In December, the company signed a binding offtake agreement with a Tanzanian environmental consultancy, which has agreed to purchase 10,000t of flake graphite concentrate per year.
The agreement is for an initial period of five years with an option to renew for a further five years, on a market based pricing mechanism.
The ESIA process is critical for it to receive its environmental certificate from the National Environmental Management Council that is in turn a key prerequisite to secure a mining licence for the project.
Kibaran executive director Andrew Spinks said the company has begun environmental permitting and mining license process as the next stage in developing the Epanko graphite project.
"This is the first of many positive steps towards project development following the major milestone of a binding offtake agreement for graphite sales," Spinks added.
Kibaran noted that all three are the longest lead items in the approvals and permitting process for developing the project and whole process is anticipated to take about 16 to 18 months to complete.
