LONDON (Alliance News) - Stratmin Global Resources PLC Monday confirmed the delayed site arrival of its MechProTech scrubber on February 15 and that first production will now be in March.
The graphite production and exploration company, with operations in Madagascar, said the scrubber arrived in Madagascar on February 1 after delays resulting from bad weather at the ports of Durban and Port Louis, putting back its original first production plans for February.
"Forces beyond our control caused a delay in the delivery of the scrubber," Managing Director Manoli Yannaghas said in a statement. "I am expecting us to be in production in March 2014."
The company said that while awaiting the delayed equipment, it completed a range of planned improvements at its plant, including upgrades at the furnace aimed at handling higher volumes, improvements to the flotation cell configuration, and reconstruction of the road from the site to the main road in order to handle increased heavy vehicle traffic.
Stratmin added that all site preparation to carry out the scrubber installation has been completed and installation, which is expected to take up to two weeks, will be overseen by an engineer from MechProTech.
The company expects its Lohorano project in Madagascar to produce at an initial run rate of between 150 and 200 tonnes of plus-85% graphite per month, now starting in March.
Scrubbers efficiently process precious and base metal ores, industrial minerals, aggregates, gravel and sand.
Stratmin shares were up 3.9% to 11.95 pence Monday.
By Tom McIvor; tommcivor@alliancenews.com; @TomMcIvor1
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