Modern Mining January 2017

GRAPHITE

Thinking big at Balama Currently only a minor player in global graphite production, Africa – and specifically Mozambique – will soon be home to the world’s biggest graphite mine, with ASX-listed Syrah Resources on course to produce the first graphite concentrate from its US$185 million Balama project in Q3 2017. As Modern Mining’s Arthur Tassell explains here, the project hosts the world’s biggest resource of graphite and is expected to be a first quartile producer due to its high grade and the fact that the deposit lends itself to a low stripping ratio open-pit mining operation.

L ocated in the far north of Mozam- bique in Cabo Delgado Province, Balama – which comprises a series of hills consisting of graphitic schist – is by no means a new discovery, as the graphite occurrences in the area were first documented in the 1890s by John H. Fur- man, a geologist and engineer working for the Nyassa Company. In a report he prepared, he stated that north of Mualia (now the village of Maputo) he had discovered “the greatest deposits of graphite, of a most excellent qual- ity, which I think have ever been found. They extend several miles in length and will aggre- gate more than 700 ft in thickness.”

Furman’s discovery was not followed up for more than a century. In 2006 Canadian junior Helio Resources applied for a prospecting licence over the Balama area but its focus was uranium and base metals mineralisation rather than graphite. It relinquished the licence in 2010. By 2011 the ground had been picked up by Syrah, which wasted no time in initiating a vigorous exploration programme. By early 2013 Syrah was able to announce a maiden inferred resource for the Balama West deposit of 564 Mt at 9,8 % Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC), making it the world’s biggest graphite deposit by far. The estimate also revealed that the deposit contained significant vanadium.

A recent view of the Balama site showing construction of the flotation line.

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26  MODERN MINING  January 2017