Energizer’s flagship Molo deposit is the second largest confirmed flake graphite resource in the world and the biggest under Canadian NI 43-101 regulations. Located in Fotodrevo, southern Madagascar, it sits as part of the company’s Green Giant project, which also includes a sizable vanadium deposit. Both resources are NI 43-101 compliant, yet Molo remains the main focus for Energizer at present.
Molo is one of the world’s largest deposits hosting an indicated mineral resource of 84.04m tonnes grading 6.36% carbon (C) and an inferred resource grading 6.29% C of crystalline flake graphite.
The company released a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) study for Molo in February 2013, which outlined in net present value at a 10% discount of $421m, a 48% pre-tax IRR and a three-year payback period.
Despite already being a large resource, Energizer believes Molo is also scalable. Mapping has shown graphite mineralisation surrounding the project, providing the company with an opportunity to increase graphite output.
The company will first focus on an area which is 2km strike length within the shear zone, at 50-60 metres wide to the north, expanding outwards to more than 500 metres in width and back down to a width of approximately 250 to 350 metres. Based on drill and trench data received to date, as well as mapping, prospecting, and geophysical surveying, graphite mineralisation is confirmed at surface and over an area of at least 250,000m2 and drilling has confirmed that the mineralisation is open at depth in excess of 300 metres.
In February this year, the company released results from a pilot plant operation at Molo, where results of 15 size fraction analyses showed large and extra-large (or jumbo) flake graphite at a mass of 43.5%.
Energizer’s Molo graphite project is the second largest confirmed flake graphite resource in the world.
New Road excerpts
However, while IM was out in Madagascar, Energizer was informed that the government of Madagascar has awarded a contract to pave the RN13 road to a Malagasy construction company. RN13 is a north-south road extending from the Port of Fort Dauphin to the paved road that connects Tulear to the country’s capital, Antananarivo. This road passes within 30km of the Molo project and work is scheduled for completion by the end of 2014.
This is big news for Energizer, as the new road will provide the company with an alternative that is potentially more viable that travelling to Tulear. It will not only reduce transportation time, and consequently operating costs, the new road will also provide direct access to the Fort Dauphin Port (formerly Port d’Ehola), which is a modernised facility constructed by the World Bank and QMM in 2009.
It also shows how central new mining projects are to the Madagascan economy. While IM was on the ground in Madagascar it learned not only about the work at Energizer’s Molo, but also the workforce. The company has several expats working in the office in camp and on site but also employs a local labour force. Until recently, Malagasy locals were largely unskilled in relation to the mining industry, which was why Energizer brought in expats, mainly from South Africa, to work on the Green Giant project. However, with the development of Sherritt’s Ambatovy, and Rio Tinto’s QMM mineral sand mines, Madagascar has developed a skilled mining-related labour force.
Additionally, the development of these projects has provided much needed foreign investment to Madagascar. As such, the government of Madagascar is very supportive of the growing mining industry.
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