Modern Mining February 2021

FLAKE GRAPHITE

Tirupati upscaling Vatomina to meet increased demand

In response to continued increased demand for its high quality flake graphite from Madagascar, Tirupati Graphite is upscaling the capacity of the first module at its Vatomina project by 50% to a planned production of 9 000 tonnes per annum, which will result in an increase to near-term cash flows from operations. By Munesu Shoko .

build its produc- tion to 9 000 tpa, having commenced the final phase of construc- tion for the first module; this will take the capacity across both projects to 12 000 tpa. Upscaling Vatomina Shishir Poddar, CEO of Tirupati Graphite, says increased demand from current customers, including a London listed FTSE 250 company recognised as a global benchmark flake graphite user, and interest from new target buyers globally, have highlighted the strong graphite market dynamics. In line with this market demand, the company will upscale the capacity of the first module at its Vatomina project by 50% to a planned production of 9 000 tpa. With the first few thousand tonnes having been produced and sold to key customers globally, the company has established itself in key consuming markets for flake graphite.

T irupati Graphite plc, the fully integrated, revenue generative, specialist graphite producer and graphene developer with operations in Madagascar and India, continues to advance its operations across its portfolio, including its two primary mining and processing projects in Madagascar, Vatomina and Sahamamy, and its speciality graphite and graphene processing businesses in India. In Madagascar, the company’s strategy is to increase its production capacity of high-quality flake graphite concentrate with up to 96% purity to 81 000 tonnes per annum (tpa) by 2024 from the current 3 000 tpa produced at Sahamamy and sold to cus- tomers globally. In line with this, Tirupati is on track to commission its Vatomina project in Q2 2021 and

Shishir Poddar, CEO of Tirupati Graphite.

Tirupati Graphite continues to advance its operations across its portfolio in Madagascar.

20  MODERN MINING  February 2021