REG - Tirupati Graphite - TG Commences Production at 18,000tpa Plant

Tirupati GraphiteAnnouncement

20/02/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 3524Q  Tirupati Graphite PLC  20 February 2023

20 February 2023

Tirupati Graphite plc

('Tirupati', 'TG' or the 'Company')

Production capacity reaches 30,000tpa with commissioning of new 18,000tpa
facilities

 

 

Tirupati Graphite plc (TGR.L, TGRHF.OTCQX), the specialist graphite and
graphene company developing sustainable new age materials, announces that it
has commenced production from the newly built 18,000 tons per annum flake
graphite production facilities at its Sahamamy project in Madagascar. The
Company has thus reached a globally significant 30,000 tpa flake graphite
capacity and is progressing towards a steady state >80% production in the
near term.

 

The Company also provides an update on the ongoing developments and operations
at both of its flake graphite projects in Madagascar, and other corporate
activities.

 

Sahamamy Project, Madagascar

 

·   Construction, installation & commissioning of new facilities with a
name plate capacity to produce 18,000 tons of flake graphite per annum has
been completed and commercial production has commenced.

·    The new facilities created include:

o new mining equipment fleet with a capacity to mine c.450,000 metric tons per
annum ('tpa') run of mine graphite ore;

o two pre-concentrate plants each with 600 metric tons per day ('tpd') ore
processing capacity aggregating to c.400,000 tpa ore processing capacity;

o a final concentrate plant with capacity to produce 18,000 tons flake
graphite per annum matching the preconcentrate capacity;

o c.3 kilometre long slurry pumping system for transport of preconcentrate
product from the preconcentrate units set up at the Sahasoa deposits to the
final concentrate unit; and

o ancillary facilities including but not limited to stores, office, laboratory
and residential facilities, processing plant water and tailing management
facilities etc.

·   The head grade feed to the preconcentrate plant was in the target range
of 4 - 5% and the target product grade of >95% has been achieved.

·   The mining and processing operations are fully commissioned and the
Company will now ramp-up production and commercial sales.

·    There have been no significant challenges in the commissioning of the
new facilities and the operations are expected to reach the minimum stable
output of 80% of name plate capacity by March 2023.

·    The startup of these new facilities was delayed by three months owing
to shipping delays and weather-related interruptions caused by cyclone
Cheneso.

 

Vatomina Project, Madagascar

·  The second preconcentrate unit has been seamlessly operating since the
Company reported its commissioning and integration with the existing
operations on 29 December 2022.

·    Progress has been made in improving the average head grade at
Vatomina by using the extension deposits of the currently operating pits.

·    The Company is engaged to take steps to reach the name plate capacity
of 12,000 tpa production by improving the head grade to an average of >3.5%
from the current 2.5% range.

 

Cyclone Cheneso

 

·   In the final months of 2022, the Company worked on strengthening its
infrastructure before the onset of rainy season which ensured that there was
minimal damage from the recent severe weather.

·   In mid-January 2023, cyclone Cheneso hit Madagascar including the areas
where the Company's projects are located.

·    As a precaution, Tirupati temporarily scaled back operations at both
its projects for a period of ten days to ensure safety of its personnel and
assets.

·    There were no injuries to the Company's personal and no damage to its
property, plant and equipment.

·  The infrastructure built by the Company across both its projects and the
road connecting the two sustained no significant damage.

·    Operations were scaled up to normal as water levels receded.

·    The Company remains well prepared to mitigate the effects of any
further adverse weather conditions.

 

Suni Resources SA

 

·   The acquisition of Suni Resources SA from Battery Minerals Limited
continues to progress to completion.

·   The Mining License for Balama Central Project was issued to Suni
Resources SA following the submission of a Bank Guarantee, and is valid until
23 July 2046.

·   The payment of Capital Gains Tax has been facilitated by the Company
and all regulatory conditions to completion have now been satisfied.

