Volt Resources Ltd (ASX:VRC) has kicked off a feasibility study update for its Bunyu Graphite Project in Tanzania to setting the stage to become a multi-national integrated supplier of battery anode and other products to lithium-ion battery and other technologies in the US and Europe.
The feasibility study will update the infrastructure, costs and other factors completed in a study undertaken in 2018 in preparation for a significantly larger expansion under the next phase of the project.
Bunyu is initially expected to produce an average of 23,700 tonnes per annum of graphite products based on a mining and processing plant annual throughput rate of 400,000 tonnes of ore, increasing to 170,000 tonnes annually when expansion is completed in Stage 2.
GR Engineering Services to prepare update
Volt has appointed Perth-based GR Engineering Services Ltd (ASX:GNG) to update the processing, infrastructure and logistics for the first phase of the study, while also calculating the latest capital and operating cost estimates.
This \work will re-examine other study aspects including regulatory requirements, marketing and sales, financial analysis, project risks and opportunities as well as requirements relating to environmental, social and community impacts and human resources.
The Bunyu project is near to critical infrastructure, with sealed roads running through the area and ready access to the deepwater port of Mtwara 140 kilometres from the project.
Establishing future supply
Volt managing director Trevor Matthews said: “Completing an updated feasibility study for Bunyu Stage 1 will provide us with a current estimate of what the project will cost to deliver and what its economic returns will be.
"Many factors have changed since the existing study in 2018 and it’s important we account for these as we move ahead with its development.
“With existing production and scalable opportunities from our long life Zavalievsky graphite operations in Europe, I look forward to the outcomes of this update so that we can continue to progress the development of Bunyu as part of our future graphite supply and position Volt as an integrated supplier of battery anode and other battery products to lithium-ion battery and other battery technologies in the US and Europe.”