Ann: Graphmada Graphite Mine Operational Update, page-36

Hi Cazz69, I understand your frustration with the delays ramping up production and sales, but they do happen regularly in the mining industry. My understanding is that over the last months they were focused on:

1/ getting the commissioning and ramping up of production right (they succeeded, they even achieved an impressive 83% recovery rate from the get go, when you notice that syrah were doing 10%-20% recovery rates during their first months of commissioning, it makes you appreciate more this achievement which was due to their experience and lessons learned over the last years)

2/ building large (up to 1000 tonnes) inventory at port (that was a smart move IMO given the malagashy challenging logistics and wet season disruptions to transportation)

3/ sending samples to potential customers, trying to achieve first sales with new european customers

after the successful achieevement of the above, the focus of the company has now shifted to :

1/ optimizing the distribution of flake size production in order to produce higher % of the higher value large flakes.

On this issue Tim told me : Flake size should always be the last factor in balancing graphite production. Firstly you get your circuit steady in terms of feed up the front end and flotation at the backend. Then you optimise your flake size distribution with grade and recovery. Like standing on a ball, if you lean too much one way you won’t stay on the ball too long. The good news for us is we have the experience to achieve this. Good luck to the wannabes.

2/ to accelerate/generate more sales.

“We’re very pleased with these outstanding results from Graphmada, and we now shift our focus to optimising our sales and revenues, predominately through achieving a larger flake size distribution in our concentrates. With production now established at 500 tonnes per month we look forward to generating 500 tonnes per month in sales, ensuring Graphmada operations become cash flow positive.”