Mining company Total Graphite (formerly known as Tirupati Graphite) intends to use future graphite production from its project in Mozambique to supply an industrial supply chain for the manufacture of high-value battery materials, strengthening the country’s strategic importance.
In a recent market announcement, the company said it had obtained what it considered encouraging initial results from graphite purification tests using material from its Vatomina operation in Madagascar, achieving a fixed carbon purity of 99.2% and now moving towards a target of 99.5%.
Total Graphite explained that this industrial development programme includes the production of high-purity graphite (HPG), expandable graphite (EG) and anode active material (AAM), products used in batteries for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and other advanced technological materials.
Although the tests are being carried out using graphite from Madagascar, the company emphasises that the future industrial facility, whose location has not yet been selected, will also be supplied with raw material from its Mozambican projects.
“The downstream development programme is intended to utilise graphite concentrate produced from the Company’s operations in Madagascar together with concentrate expected to be sourced from its advanced Mozambique development projects,” the information released to investors states.
The company says this strategy will make it possible to ensure “flexibility over future feedstock supply” and create “a platform capable of supporting downstream production at meaningful scale”.
“Growing demand from western industrial and battery supply chains for secure and diversified sources of graphite materials presents a significant long-term opportunity for the Company,” it adds.
Total Graphite says it intends to complete the technical and engineering studies required for a final investment decision (FID) on its first industrial graphite processing facility by the end of 2026 or early 2027. The location has yet to be selected and will be determined on the basis of logistical criteria, operating costs, incentives and proximity to customers.
The company’s chairman, Christian Dennis, says the results obtained strengthen its strategy of building an integrated graphite business.
“These test results provide further confidence to pursue the strategy of building a vertically integrated graphite business to capture the significant potential downstream value opportunities available for the benefit of our stakeholders,” he said, as quoted in the announcement.
The company adds that it intends to gradually transform itself from a graphite concentrate producer into an integrated producer of higher-value graphite materials, participating in a larger segment of the global supply chain for the battery industry.
Total Graphite had already announced in September that it was beginning an update of the feasibility study for its Montepuez graphite project in Cabo Delgado, pointing to a decision on mine development in 2027. The project is licensed to produce up to 100,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate annually and has estimated mineral resources of 110.5 million tonnes, containing approximately 9.1 million tonnes of graphite.
According to the company, the first development phase envisages producing approximately 50,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate annually, requiring an estimated initial investment of US$42.3 million (€36 million). A second phase would follow, almost doubling capacity to 100,000 tonnes a year.
Total Graphite also owns the Balama Central project, likewise in Cabo Delgado. The company says the two assets together contain more than 13 million tonnes of graphite, making them one of the largest resources of this critical mineral for the global battery industry outside China.
Source: Lusa