The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has approved a $150-million loan to support the development of the Balama graphite mine, in Mozambique.
The loan agreement follows a conditional commitment from DFC to Syrah Resources subsidiary Twigg Exploration and Mining in September last year.
Syrah said this week that an initial $73-million disbursement to Twigg was expected in November.
The loan will fund working and sustaining capital in the operations of Balama, current and future expansion of Balama’s tailings storage facility, and feasibility studies for the development of Balama’s vanadium resource.
The loan agreement demonstrated the importance of Balama to the US critical minerals strategy, said Syrah MD and CEO Shaun Verner, noting that it was one of the biggest integrated graphite mining and processing operations globally.
The mine is expected to produce an average of 365 000 t/y of graphite concentrate during its first ten years of production and has a 50-year mine life. Balama has mineral reserves of 108-million tonnes grading 16% total graphitic carbon (TGC) and mineral resources of 1.42-billion tonnes grading 10% TGC.
“DFC’s loan demonstrates the commitment of the United States to support the transition to clean energy technology, grow economic opportunity, and uphold high labour and environmental standards,” said DFC acting VP infrastructure Danielle Montgomery.