Modern Mining February 2017

GRAPHITE

scavenger flotation, regrind cleaner flota- tion, filtration and concentrate drying, screening of final product concentrate and bagging of concentrate. The plant has been sized for a feed of 300 kt/a of ore with a grade of >16 % TGC to produce a graphite flake concentrate with an average grade of 97 % TGC. This corresponds to a graphitic carbon recovery of between 85 and 90 %. The DFS says that much of the equip- ment is likely to be sourced from China where several decades of graphite process- ing IP is located. Four high purity products (96 % to 98 % TGC) are planned to be produced at Lindi Jumbo and the life of mine aver- age ratio includes a weathered allocation of ore and a fresh allocation with a cut off being determined to be 10 m below surface. The products are targeted towards the high end markets with an estimated 8 000 t/a of Super Jumbo (+500 µm) and 14 000 t/a of Jumbo (+300 µm) products suitable for the expandable natural flake markets. Design for a tailings storage facility (TSF) has been progressed beyond the 20 %design stage. The proposed TSF will cover an area of approximately 17 hectares and consist of an initially engineered waste rock wall with a maximum height of 8 m (at the low- est point), sufficiently high to contain the tailings material during the initial period with a rate of rise greater than the specified maximum of 2 m per year. The TSF will be constructed in phases. The bulk power supply will be provided by diesel driven generators pending con- nection to a high reticulation feed while the bulk water supply will be derived from a bore field in close proximity to the mine. Photos (unless otherwise acknowledged) courtesy of Walkabout Resources

Trench mapping at Lindi Jumbo.

Lindi hosts the highest grade resource in Tanzania The measured, indicated and inferred resources at Lindi Jumbo total 29,6 Mt at 11 % TGC. Approximately 40 % of the resource is in the measured (6,4 Mt at 12,2 % TGC) and indicated (5,5 Mt at 11 % TGC) categories for 1,38 Mt of con- tained flake graphite. The resource includes 4,7 Mt of super high grade material at 22,8 % TGC in three discrete shallow zones of which 1,7 Mt are in the measured category – con- firming this to be by far the highest grade resource inTanzania, saysWalkabout. 

February 2017  MODERN MINING  27