GRAPHITE shipments from the Uley graphite mine will start in the next six weeks, with mining of a new open pit to start later this year.
Valence Industries managing director Christopher Darby said the shipments follow the first export in March when the company trucked its first commissioning test shipment of graphite from Uley to Port Adelaide, which was then shipped to global customers.
The graphite was new product from existing stockpiles.
The company is continuing to process the stockpiles, with continuous round the clock production officially starting last month.
The plant is processing 15 tonnes an hour and expects to reach its target of 20 tonnes an hour by September, when the commissioning phase will end and full production will start.
Valence will start shipping product over the next six weeks to customers worldwide and shipments will progressively increase as the operation ramps up to full processing capacity.
Phase 2 will begin in the December quarter, when mining of a new open pit is planned to start at Uley Pit 2.
The company recently raised a further $3 million from the Australian stock exchange and is finalising an initial US$20 million debt finance package that will help fund long-term future expansion programs.
The monetary value of the project has increased by 38 per cent to $90m.
The estimated amount of graphite at Uley has increased with the official reserve estimate at 353,618 tonnes.
The life of the mine has increased to eight years based on a production rate of 64,000 tonnes a year of graphite output.
"This is expected to increase further as exploration drilling for graphite continues," Mr Darby said.
In the mine plan, Valence has increased the estimated amount of the premium grade graphite it will produce from 5 per cent to 40 per cent.
The remaining 60 per cent will be for traditional graphite, which requires less manufacturing.
Valence has locked in a European sales representative, an undisclosed United Kingdom-based company that conducted the sales for Uley when it was in operation 25 years ago.
Valence has also signed six new customer sales contracts for the supply of more than 8000 tonnes of flake graphite each year.
Customers range from heavy industry, advanced technologies and bio-medical applications.
The global graphite supply chain is worth an estimated US$13 billion and projected to reach US$17.5 billion in 2020
