Tirupati Graphite has confirmed commercial production of 97% pure flake graphite from the Vatomina project in Madagascar.
The company said its first container of 97% jumbo flakes greater than 50 mesh size has now been produced for a German manufacturer of specialty graphite products, and that it is now working toward increasing its high-grade output and associated sales.
Additionally, the project is producing high-grade jumbo flakes; while technically challenging, it provides new opportunities, and certain specialist markets require high-grade flakes, which command premium prices.
Executive chairman Shishir Poddar stressed that the company is establishing itself as a leading supplier of flake graphite outside of China.
“Our increasing output is timely with a demand supply gap forecast over the next year and we are well positioned to play our role in the evolving flake graphite opportunities,” Poddar said.
“We have moved on from the difficult times of building a new mine in a challenging ecosystem. Getting into ‘four figures’ worth of monthly production output for the first time in March 2023 depicts our progress as much as getting an 18,000 tpa plant rolling in the very first month since start off.”
In a related operational update, Tirupati said that both Vatomina and sister mine Sahamamy have experienced no significant impact from the recent cyclone in the region.
Source: Tirupati Graphite