OREANDA-NEWS. ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products has concluded an offtake agreement for refractory graphite with Kibaran Resources Limited. The raw materials trading experts from the Materials Services business area will purchase 20,000 tonnes of graphite per year for a period of ten years for the European, Russian and Korean markets. This corresponds to around 50% of the planned annual graphite output from Kibaran’s proposed mine, in the Epanko Graphite Project located in Tanzania, East Africa. With the conclusion of the agreement, ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products has also secured the option of a five-year extension.

The Epanko Graphite Project is expected to be in operation in early 2017. A mining license has already been obtained from the Government of Tanzania. Kibaran Resources Limited specializes in graphite exploration in the mineral-rich regions of Tanzania. In the Epanko region, the Australian company has secured an extremely promising site offering significant graphite deposits and good development opportunities, with transport infrastructure already in place. The East African country of Tanzania is also well-disposed toward the mining industry and aims to develop this economic sector. Graphite is an industrial mineral which is an important component in lithium iron batteries used in smartphones, tablets and electric vehicles. Graphite is also well-suited to high-temperature applications, in particular the manufacture of refractory compounds and bricks.

Kai-Norman Kn?tsch, Chairman of the Management Board of ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products commented “Graphite is an extremely good fit with our mineral unit’s portfolio. The collaboration with Kibaran Resources Limited will enable us to further expand our activities in the refractory industry in Europe, Russia and Korea.”

Andrew Spinks, Managing Director of Kibaran Resources Limited added “The signing of the agreement for the sale of Kibaran’s graphite products is a milestone event, enabling Kibaran to progress the development of Epanko and become a significant graphite producer. We are extremely pleased to formalize our relationship with ThyssenKrupp given the company’s expertise in the industrial minerals sector, their scale of operations globally and international business standing.”

About ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp is a diversified industrial group with traditional strengths in materials and a growing share of capital goods and services businesses. Over 155,000 employees in nearly 80 countries work with passion and technological expertise to develop high-quality products and intelligent industrial processes and services for sustainable progress. Their skills and commitment are the basis of our success. In fiscal year 2013/2014 ThyssenKrupp generated sales of around €41 billion.

ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products GmbH is part of the Materials Services business area of the ThyssenKrupp Group and one of the world’s leading commodity trading companies. The company pools resources and technical expertise to provide solutions for virtually all applications in the metallurgical industry. With exceptionally good connections on the raw material markets, in part exclusive marketing rights and end-to-end quality surveillance, the company offers the best possible price/performance ratio for its products. Its close cooperation with the LME (London Metal Exchange) and the expertise of its Competence Center for Metal Hedging (CCMH) – whose services are in demand throughout the Group – make ThyssenKrupp Metallurgical Products the first-choice partner for international customers. Capabilities include product preparation, coke, coal and petcoke trading, warehousing, the sale of advanced furnace technology and trading of industrial gases, grid-based energies, metals, ferro-alloys, high-quality carbon products and industrial minerals.