Walkabout Resources Ltd (ASX:WKT) director Michael Elliott has demonstrated his support of the company’s graphite strategy by purchasing 1 million shares with a total value of $230,000.
The purchase was part of a placement earlier this year that raised $3.1 million for the company’s ‘early-start’ program at Lindi Jumbo Graphite Project in Tanzania.
Approved at AGM
This participation by the non-executive director was approved by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on November 22.
Elliott now holds 13.3 million shares in direct and indirect interests and at the last traded price of 29.5 cents, this holding is valued in excess of $3.9 million.
‘Early-start’ program
The ‘early-start’ program includes procurement, manufacturing and site works for the project in the country’s southeast.
A US$2.75 million (A$3.95 million) budget has been set for this program, which has the objective of advancing the construction process along its critical path while project funding is being finalised and negotiated.
The primary benefits should include a reduction of the project construction timeline due to the period of manufacture of equipment in China.
US$1 million has been set aside for Jinpeng Procurement and Manufacturing in Yantai, China for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
Offtake agreements
The company has booked up to 75% of its planned production of high-purity large flake graphite concentrate for the first three years after the start of Lindi operations, with a variety of offtake-style agreements.