ASX-listed company Triton Minerals (ASX:TON) has appointed Yantai Oriental Metallurgical Engineering (YOME) to conduct front end engineering design (FEED) work at the Ancuabe Graphite Project in Mozambique.
Triton reports Yantai will undertake the FEED work this quarter with the aim of enhancing and improving the design and efficiencies in the processing plant, thereby reducing risk and targeting an improved EPC tender price for the construction of the processing plant and non-process infrastructure. This scope of work represents a key step in the Ancuabe project’s development and construction pathway.
This FEED work will be undertaken with the support of Perth-based Verum Projects and Engineering, which will continue in its role as process consultants.
The company reports Yantai Oriental is associated with Chinese major mining and processing equipment manufacturer and engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) company Yantai Jinpeng Mining Machinery.
The appointment of Yantai Oriental follows the recent announcement that the company has recommitted to the large-scale development of its Ancuabe project as per the Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS).
Triton’s board have based its decision to move straight to the large-scale development on ‘strong’ and increasing demand for graphite from both battery and industrial applications, as well as the strong support of its proposed cornerstone shareholder, Shandong Yulong.
The company says the appointment of Yantai Oriental as the FEED contractor followed an ‘extensive’ process to produce a contractor with suitable experience and capabilities to complete the FEED process, which included a site visit by associated company Jinpeng to the Ancuabe Project.
As part of the site visit, Jinpeng invited members of the Triton operations teams to the 1.5 million tonnes per annum (tpa) Nipepe Graphite Project located in the Niassa Province of North West Mozambique, where Jinpeng is currently undertaking the supply and installation of the process plant equipment.
The company says this site visit provided Triton with an elevated level of confidence in Jinpeng’s/YOME’s ability to operate successfully both in East Africa and in the graphite sector.
“We are very happy to have YOME and Jinpeng join the development of the Ancuabe Graphite Project”
Addressing the appointment, Triton Minerals Executive Director Andrew Frazer, says: “We are very happy to have YOME and Jinpeng join the development of the Ancuabe Graphite Project. We know Jinpeng to be a highly capable engineering and manufacturing company which has direct experiences in building projects in various jurisdictions throughout the world, but importantly in the graphite sector and specifically in Mozambique.
We are confident that the outcomes from the FEED works will provide benefits to the project by improvising the deliverables and potentially reducing upfront capex and minimising the execution risk. This is a critical step as we work towards the funding package and the award of an EPC contract to build the Ancuabe Graphite Project.”
Triton Minerals is an ASX-listed graphite developer focused on developing the Ancuabe project in the Cabo Delgado region of Northern Mozambique.
A DFS completed in 2017 at Ancuabe resulted in a mineral resource of 46 million tonnes @ 6.6% total graphitic carbon (TGC) and 24.9 million tonnes reserve @ 6.2% TGC.
Yantai Oriental Metallurgical Engineering is an association of Jinpeng, a global company that offers services and supply of equipment for the development and construction of mineral processing plants such as gold, base metals, mineral sands, lithium, and graphite.
The company also has ‘considerable’ experience in complete EPC solutions for mineral processing plants, as well as supplying and installing major mineral processing equipment and indirect equipment supply packages such as structural steel, platework, piping, and electrical.
Images: Triton Minerals Ltd
