Armadale Capital Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: ACP / Sector: Investment Company
19 March 2018
Armadale Capital Plc (‘Armadale’ or ‘the Company’)
Mahenge Liandu Pit Optimisation and
31 Year Mine Plan Completed for Mahenge Liandu Graphite Project
Armadale, the AIM quoted investment company focused on natural resource projects in Africa, is pleased to announce that an optimisation study for the Mahenge Liandu Graphite Project in Tanzania (‘Mahenge’) has now been completed by ROM Resources. The results of the optimisation study were used to generate a mining schedule focusing on high grade near surface mineralisation. The first seven years of production show exceptionally high graphite grades averaging 15.5% Total Graphitic Carbon (‘TGC’) with an average grade of 12.5% over the life of mine.
Overview
- A mining schedule over 31 years was produced at 400,000 tpa averaging 12.5% TGC over the life of the mine
- The initial seven years show an exceptional average grade of 15.5% TGC
- The near surface nature of the deposit produced a low strip ratio of approximately 1:1 for the life of the mine
- Substantial potential for both the expansion of the throughput and mine life due to the large size of the resource
- Optimisation results underpin the low cost, high grade potential of the project, which together with the high quality of the graphite concentrates produced to date point to the ability to produce an extremely robust initial scoping study, results of which are expected in the coming weeks and will provide initial project economics
- A diamond drilling programme, targeted to commence in Q2 2018, will focus on obtaining representative samples of ore from the first areas to be mined as well as geotechnical drilling to support the final pit design
Nick Johansen, Director of Armadale said: “To have defined a 31 year mine plan that can produce 400,000tpa of graphite at a grade of 12.5% is very exciting. Crucially the mine plan is based on near surface material with a very low strip ratio, which has positive cost impacts as the deposit will be relatively simple to mine and metallurgical test work to date has shown that minimal processing is required to produce a high grade, quality graphite concentrate. The results of this mine plan and optimisation work will feed into the Scoping Study, which is now nearing completion. The results will give a clearer indication of the project economics from which we will be able to better define our development plan. We look forward to sharing the results of this with shareholders in the coming weeks.”
The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.
**ENDS**
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Armadale Capital Plc
Tim Jones, Company Secretary |
+44 20 7236 1177 | ||
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Nomad and broker: finnCap Ltd
Christopher Raggett / Simon Hicks |
+44 20 7220 0500 | ||
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Press Relations: St Brides Partners Ltd
Susie Geliher / Charlotte Page |
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Notes
Armadale Capital Plc is focused on investing in and developing a portfolio of investments, targeting the natural resources and/or infrastructure sectors in Africa. The Company, led by a team with operational experience and a strong track record in Africa, has a strategy of identifying high growth businesses where it can take an active role in their advancement.
The Company owns the Mahenge Liandu graphite project in south-east Tanzania, which is now its main focus. The Project is located in a highly prospective region with a high-grade JORC compliant Indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate of 51.1Mt @ 9.3% TGC, making it one of the largest high-grade resources in Tanzania, and work to date has demonstrated Mahenge Liandu’s potential as a commercially viable deposit with significant tonnage, high-grade coarse flake and near surface mineralisation (implying a low strip ratio) contained within one contiguous ore body.
Other assets Armadale has an interest in include the Mpokoto Gold project in the Democratic Republic of Congo and a portfolio of quoted investments.
Competent Person statement
The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr Matt Bull, a competent person, who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Bull has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a competent person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the “Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”. Mr Bull consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
More information can be found on the website www.armadalecapitalplc.com