ASX-listed mineral exploration company Triton Minerals has secured a 25-year mining concession for the Cobra Plains graphite project in the Cabo Delgado province of Mozambique.

The mining concession was approved after consultation with the Mozambique Government. The company previously owned an exploration licence for the Cobra Plains project and wanted it to be extended or amended.

With its consultation with the government, the company secured a “far more advanced and valuable” concession, which will add to its portfolio of graphite projects in the country.

It is also moving ahead with the development of its flagship Ancuabe graphite project in Mozambique.

Triton Minerals executive director Andrew Frazer said: “The grant of the Cobra Plains mining concession, with its large-scale 5.7 million tonnes (mt) contained graphite resource, means that Trion now owns two globally significant graphite resources with a diversified mix of flake sizes, which can be applied towards a range of applications from batteries to expandable graphite for building materials.

“The granting of the mining concession adds further scale to our portfolio of graphite projects in Mozambique and to the value proposition as we continue with our ongoing funding discussions for the Ancuabe Graphite Project.”

Located in the northern region of the country, the Cobra Plains project sits within Neoproterozoic rocks of the Xixano Complex. The location is ten kilometres from Syrah’s Balama graphite mine and 230km from the port of Pemba on the Indian Ocean.

In 2014, the company announced an inferred mineral resource estimate of 103mt for the project, at an average grade of 5.52% graphitic carbon containing 5.7mt of graphitic carbon.