Tirupati Graphite PLC (LSE:TGR, OTCQX:TGRHF) said its production rose by 63% in the six months to end-September 2022, despite heavy rain causing severe disruption to its two graphite flake operations in Madagascar.
The junior has also been working heavily on ramping up operations at the Vatomina and Sahamamy projects but even with that sales over the period rose to 1,691 million tonnes (Mt), while total revenues more than doubled to £1.17mln.
Going forward, Tirupati said construction of a second pre-concentrator at Vatomina has now been completed and the unit commissioned, while the 18,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) Sahamamy facilities are in the final stages of installation and commissioning with production ramp-up expected to be complete by end of January 2023, a slight delay on original plans.
In December, Tirupati also announced the acquisition of Suni Resources (read more), with the completion of that deal seeing “good progress”, said the company.
Losses for the period before tax were £1.48mln (2021: £1.11mln).
In the results statement, Shishir Poddar, Tirupati executive chairman, said: “We are pleased to report increasing production and sales in the period which resulted in a reduction in negative EBIDTA, despite challenging circumstances faced.
"We are making good progress towards completion of the acquisition of Suni Resources with all key obstacles now addressed. The projects are promising and pave the way for us to extensively engage with the highest growth markets for flake graphite.
“Clean hydrogen is gaining ground in other energy applications and flake graphite is again one of the key ingredients for the fuel cells that generate power using hydrogen.”