Triton Minerals Limited (ASX:TON) Nicanda Hill Scoping Study

Perth, Australia (ABN Newswire) - Triton Minerals Ltd. (ASX:TON) (Triton, Company) is pleased to announce the results of the Independent Scoping Study for the Nicanda Hill graphite resource, located at its Balama North project in Mozambique.

The receipt of positive Scoping Study results now justifies the commencement of feasibility studies that will form the basis for the rapid development of the Nicanda Hill resource and establish Triton as a low cost, high quality graphite producer.

INDEPENDENT SCOPING STUDY RESULTS INDICATE WORLD'S LARGEST KNOWN GRAPHITE PROJECT IS LOW TECHNICAL RISK, ECONOMICALLY ROBUST AND COMMERCIALLY VIABLE

Triton Managing Director & CEO, Mr. Brad Boyle said: "The release of the Nicanda Hill independent Scoping Study is a significant milestone for our Company given that exploration drilling only commenced in April of this year. It confirms the quality of the Nicanda Hill resource and demonstrates the potential for Triton to become a leading global producer of high-purity flake graphite. On-going feasibility work is anticipated to improve the project economics as the higher grades identified by drilling to date will be defined with greater confidence and expanded.

In addition, it should be noted that the scoping study was based on a relatively small percentage of the existing global resource in order to test the commercial viability of a conservative base-case production scenario. More comprehensive metallurgical studies, which will form part of the future feasibility program, combined with additional resource drilling may identify an alternate and improved development route."

SUMMARY

The Scoping Study was undertaken and prepared by independent geological and mining consultants Optiro Pty Ltd (Optiro) of Perth, Western Australia, who also prepared the initial Mineral Resource estimation for the Nicanda Hill deposit. Optiro were engaged to evaluate the technical and economic potential of the Nicanda Hill deposit and to provide the foundations of future development.

The Scoping Study was managed and completed by Optiro who defined the economics, mining process and infrastructure for the future graphite mine at Nicanda Hill. This work was supported by specialist metallurgical work undertaken by ALS Laboratory in Adelaide, South Australia and supported by Mintek, South Africa. The Metallurgy, Process Engineering and Design was supervised by independent metallurgist consultants Battery Limits Pty Ltd. Mineralogical and drill core analysis was performed by SGS Laboratories, South Africa and Intertek/Genalysis, Perth.

MINERAL RESOURCE AND MINING INVENTORY

The Scoping Study is based on the Nicanda Hill JORC Resource, released in an ASX announcement on 21 October 2014, which was completed in accordance with the JORC Code, 2012 edition and summarised in Table 1.

The Nicanda Hill global Mineral Resource estimate comprises 1,457 Million Tonnes (Mt) at an average grade of 10.7% Total Graphitic Carbon (TGC) and 0.27% Vanadium Pentoxide (V2O5) classified as either Inferred Mineral Resources or Indicated Mineral Resources. Using a 15%TGC cut off in the Nicanda Hill deposit, 28.1Mt of graphitic material at an average grade of 15.8%TGC is contained within the Mutola, Grande and Macico (MGM) high grade graphite zones.

Classification Tonnes  Grade  Contained  Grade  Contained 
                (Mt)  (TGC%)   Graphite (V2O5%) V2O5 (Mt)
                                (Mt)
Indicated       328    11.0     36.1    0.26    0.85
Inferred       1,129   10.6    119.7    0.27    3.05 
Total          1,457   10.7    155.9    0.27    3.93

Table 1: Balama North - Nicanda Hill Global Mineral Resource
(Note that some of the numbers may not equate fully due to the effects of rounding.)

Approximately 328Mt of the Nicanda Hill Mineral Resource estimate is in the Indicated Resource Classification. The Scoping Study is based entirely within this Indicated portion of the global resource.

The mining inventory on which the Scoping Study is based, comprises 51Mt grading 12.4%TGC for a contained 6.3Mt flake graphite. Vanadium-credits were not included in the Scoping Study but form part of the future project upside.

MINING

The anticipated mining schedule comprises a relatively shallow open pit operation, focused initially, on the MGM graphite zones in the vicinity of Nicanda Hill. The open pit will eventually be accessed by three separate ramps (Figures 1 and 2).

Triton believes that the shallow nature of the open pit operation combined with a dilution grade averaging 8%TGC, represents exceptionally low technical risk.

Average grades for the first five years of operation are anticipated to be in excess of 13%TGC. During this period the waste to ore strip ratio averages 0.84:1, with the Life of Mine (LOM) strip ratio expected to be approximately 1:1. However, it should be noted that the majority of the waste material averages approximately 8%TGC.

PROCESSING

The Scoping Study anticipates a straight-forward crushing, milling and flotation process together with screening and drying circuits.

The results are based upon a thirty year conceptual LOM (29 years mining plus 1 year construction) and a processing operation of 1.8Mta resulting in an average annual production rate of 210,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate.

PRICING

Triton notes that the Scoping Study has assumed a conservative average graphite price of US$985 per tonne, to incorporate price variations between the selling prices of different graphite size and purity fractions. The Scoping Study assumes this selling price will remain constant over the thirty year life cycle of the proposed Nicanda Hill mine and does not take into account any potential price escalation as demand grows.

KEY OUTCOMES

The key outcomes from the Optiro Scoping Study report are outlined and summarised below:

- Estimated initial capital cost US$110 million which includes contingencies;

- LOM free cash flow of US$624/t;

- Estimated average mine gate cost of production at US$250/t;

- Free on Board cost (FOB) Port of Pemba estimated average cost at US$315/t;

- Cash operating costs of US$338/t;

- Positive cash flow within 2 months of commission; and

- Payback period within approximately 10 months of commission.

To view all figures and tables, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-TON-701345.pdf

About Triton Minerals Limited:

Triton Minerals Ltd. (ASX:TON) is an ASX listed, responsible mineral explorer and resource management company headquartered in Perth, Australia.

Led by a highly experienced management team, Triton Minerals' vision is to grow shareholder's value through discovery or development of base metal, gold and other precious metal deposits.

Triton has made excellent progress with its three Graphite projects located in the Cabo Delgado Province in Mozambique, with the program successfully identifying a number of graphitic exposures.

It is the Company's belief that the Mozambique, Balama North Project could host multiple and very substantial world class graphite deposits.

Source:

Triton Minerals Ltd.

Contact:

Triton Minerals Ltd.
Brad Boyle
T: +61-8-6489-2555
F: +61-8-9388-1252
WWW: www.tritonmineralsltd.com.au