Mineral Commodities’ wholly-owned subsidiary, MRC Graphite, says it has executed a professional services agreement with Mondium to undertake early contractor involvement (ECI) and front-end engineering and design (FEED) for the Munglinup graphite project, in Western Australia.
MRC Graphite is in the final stages of completing a definitive feasibility study (DFS) for Munglinup, which will provide the pathway to a final decision to commence construction. In addition, environmental permitting is ongoing and the current schedule, cognisant of regulatory processes and south coast seasonal variation, offers the opportunity to engage an engineering and construction firm to deliver additional value to the project through a purposeful ECI and FEED programme, the company said.
Mondium is an incorporated joint venture between Monadelphous Group and Lycopodium, which leverages the skills of both companies to provide technical and delivery solutions to its clients, Mineral Commodities said.
Mineral Commodities Executive Chairman, Mark Caruso, said: “Given the current tightening of resources in the mining project space, MRC is very pleased to have formed this relationship with a highly regarded engineering and construction firm. This will enable MRC to undertake significant value-add for the Munglinup graphite project through ECI and FEED stages, leading into construction later in the year, subject to approvals and a decision to mine.
“Mondium and its owners, Monadelphous and Lycopodium, are extremely well qualified and experienced in flotation design and construction and MRC looks forward to developing the Munglinup graphite project as safely, quickly and cost effectively as possible to ensure MRC emerges next year as a low cost, high quality graphite producer.”
According to a prefeasibility study, Munglinup will produce, on average, 54,800 t/y of high-purity graphite concentrate at a life of mine production cash cost of circa A$531/t ($377/t) graphite. Initial capital costs were estimated at A$52 million including 15% engineering procurement and construction costs (A$5.5 million), 15% contingency (A$6 million) and all owners’ costs (A$3 million).