Richland Resources (LON:RLD) said it was in talks with ASX-quoted Kibaran Resources (ASX:KNL) to consolidate and develop, via a joint venture, their graphite assets in Northern Tanzania.
Under a memorandum of understanding, the two companies could potentially consolidate Richland's Arusha graphite project with Kibaran's neighbouring Merelani-Arusha project.
Richland's tanzanite mining operations previously hosted a graphite mine, while its subsidiary, TanzaniteOne Mining, has a 15,000 tonnes annually (tpa) graphite processing plant and associated infrastructure. The plant was closed in the late 1990s due to a switch in focus to the production of tanzanite.
Kibaran has estimated that the global demand for commercial graphite is growing, boosted by an increasing number of applications for graphite in technology and industry, and is expected to double within the next eight years.