Triton Minerals has signed a $2bn binding off-take agreement with Chinese graphite products company Yichang Xincheng Graphite (YXGC) for its Mozambique Graphite (TMG) business.
Under the 20-year deal, the company also has the option to supply graphite to YXGC from Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi and Tanzania, at a rate of $1,000 a tonne.
Triton Minerals managing director and CEO Brad Boyle said: "Yichang Xincheng Graphite is globally renowned as a supplier of a diverse range of high-quality, high-tech, expanded graphite products.
"This is a very special day for Triton as this binding commercial agreement is with a graphite specialist organisation that has mined, manufactured and sold expanded graphite products for nearly 20 years."
According to Triton, the agreement is subject to conditions such as receipt of all relevant government approvals and commissioning a processing plant or plants.
Yichang Xincheng Graphite chairman Yue Bin said: "Tests in our laboratory on the TMG material performed well beyond our highest expectations and we feel TMG is ideally suited to support and build our diverse range of expandable graphite products.
"The long-term supply of high-quality TMG will not only allow our company to develop competitively priced products for the global markets but will also contribute, indirectly, to the long-term economic growth of Mozambique."
Separately, Triton has signed an agreement to form a strategic alliance with AMG Mining through the AMG subsidiary of GK Ancuabe Graphite Mine.
The alliance is for an initial period of two years.
The companies will collaborate on the exploration, identification and development of graphite occurrences in the Ancuabe district, within the Province of Cabo Delgado in Mozambique, during that period.
Image: Triton Minerals managing director and CEO Brad Boyle and Yichang Xincheng Graphite chairman Yue Bin at the signing ceremony. Photo: courtesy of Triton Minerals Ltd.