British graphite company Tirupati Graphite revealed on Tuesday that it has raised five million pounds (around 6.1 million US dollars at the current exchange rate) through an institutional and private placement of 14,285,714 new ordinary shares at 35 cents each.

Tirupati explained in a note to investors that the funds will ensure that the company will have the financial resources to meet all its obligations to complete the £3.5 million acquisition of Suni Resources, along with working capital to develop Suni's graphite mining projects.

Suni is the Mozambican subsidiary of Battery Minerals, which holds graphite exploration concessions in Balama and Montepuez, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

The government regulator, the National Mining Institute, has confirmed that it intends to approve the transfer of Suni's mining concessions to Tirupati after being granted a bank guarantee of 76 million meticais (around 1.2 million dollars) to cover the award of the mining concession for the Balama Central project and the assessment of capital gains tax of around 107 million meticais.

According to Tirupati Graphite's managing director, Shishir Poddar, "we are delighted to have received institutional and other investor support for the fundraising, which provides us with the financial resources to fulfill the obligations for the completion of the Suni transaction."

Poddar explained that "the Balama Central and Montepuez Projects, which are owned by Suni Resources, are both fully licensed to produce 150,000 tons per year of flake graphite. At Montepuez, the construction of the first module of 50,000 tons per year has been started by Battery with the development of the plant and the construction of settling tanks completed and residential facilities for one hundred people built at the base camp."

He added that "we are excited to now be in a position to move forward with the completion of the Suni acquisition, which will allow us to add these projects to the Tirupati graphite portfolio and we believe that the acquisition of these projects will put the company in a strong position to move forward with its ongoing discussions with the electric vehicle sector, in addition to others."

In a separate statement, Battery Minerals CEO David Flanagan said "we would also like to thank the Mozambican government for its assistance in this process which will ultimately deliver a new world-class graphite project in Mozambique".

Mozambique is an important global source of strategic mineral graphite with Syrah Resources' project, which is also located in Balama, having the capacity to produce 350,000 tons of graphite concentrate per year over its fifty-year mine life. In addition, Triton Minerals has confirmed that it will develop its graphite project, also in Cabo Delgado, with a planned production of 50,000 tons of concentrate per year.

Graphite is a form of carbon that is highly valued because of its properties as a conductor of electricity. It is used in batteries and fuel cells and is the basis for the "miracle material" graphene, which is the strongest material ever measured, with vast potential for use in the electronics industries. (ClubofMozamboque)