Northern Graphite Corporation allocated N$9 million towards care and maintenance at its Okanjande Project during the first quarter of 2024.
Northern Graphite is actively assessing various financing strategies to fund its Okanjande Project.
The company’s CEO Hugues Jacquemin said Northern Graphite is exploring using a royalty/stream/debt structure alongside equity contributions from strategic partners, aiming to avoid issuing new shares at current market prices.
The Okanjande site has been on care and maintenance since the third quarter of 2023.
“The company continues to evaluate options to fund the Okanjande Project through a royalty/stream/debt structure and equity contributed by a strategic partner without going to the market at current share prices. The timing of the restart is subject to the availability of project financing,” he said.
This comes after Northern Graphite last year unveiled findings from a new PEA, proposing the relocation of its processing plant from Okorusu to the Okanjande mine site instead of rehabilitating the current mill.
“The PEA indicated that economics remain attractive under the new plan, with higher capital costs but lower operating costs. In addition, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, sustainability is improved, and the expansion potential of the project is substantially enhanced,” said Jacquemin.
Meanwhile, key results of the PEA included average annual production of 31,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate to be sold in U.S. and European markets, production costs of US$666 per tonne, a post-tax IRR of 36%, a post-tax NPV of US$70 million and a payback of under four years.
Results were based on a 10-year mine life and a weighted average graphite price of US$1,550/tonne.
Last year, Northern Graphite said the move would eliminate ore transportation costs and lead to better project economics.
“This scenario would represent phase 1 of an ultimate plan to build 100,000-150,000tpy of graphite production capacity adjacent to the Okanjande deposit to meet rapidly growing EV and battery demand,” the company said.
Northern Graphite began mining operations at Okanjande in 2017 and up until November 2018, the material was trucked 78km to the Okorusu Fluorspar Plant, which had been retrofitted to process graphite-bearing material.
