By LAURA SYRETT
Published: Thursday, 06 August 2015 Share Syrah secures A$166m in funding drive; Kibaran lays out plans for Tanzanian battery graphite facility.
Syrah Resources Ltd has raised Australian dollar (A$) 166m ($121.8m*) via an institutional placement and an entitlement offer, both of which were conducted at a price of A$3.25/share, to fund the development of its Balama graphite project in Mozambique.
The ASX-listed exploration company earlier this week announced plans to raise A$211m for Balama and intends to invite retail shareholders to participate in the raising on 10 August.
Balama has an inferred resource of 1.15bn tonnes at 10.2% total graphitic carbon (TGC) at a 5% TGC cutoff.
Fellow ASX-listed Kibaran Resources Ltd has said that a scoping study to determine the capacity of its Epanko graphite project in Tanzania to produce battery grade graphite has yielded a "compelling case" for the development of a spherical graphite manufacturing facility in the country’s coastal capital, Dar es Salaam, using Epanko ore.
Based on the study’s findings, manufacturing of spherical graphite is scheduled to commence 12-18 months into the first stage of production expansion at Epanko. The battery graphite plant, which is slated to begin with a production rate of 6,000 tpa, has a pre-tax net present value of $115m at a 10% discount and a pre-tax internal rate of return of 51%.
Kibaran said that capex for the facility is expected to come to $35m, with annual pre-tax cash flow of $18m per annum and a payback period of 1.9 years.
Epanko has maiden proved and probable ore reserves of 10.9m tonnes at an average grade of 8.6% C, for a mine life of 25 years, based on a production rate of 40,000 tpa. The commencement date of mining operations at Epanko is subject to financing.
Also in Tanzania, ASX-listed Black Rock Mining Ltd has discovered a new mineralised zone with a footprint eight times larger than the Epanko North prospect it is exploring at the Mahenge graphite project in the country.
The zone, named Ulanzi, is 2km by 300 metres in size and assays from the site have returned grades of up to 23.9% C. Infill sampling is underway to define strike length and width with a view to fast tracking drilling evaluation.
In Madagascar, TSX-V-listed DNI Metals Inc. has completed the first phase of development at its Vohitsara project, which consisted of completing a geophysical survey over and close to old mine workings, as well as digging trenches.
The company said that the work had identified mineralisation in the property’s main zone extending more than 2km, with an average width of 300-400 metres. Two further zones at Vohitsara have yet to be fully identified.
Samples collected from the trenching in early April yielded grades of between 9.85% C and 35.5% C.
Australia-headquartered Sayona Mining Ltd has signed a term sheet to acquire the Itabela graphite project in Bahia state in Brazil.
Sayona describes Itabela as "an advanced stage project with a substantial catalogue of drilling and pilot scale test work", which it believes can be fast tracked to production.
The company plans to complete a feasibility study on the property and convert a non-JORC mineral resource, which is based on around 8,000 metres of previous drilling, to a JORC-compliant estimate. The site is comprised of 13 mineral rights covering 13,316 ha (133.16 km2).
The term sheet signed by Sayona provides the company with an exclusive four month option to purchase the property, along with a period for due diligence review, which Sayona plans to commence immediately.
In Canada, Lomiko Metals Inc. and Canada Strategic Metals Inc. have commenced a 10,000 metre drilling programme at the jointly run La Loutre graphite property in Quebec.
The programme is expected to consist of 75-100 holes, with the maximum depth drilled not exceeding 150 metres. Based on the drilling results, the companies will move to assess the property for a resource and preliminary economic assessment (PEA), if warranted.
Lithium Corp. has received approval for the notice of work it submitted to the government of British Columbia, Canada, earlier this year, to trench, map and sample the Weather Station showing of its Sugar graphite project in the province.
The work will follow geophysical studies conducted by the company in the spring. According to Lithium Corp., the deposit contains both flake and hydrothermal, vein-type graphite but the sporadic nature of the outcrop has so far prevented the zone from being sampled in its entirety.
The company intends to commence trenching at the property in the autumn.
Also in Canada, Great Lakes Graphite Inc. has executed a letter of intent with Benton Capital Corp. to give Benton the right to acquire a 10% gross overriding royalty interest on the sale of micronised flake graphite and any other material processed at Great Lakes’ Matheson micronisation facility in Ontario.
Subject to regulatory approval, Benton can obtain the royalty from Great Lakes’ Innovations subsidiary in return for a payment of Canadian dollar (C$) 800,000 ($607,600) in three tranches.
C$400,000 will earn Benton a 5% royalty, on execution of a definitive agreement between the two companies. A further C$200,000 paid on or before 15 September 2015 will give Benton a 7.5% royalty and the full 10% will be awarded in return for a final tranche of C$200,000 to be paid to Great Lakes Innovations on or before 15 October this year.
In graphene news, ASX-listed MRL Corp Ltd has signed a heads of agreement with Australian graphenematerials developer Imagine Intelligent Materials Pty Ltd to collaborate in identifying commercial applications for MRL’s graphite and graphene products.
Under the agreement, MRL, which is conducting vein graphite exploration in Sri Lanka, will be able to test and characterise its graphene through Imagine’s certification programme as well as work with leading Australian universities on upscaling these processes.
The deal follows an announcement by MRL in May this year that the University of Adelaide had successfully recovered graphene from MRL’s Sri Lankan vein graphite ore.
Malaysian government-backed research agency, MIMOS, has signed four nanotechnology agreements, two of which involve graphene, as part of its strategy to boost the domestic electronics sector by 30%.
The two graphene deals, which were agreed separately with the University of Malaya and the country’s Multimedia University, relate to research into, and the development of graphene, and will be administered under Malaysia’s National Graphene Action Plan 2020.
Precise details on the agreements were not disclosed, but are believed to be aimed at commercialising nanotechnology products and innovation in the semiconductor industry.
Finally, Ohio, US-based graphene developer Angstron Materials has secured a $5m capital investment to increase manufacturing capacity for its single and few-layer graphene materials and bring key technologies to market.
The company began seeking Pre-Series A funding in late 2014. Angstron described its investment partner as a key player in advanced materials and consumer electronics.
*Conversions made August 2015
