Tirupati Graphite commences production at its Sahamamy project

Sahamamy project highlights:

• Construction, installation & commissioning of new facilities with a name plate capacity to produce 18 000 tpy of flake graphite has been completed and commercial production has commenced.
• The new facilities created include: 
  • New mining equipment fleet with a capacity to mine approximately 450 000 metric tpy run of mine graphite ore.
  • Two pre-concentrate plants each with 600 metric tpd ore processing capacity aggregating to approximately 400 000 tpy ore processing capacity.
  • A final concentrate plant with capacity to produce 18 000 tpy flake graphite matching the preconcentrate capacity.
  • Approximately 3 km long slurry pumping system for transport of preconcentrate product from the preconcentrate units set up at the Sahasoa deposits to the final concentrate unit.
  • 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.

Shishir Poddar, Executive Chairman, said:

“The start of production at the new 18 000 tpy Sahamamy project is a significant milestone for us. This takes our production capacity to 30 000 t 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 tpy 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.”

Read the article online at: https://www.globalminingreview.com/mining/20022023/tirupati-graphite-commences-production-at-its-sahamamy-project/