Mahenge graphite project powers Tanzanian development
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Mahenge graphite project powers Tanzanian development
Black Rock will construct a new powerline to connect its project to the grid.
By Leon Louw founder of WhyAfrica and editor of the WhyAfrica magazine
The Northern Malawi, Southern Tanzanian and Northern Mozambique triangle (which WhyAfrica visited last year as part of the 2024 WhyAfrica Road Trip) is becoming congested with greenfields explorers in search of especially Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and a range of critical minerals.
An interesting project in the triangle who’s progress WhyAfrica has been tracking is ASX listed Black Rock Mining’s Mahenge Graphite Project.
Top class graphite in the pipeline
The Mahenge Project is spread across 324 square kilometres of exploration tenements in Tanzania’s Ulanga district, about 250 km north of the border with Mozambique, 250 km west of the coastal port city of Mtwara on the Indian Ocean and 300 km southwest of Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam.
Black Rock’s Definitive Feasibility Study for the project considers a four-stage construction schedule to deliver up to 340,000 tonnes per annum of 98.5% graphite concentrate for 26 years of 98.5% Loss On Ignition (LOI) premium graphite flake concentrate, with the ability to produce Ultra Purity flake of 99% LOI.
Agreements for power supply
Last week Black Rock announced that its 84%-owned subsidiary, Faru, signed two key agreements with the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO), the national electricity utility of Tanzania.
In terms of the agreements Faru will construct a new 220kV power line to connect Mahenge to a high-voltage hydro-dominated power supply.
The first agreement is the Implementation Agreement under which Faru will construct the new power line and transfer ownership to TANESCO on completion.
The second agreement is the Power Supply Agreement (PSA), under which Faru will recoup the capital cost of the power line from TANESCO over the first four years of production via a schedule of repayments. The total project cost is USD40-million.
Grid power fundamental for development
According to Black Rock CEO, John de Vries, access to grid power is fundamental to Mahenge being globally competitive through the price cycle.
“The new power will also open up new and exciting opportunities for a host of local businesses and will expand TANESCO’s reach in Tanzania,” says De Vries.
WhyAfrica tracks early-stage mineral exploration projects across Africa. We visit many of these exploration projects as part of our WhyAfrica Road Trips. During our Road Trips we drive overland through 4 to 6 different Africa countries and aim to do 7000km to 9000km and visit 30 projects in a number of different economic sectors.
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Image credit: Black Rock
Mahenge graphite project powers Tanzanian development
