Valence Industries has announced that the first shipment of graphite has left the company’s Port Lincoln site and was transported via truck to Port Adelaide for delivery to customers in Asia Pacific.
According to the company’s ASX announcement, approximately 20 tonnes of flake graphite had been shipped to Valence’s Port Adelaide logistics handling facility in preparation for export, which will mark the first graphite export from Australia in more than 2 decades.
“The first shipment contains a range of flake graphite production taken from the commissioning program for Valence Industries; existing processing facility in Port Lincoln,” reads the ASX announcement.
The company has reported production volumes and capacity will increase as the plant moves through its commissioning and production ramp-up program, which is expected to be completed by the September quarter of 2015.
On completing the program, Valence expects to reach the targeted output rate of 14,000 tonnes per annum.
“During this program, Valence will continue to match graphite production to meet customer requirements with customer demand ranging from refractories and foundries through to battery and biomedical applications for volumes equal to the first 12 months of production.”
Commissioning of Valence Industries’ Uley Graphite plant commenced on 25 December 2014.
Valence said the processing of the first 1,500 tonnes of the run-of-mine stockpiles has been completed, which allowed the company to achieve key commissioning milestones, including: capacity testing for processing of raw material and new graphite production; preparation and packaging of a range of flake graphite products for export; and ongoing construction of waste water containment dams.
