RE: Mining Maven article1 Apr 2020 18:39
From the article -
However, it is critical to note that the organisation that average sales price underpinning these economics is just $1,179 per tonne (“/t”). Not only is this considerably lower than the $1,271/t basket price used by the firm in its scoping study back in March 2018, but it is far below the rate that battery-grade graphite typically commands.
In May last year, Armadale’s neighbour Black Rock Mining was able to secure binding sales agreements for its “premium” (97.5-98.5% TGC) grade and “ultra” (>99% TGC) grade graphite of between $1,490/t and $2,161/t.
Armadale has proven that Mahenge Liandu can easily mirror these sorts of grades, with work last month confirming that the project is capable of grinding a consistent purity of above 97%. If, like Black Rock, the firm can sell its graphite for up to $2,161/t, then the impact on Mahenge Liandu’s fundamentals would be monumental.
Alongside this, the project itself offers an enormous amount of upside – current calculations utilise just 25% of its total resource, which remains open in multiple directions. As Armadale itself put it in Tuesday’s release, Mahenge Liandu offers scope for improved economics through the “delivery of further detailed modelling of higher-grade zones”. Work here is already underway.