MORE GRAPHITE FOUND ON TRITON CONCESSION

The price of shares in the Australian company Triton Minerals increased by over sixty per cent on Wednesday as the company released details of its latest geological observations on its Balama North Project, in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado.On Wednesday the company revealed that it has once again found “very significant graphitic mineralisation over a considerable thickness at the Nicanda Hill prospect on the Balama North Project”.According to Triton’s managing director, Brad Doyle, the latest finding “has again confirmed the world class potential of the Balama North Project. To intercept an astounding 316 metres cumulative width of graphite mineralisation in a single drill hole and this mineralisation remains open at depth is a very exciting result”.Triton states that “these latest drill results continue to confirm the Company’s belief that the Balama North Project can potentially host a market leading and world class graphite deposit. It is anticipated that this drilling will provide the necessary data to estimate a Mineral Resource for this prospect by early 2015”.

The series of positive results from drilling at the site suggest that Triton has a world class deposit of graphite.The concession sits next to the Balama Graphite and Vanadium Project run by Syrah Resources. According to Syrah, Balama contains far more graphite that the known reserves in the rest of the world.Syrah is at a more advanced stage of exploiting the resources than Triton. It has already entered into an agreement to supply the China Aluminum International Engineering Corporation (Chalieco) with between 80,000 and 100,000 tonnes of graphite per year. Another deal, with British company Asmet, will see it sell between 100,000 and 150,000 tonnes per year at a price of one thousand US dollars per tonne. Furthermore, it is in discussion with a third major company and is due to announce the details later this month.Syrah expects to be one of the world’s lowest cost producers and plans to recoup the mine’s hundred million dollar development costs in its first year of production, which could be in 2016.If Triton does have the graphite deposits that the initial findings suggest, Mozambique will become the world’s major source for the mineral, given its low production costs and access to markets through the port of Pemba.Graphite is a form of carbon that is highly valued due to its properties as a conductor of electricity. It is used in batteries and fuel cells and is the basis for the “miracle material” graphene, which is the strongest material ever measured, with vast potential for use in the electronics industries.