Public Companies

Mineral Commodities sets production record at South African project

Matt BirneySPONSORED

Wed, 1 March 2023 4:16PM

Matt Birney

Credit: File

Mineral Commodities’ Tormin mineral sands operation in South Africa has reported record ore production over the 12 months to the end of December whilst also beginning exploration of the site’s De Punt area.

According to the company’s 2022 Full Year Results Summary, Mineral Commodities has begun a 6000m air-core campaign targeting areas along strike of the prospective Inland Strands zone that was identified from a recent airborne geophysical survey.

Two main linear magnetic trends were lit up within De Punt by the latest geophysical surveys with the Western trend stretching 13km long and the Eastern trend totalling an aggregate length of 8km.

The trends appear to be geologically aligned and extend from the strandline deposits that together contribute 212.7 million tonnes of ore to the company’s global resource of 562.2 million tonnes at 6.6 per cent total heavy minerals.

In September Mineral Commodities entered into a non-binding offtake and funding agreement with Garnet International Resources. The deal will see the explorer supply its partner with a finished garnet product in increasing volumes from 2024 through to 2033 from Tormin.

In addition to the positive results in South Africa, production at the company’s Skaland graphite project in Norway has also been above an annualised rate of 10,000 tonnes per annum, which is the historical peak performance baseline for the operation. The quality of concentrate has also improved post-acquisition from below 90 per cent total graphite carbon to daily averages of up to 97 per cent.

We aim to improve financial performance in 2023 through returning to production from an optimised Inland Strand in Q1, adding a third primary concentration circuit in Q4 to increase Tormin production capacity by up to 50 per cent and maintaining cash generation at the Skaland operations.

Mineral Commodities Interim Chief Executive Officer, Adam Bick

We aim to improve financial performance in 2023 through returning to production from an optimised Inland Strand in Q1, adding a third primary concentration circuit in Q4 to increase Tormin production capacity by up to 50 per cent and maintaining cash generation at the Skaland operations.

Mineral Commodities Interim Chief Executive Officer, Adam Bick


In September Mineral Commodities landed a $3.94 million funding grant to support the development of an integrated graphite ore-to-battery anodes business based on its Munglinup graphite project in WA’s Great Southern region 100km west of Esperance.

The cash-boost is part of a broader series of $50m in grants approved by the Australian Government to help grow the critical minerals industry as it looks to reach net zero.

The funds are earmarked to accelerate Mineral Commodities’ downstream battery anode development strategy on multiple fronts. Firstly, the company will engage in an upstream pilot scale operation to produce concentrate from Munglinup ore for downstream piloting. The pilot plant will allow the company to finalise its commercial scale plant design and provide final product qualification samples from its graphite feedstock sources in Australia and Norway.

Secondly, it will pursue downstream pilot plant development and operations at the CSIRO that include the key steps to produce ‘Coated Purified Spherical Graphite’ — an active anode material for lithium-ion batteries.

After completing the work at the CSIRO, the company plans to distribute its product to customers for qualification and potential offtake agreements.

Mineral Commodities also saw the three-month and the 12-month rolling total recordable injury frequency rate at zero at both operating sites in Norway and South Africa. Importantly, the company has maintained a no fatality track record across all of its operations since inception.

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https://thewest.com.au/business/public-companies/mineral-commodities-sets-production-record-at-south-african-project-c-9906935