2nd Preconcentrate plant at the Vatomina project nears completion

A second preconcentrate plant at the Vatomina project in Madagascar is nearing completion. Tirupati Graphite said the plant will be ready by October.

The firm is optimising its processing plant by improving the ore’s head grade from 3% to more than 4%, to reach 18 000 t/y capacity, compared with 12 000 t/y currently. The company’s initial preconcentrate plant achieved nameplate ore feed capacity of 600 t/d at the start of September, and is soon to be synchronised with the second preconcentrate plant. Construction of both a preconcentrate and a main processing plant at the Sahamamy project is also progressing to final stages of completion. The company will start trial runs in the next two weeks and ramp up production by the end of the year.

Near-rated capacity operations

The existing 3 000 t/y plant at Sahamamy is operating at near-rated capacity, with the dehydrated concentrate from the plant being further processed at Vatomina. Upon completion of the second preconcentrate plant at Vatomina, the company will decommission the 3 000 t/y operation. The equipment used at the Sahamamy plant will be redeployed into reconfigured operations – with two preconcentrate and one final concentrate plant at each of the two projects.

The reorganisation will result in the company having a net ore throughput capacity of 2 400 t/d and a nameplate production capacity of 36 000 t/y of flake graphite across the two projects. Tirupati has, therefore, set its guidance at between 2 500 t and 2 900 t of flake graphite for the three months ending December 31, and at between 6 100 t and 6 500 t for the three months ending March 31, 2023. The company will gradually build up to the intended 8 000 t a quarter nameplate capacity.