·   The Company and Battery Minerals Limited are actively working and fully
committed to completing the remaining procedural documentation and procedures
to allow completion in the coming weeks.

 

Guidance of production

 

·    In September 2022, the Company provided production guidance for the
period October 2022 to March 2023 based on the assumption that the
commissioning of the Sahamamy project would occur in November 2022.

  ·   The start-up of the Sahamamy project was in effect delayed by three
months owing to shipping delays and the recent cyclone which has led to a
three-month deferral in guidance. As such, the new guidance is as follows:

 

 

 

 

 Period                 Vatomina (tons)  Sahamamy (tons)  Total (tons)
 January to March 2023  1,700 - 1,900    800 - 1,000      2,500 - 2,900
 April to June 2023     2,600 - 2,800    3,500 - 3,700    6,100 - 6,500

 

 

Shishir Poddar, Executive Chairman, said:

 

"The start of production at the new 18,000 tpa Sahamamy project is a
significant milestone for us. This takes our production capacity to 30,000
tons of high-quality flake graphite cementing our position as a leader in the
space. I want to thank the team on the ground for their efforts and
particularly given the severe weather difficulties faced.

 

"The outlook for global graphite demand is overwhelmingly positive. As a key
component in EV batteries, the continued growth of the electric vehicle
industry, with sales exceeding 10 million in 2022, will drive the demand and
price of graphite for the foreseeable future. Security of supply is critical
to the growth of the EV industry. While we will remain focussed on bringing
our projects to name plate capacity production in the immediate term, we will
continue to grow to the 84,000 tpa production from our Madagascar projects and
engage for furthering the development of the assets we are acquiring in
Mozambique to seize opportunities the energy transition and green economy
brings to us."

 

ENDS

For further information, please visit https://www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk/
(https://www.tirupatigraphite.co.uk/) or contact:

 

Tirupati Graphite Plc

 

  Puruvi Poddar - Chief of Corporate & Business Development       admin@tirupatigraphite.co.uk (mailto:admin@tirupatigraphite.co.uk)

                                                                  +44 (0) 20 39849894

 Optiva Securities Limited (Broker)
 Ben Maitland - Corporate Finance                                 +44 (0) 20 3034 2707
 Robert Emmet - Corporate Broking                                 +44 (0) 20 3981 4173
 FTI Consulting (Financial PR)                                    +44 (0) 20 3727 1000
 Ben Brewerton / Nick Hennis / Karen Muperere / Lucy Wigney       tirupati@fticonsulting.com (mailto:tirupati@fticonsulting.com)

 

 

 

 

  About Tirupati Graphite

Tirupati Graphite Plc is a specialist flake graphite and places a special
emphasis on "green" applications of flake graphite, including renewable energy
and energy efficiency, energy storage and thermal management and is committed
to ensuring its operations are sustainable as well.

 

The Company's operations include primary mining and processing in Madagascar,
where the Company operates two key projects, Sahamamy and Vatomina. With the
start of commercial production of its latest 18,000 tpa plant at Sahamamy in
February 2023, it now has an installed capacity of 30,000 tpa high-quality
flake graphite concentrate with up to 96% purity in Madagascar, planned to
increase to 84,000 tpa as per the Company's modular medium-term development
plan.

 

The Company has an acquisition agreement, subject to regulatory approvals,
with Tirupati Speciality Graphite Private Limited ('TSG'). TSG operates and is
developing a suite of speciality graphite for use in hi-tech applications like
lithium-ion batteries, fire retardants, thermal management, and composites. It
also operates a technology centre developing advanced materials including
graphene and its applications, and mineral processing technology on commercial
basis. The Company is working on various possibilities in this respect as
announced by RNS on 11 July 2022.

 

The Company is also in the process of acquiring 2 BFS stage fully licensed
flake graphite projects with c. 152 million tons JORC 2012 compliant graphite
resources in Mozambique.

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