Kibaran signs ThyssenKrupp offtake deal

Kibaran Resources has signed an agreement with German diversified group ThyssenKrupp for the sale of half of the graphite produced at its Epanko project in Tanzania.

Under the 10-year agreement, Kibaran will deliver at least 20,000 tonnes per annum of graphite to the German group’s commodity trading subsidiary, ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products, with a five-year extension option available.

The Epanko project is expected to be in operation in early 2017.

“Graphite is an extremely good fit with our mineral unit’s portfolio,” ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products chairman Kai-Norman Knötsch said.

“The collaboration with Kibaran will enable us to further expand our activities in the refractory industry in Europe, Russia and Korea.”

Kibaran has now secured offtake agreements for 75 per cent of the planned graphite production at Epanko, after securing an agreement with an unnamed European graphite trader for 10,000tpa in December 2013.

“We are pleased to formalise our relationship with ThyssenKrupp given their expertise, scale and international business standing,” Kibaran managing director Andrew Spinks said.

“We are also pleased that ThyssenKrupp is assisting Kibaran with securing project funding which will be a key component of our overall project financing plan following the positive results from Epanko’s recently completed bankable feasibility study.”

Kibaran shares were 20.5 per cent higher to 20.5 cents each at 10am.