Battery Minerals (ASX: BAT) One of the hotter small cap graphite...

Battery Minerals (ASX: BAT)

One of the hotter small cap graphite stocks at the moment is Battery Mineralswhich just inked its fourth offtake contract securing 80% of its planned graphite production at its flagship Montepuez project in Mozambique.
Battery is hoping to commission Montepuez by the end of the year, with first graphite concentrate shipments planned for the March 2019 quarter.

During its first production stage, Battery aims to produce up to 50,000tpa of graphite concentrate with an average concentrate of 96.7% total graphite carbon.

Staged expansions have been planned to grow the mine’s output to more than 100,000tpa by 2022.
A value engineering study was undertaken on Montepuez which estimates of operating cash flow of US$20 million per annum for the first 10 years, with payback within two years.

In addition to Montepuez, Battery owns the Balama graphite project – also in Mozambique. Balama has returned higher grades and a bigger proportion of large and jumbo flake than Montepuez.

A scoping study on Balama was reported in early March and projected a mine life higher than 10 years and initial annual production of 55,000tpa of graphite concentrate. The study estimates a pre-production costs of US$50 million, with payback within one-and-a-half years.

Speaking with Small Caps, Battery co-founder and former managing director Cherie Leeden said Mozambique was home to some of the world’s richest graphite deposits and Balama and Montepuez would remain profitable during a low pricing environment due the high-grade ore and low processing costs.

Ms Leeden said the projects had been selected in Mozambique, because of the country’s rich graphite deposits and the region being a known mining friendly jurisdiction with political stability, competitive royalties, and existing infrastructure.

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