Tirupati Graphite plc, London, United Kingdom, a specialist graphite producer and graphene developer with operations in Madagascar and India, announces that its Tirupati Graphene and Mintech Research Centre (‘TGMRC’), which is focused on graphene manufacturing, graphene applications development and minerals processing technology development, has secured its first commercial contract. This is to provide mineral processing technology development services with Optiva Resources Limited (‘ORL’), London, a UK registered mining company, to develop mineral processing technology solutions for the vanadium, titanium, magnetite (‘VTM’) deposits on its Marela Project in Guinea, West Africa.
Overview
· TGMRC shall conduct a technical feasibility study for developing a process to extract sellable concentrate from VTM deposits for an upfront fee.
· Successful development of a process shall entitle the Company to a 5% equity in ORL with an additional right to subscribe for an amount equal to 5% warrants.
· Post success of lab scale process development, the parties intend to further the cooperation to pilot scale studies and engineering and design of a commercial operation.
· This represents the first of the many mineral processing technology development contracts the Company expects to engage in with ongoing discussions with various prospective clients.
Shishir Poddar, CEO of Tirupati Graphite, said, “This engagement with ORL represents another start of first revenues from the third business unit of the Company; the other two are already revenue generating. While we continue to progress on the graphene developments, the start of revenue generation from our MINTECH centre of excellence at TGMRC aligns with our strategy of obtaining early-stage diversified and independent revenue streams across our three business units. We are confident that with our mineral processing expertise and innovative approach, we will reach a solution for ORL to unlock the full potential of the VTM deposits in Marela.”
Mr. Charles Douglas Hamilton, Executive Director ORL, said “We are pleased to have partnered with Tirupati to find technical solutions for commercialising Marela. We have been impressed by the depth of experience and knowledge the TGMRC team has in complex mineral processing and extractive metallurgy and we are looking forward to working closely with their team of specialists.”
Tirupati continues to advance its operations across its portfolio including TGMRC in India, which is composed of GRACE, a graphite & graphene centre of excellence; and MINTECH, a mineral processing & extractive metallurgy centre of excellence.
At MINTECH, the Company has entered into an agreement with ORL to develop a process to utilise the VTM material from Marela.
TGMRC has been engaged to undertake a technical feasibility study (‘TFS’) to develop a physical beneficiation process for achieving a commercial and scalable process and produce marketable grades of ilmenite and magnetite. The test works includes lab scale testing of a bulk sample from Marela and will deliver a TFS report for an upfront fee, which shall include physical and chemical characterisation, physical beneficiation studies including grinding, crushing, scrubbing, gravity separation, magnetic separation, value addition characterisation, process flow sheet development and an indicative cost structure.
Phase 1 of testing will focus on achieving commercially acceptable separate concentrates of ilmenite and magnetite. Phase 2 will be triggered for pyrometallurgical tests to obtain titanium slag and pig iron as end products using optimised mix of ilmenite and magnetite from Phase 1, if Phase 1 does not deliver separate concentrates. Successful development of a process at the end of Phase 1 or Phase 2, shall entitle the Company to a 5% equity in ORL with an additional right to subscribe for 5% warrants. Post the success of lab scale process development, the parties intend to further the cooperation to pilot scale studies and engineering and design of a commercial operation.
