Graphex Mining Ltd has provided a submission to the Tanzanian Government with respect to the development of the Chilalo graphite project. In July 2017, the Tanzanian Government passed legislation that amended the legal and regulatory framework governing the resources industry and supporting regulations were published in January 2018 and July 2018.
The Submission, which was requested by the Minister of Minerals, the Honourable Angellah Kairuki, is a comprehensive document that identified 10 key issues associated with the Amending Legislation and the Regulations that are central to the ability of resources companies operating in Tanzania to obtain the finance required for project development. It includes input from independent experts, comparison with the legislative position in other African countries and proposals to address the identified issues in a manner that allows for the development of new mines that delivers benefits to all stakeholders.
Graphex expects to present the Submission to the Ministry of Minerals, other key Government departments and the Mining Commission in September.
Graphex’s Managing Director, Phil Hoskins, commented “We were pleased to be asked by the Ministry to make the Submission, which we believe reflects the willingness of the Tanzanian Government to restore confidence in its resources industry. We believe that the proposals contained in the Submission strike a balance between the requirements of companies seeking to develop resources projects and the interests of the Tanzanian Government. We now look forward to meeting with senior Government officials to present the Submission and determine a way forward for development of our Chilalo project.”
The Chilalo Graphite Project is located in southeast Tanzania, within the Mozambique belt, which is well known for hosting some of the world’s highest grade and coarse flake graphite deposits. Chilalo is host to a high-grade, coarse flake graphite deposit, where there is a Probable Ore Reserve (4.7 Mt @ 11.0% TGC) and a high-grade Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource (16.9 Mt @ 10.2% TGC).
Since the initial discovery of Chilalo in 2014, Graphex has adopted a clear and differentiated strategy of understanding end markets and partnering with strategic investors to enable delivery of the Chilalo Project. Underpinned by the coarsest flake graphite in the world with exceptional expansion characteristics, the company has targeted the expandable graphite market, which among many applications, is ideally suited to the manufacture of flame retardant building materials, for which there is a sizeable market – in China alone, this is estimated to be 2 Mt/y.
Test work carried out by Suzhou Design and Research Institute for Non-Metallic Minerals has confirmed that Chilalo graphite is the coarsest known flake graphite in the world. In general, coarser flake graphite attracts premium prices.
Graphite companies produce products with different flake size distributions. Margins are therefore more relevant for peer comparison than cost curves. A comparison of the margins generated by ASX listed graphite companies are shown. The comparison is based on publicly released information and uses the same graphite prices used by Graphex that deliver a basket price of $1,914/t.
Graphex completed a PFS in November 2015 and Suzhou, on behalf of CN Docking completed its own study in December 2016. These two studies are now in the process of being optimised and are expected to deliver material improvements from the results of the November 2015 PFS. Since completing the PFS in November 2015, there has been significant improvements in the flake size distribution, graphite prices and the size of the Chilalo Mineral Resource.
