Balama Graphite Mine

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This is the Balama Graphite mine which located on a 106km² mining concession. It was developed by, and is 100% owned by Syrah Resources. It is a world class deposit and at time and in 2005 a feasibility study by Snowden demonstrated that Balama is the worlds largest and higest grade flake graphite deposit discovered to date. Including Balama East and West, the orignal mineral estimate was 1.2 billion tonnes grading 11% contained graphite amounting to 128.5 Mt,and reserves of 81.4 Mt at 16.2% conta ined graphite amounting to 13.2 Mt. However, in November 2016 Syrah announced reserves increased 40% to 114.5 Mt grading 16% contained graphite amouting to 18.6 Mt. Based on this resource it is estimated the life of mine exceeds 40 years, and for the feasibility study was set at 42 years.

There is also a significant vanadium resource at Balama of 1.15bt at an average vanadium oxide (V2O5) grading of 0.24% for 2.7Mt of contained V2O5. It will be developed under a separate $80m project which is referred to as the Balama Vanadium Project. A scoping study was completed in May 2014.

Graphite was first discovered at Balama in 1893 by John H. Furman who was a geologist and engineer working for the Nyassa Company, which was a Portuguese company granted rights to develop and administer the leased land in Cabo Delgado province as well as some islands off the coast of Mozambique. After discovering the deposits Furman noted: "north of Mualia [now the village of Maputo], I discovered the greatest deposits of graphite, of a most excellent quality, which I think have ever been found. They extend several miles in length and will aggregate more than 700ft in thickness".

Locally the mine is composed of metamorphic rocks of the Xixano Complex dated at 735 million years old. Primary mineralisation is occurs in a ridge and three hills which are comprised of stratiform graphitic schists that rise up to 250m above the surrounding area. The surface strike of the mineralised area exceeds 7km and typical flake size of the graphite is up to 4mm.

The open-pit mines utilize conventional truck and shovel methods and have a low strip ratio low average strip ratio of 0.04:1 over the life of mine. Mining commenced at the West pit and will shift to the East pit once depleted.

The process plant incorporates conventional methods of crushing and screening, grinding, flotation, filtration and drying, classification and screening, and bagging circuits. The capacity will be up to two million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of mined ore to produce 380,000t of concentrate yearly at 95% contained graphite. Concentrate will be transported to the Port of Nacala which is located approximately 490 km southest of the mine by highway, then shipped to purchasers.

First production of bagged saleable flake graphite was in December 2017 after successfuly commissioning of the final process stage in October 2017. The quality of the flaked graphite typically exceeds 95% fixed carbon. In September 2017 Syrah Resources announded they had signed an agreement to sell graphite to Chinese battery anode manufacturer Shenzhen BTR New Energy Materials (BTR) subsidiary Jixi BTR Graphite Industrial, which is the world’s largest battery anode manufacturer.