Modern Mining November 2022

GRAPHITE

Tirupati Graphite eyes the big league London-listed graphite producer, Tirupati Graphite, which recently began production from its Madagascar assets, is finalising agreements that will see it expand its Africa footprint into key graphite producing regions and enable the miner to realise its strategy of becom ing a producer of 8% of the global graphite market by 2030, CEO Shishir Poddar tells Modern Mining in an exclusive interview. By Nelendhre Moodley .

G raphite has been recognised as a critical and strategic mineral given that it is an ideal mate rial for promoting green technology and is increasingly being used in applications related to energy storage, electronic products and photovol taics. Its demand growth is largely underpinned by its use in batteries, which have been boosted by the soaring demand for electric vehicles. S&P Global Platts Analytics has forecast global light-duty EV sales to rise to around 26,8-million by 2030, up from 6,29-million in 2021. According to Poddar, graphite demand is expected, in the next eight years, to more than tri ple from its current global production of 1,5 mtpa, propelled by rising needs from the electric vehicle market. “Globally, we produce 1,3 – 1,4-million mtpa of graphite, but most of that goes into applications other than energy storage (10 – 15%). By 2030, it is estimated that another 4 – 5-million mtpa of graph ite will be needed to meet industry requirements. Conservatively, we have forecast around 3,5-million mtpa,” he said. Looking to take up as much as 8% of global mar ket share, Tirupati Graphite will target 400 000 tpa of graphite production.

“Our current production from Madagascar,” says Poddar, is insufficient to meet our growth projections, and we are actively seeking opportunities to acquire more resources. In fact, we recently undertook an acquisition arrangement to acquire the Montepuez and Balama Central projects in Mozambique from Australia’s Battery Minerals, and we have our ear to the ground seeking out new graphite opportunities.” Apart from Mozambique, Tirupati Graphite is eyeing southern and eastern Africa as standout areas containing extensive graphite resources with Tanzania and Malawi, in particular, identified as clear options for geographical expansion. Further to this, the miner recently announced that its subsidiary Tirupati Madagascar Ventures has entered into an agreement to acquire three additional mining permits in Madagascar, covering a total area of 31,25 km 2 and located in the vicinity of the company’s existing projects. The consideration agreed for the acquisition is a total of MGA 800-mil lion (£167 000). Owing to the proximity to its existing operations, the company believes it can progress activities in the acquired projects in a timely and cost-effective man ner alongside its other Madagascan projects. While no JORC 2012 compliant mineral resource

CEO Shishir Poddar.

Tirupati’s Madagascar operations.

24  MODERN MINING  November 2022