility and access road alignment, the key criteria being minimising earthworks and environmental impact.

Representatives of GR Engineering Services (GRES) – which is managing the study – and representatives of Knight Piesold, have already completed their initial site visit in November and subsequent to that, diamond drilling and test pits have been completed on the proposed plant and TSF sites and samples were sent to the laboratory for geotechnical analysis.

Regarding Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), the company informed that it has received the formal feedback from NEMC’s Technical Audit Committee related to their site visit undertaken last quarter.

It said ESIA has subsequently been updated to address points raised with appropriate mitigations and was resubmitted to NEMC, which is to recommend to the Ministry of Environment that the Environmental Certificate for the Epanko Project be issued.

“The development of 100,000 tpa expansion strategy is an extremely exciting advance for Kibaran and allows for manageable step changes in production to meet anticipated growth in the market. Whilst the company has always believed and has demonstrated its graphite is amongst the best quality in the world, the Epanko project can now be considered competitive in terms of scale, to some of the large deposits currently being explored in other countries,” said Kibaran’s Chairman, Mr John Park.

“We are poised and ready to react to future demand increases and have the ability to react quickly, given our lean structure and in house expertise. The progress we are making in terms of statutory permitting and the feasibility study is equally as pleasing; we remain diligently on track to deliver on our commitment in this regard.”