Volt Receives Environmental Approval for Bunyu Graphite Project

Australia-based Volt Resources (ASX:VRC) has been granted an environmental approval for its Bunyu graphite project in Tanzania, the company announced on Tuesday (September 4).

Volt Resources received the environmental impact assessment (EIA) certificate from the National Environmental Council of Tanzania, which is the final prerequisite for the granting of the company’s mining license.

“This is a significant milestone in the development of our Bunyu project, as it transitions the company a step closer to receiving the all-important Bunyu mining licences,” said Asimwe Kabunga, Volt’s chairman.

In February, the company submitted the mining license applications to the Minister for Minerals, which cover both stage one and two of Volt’s flagship project.

Stage one is based on a mining and processing plant throughput rate of 400,000 tonnes of ore per year, with the intention of producing an average of 23,700 tonnes per year of graphite products.

Meanwhile, stage two will be based on prefeasibility study metrics of 3.8 million tonnes per year of ore to produce 170,000 tonnes per year of product.

“Looking ahead we remain firmly focused on advancing the Bunyu project towards stage 1 production, and we look forward to providing our shareholders with further updates on funding and development progress in the near-term,” Kabunga added.

Last year, the company signed its first offtake agreement with US-based Nano Graphene for a minimum of 5,000 tonnes of flake graphite concentrate grading 98 percent, over five years starting in January 2018.

In August, Volt signed a second offtake deal with Qingdao Tiangshengda graphite for 9,000 tonnes per annum of Bunyu graphite product over five years. The company also signed a cooperation deal with China’s largest graphite companies, Haida Graphite.

On Tuesday, shares of Volt Resources were up 10.53 percent in Sydney, trading at AU$0.02.

Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Resource for real-time updates!

Securities Disclosure: I, Priscila Barrera, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.