Commissioning of a mining processing plant is usually divided into 6 progressive stages:
C0 – Constructed to Design including Factory Acceptance
C1 – Pre-commissioning
C2 – Direction Testing
C3 – No Load / Dry Commissioning
C4 – Load / Wet Commissioning
C5 – Project Completion
Gratomic is currently entering into Direction Testing (C2 phase) of the equipment composing the crushing circuit of the plant. This stage consists of energizing the equipment and ensuring it rotates in the right direction, stroking the control systems, calibrating instruments and verifying protections.
Once obtaining the expected results on stage C2, our team will progressively advance to stages C3 to C5 of the commissioning process, aiming to ensure that, at the end, the entire plant will perform according to project parameters in a sustainable matter.
“It is essential that we proceed with the necessary steps of commissioning, according to engineering good practices, before the plant becomes operational, and our team in Aukam has been employing all available resources in order to complete this crucial milestone”, says Armando Farhate COO & Head of Graphite Marketing and Sales.
“On the 2nd of March, we went silent as an exploration company. We are preparing to go live with a mining company. Nothing evokes a more powerful emotional response than one of revival after a down spell and as a CEO I couldn’t be prouder to be entering this important commissioning phase”, says CEO & President Arno Brand.
Gratomic wishes to emphasize that no Preliminary Economic Analysis (“PEA”), Preliminary Feasibility Study or Feasibility Study has been completed to support any level of production. In fact, no mineral resources let alone mineral reserves demonstrating economic viability and technical feasibility, have been delineated on the Aukam property.
The Company appointed Dr. Ian Flint to complete a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Aukam Processing plant. The study, its recommendations, and their subsequent implementation, will provide conclusions and recommendation at a PEA level of comfort relating to the scale up of the existing processing plant to a commercial scale processing facility that will provide the desired concentrate grades and production rates. A preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature, it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized.
Gratomic wishes to emphasize that the supply of graphite is conditional on Gratomic being able to bring the Aukam project into a production phase, and for any graphite being produced to meet certain technical and mineralization requirements. Gratomic continues to move its business towards production and as part of its business plan, expects to obtain a National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects technical report to help it ascertain the economics of the Aukam project.