Maputo, July 17, 2026 (Lusa) - The British mining company, Total Graphite, has temporarily suspended production in Madagascar to accelerate its graphite projects in Mozambique, including Montepuez in Cabo Delgado province, with plans to produce 50,000 tonnes per year in the initial phase.
The information is contained in an operational update, seen on Friday by Lusa and sent to the markets by Total Graphite plc, listed on the London Stock Market, in which the mining company states that it is prioritising “the completion of the optimisation” of its production operation in Madagascar, whilst pressing ahead with development of its large-scale projects in Mozambique and its industrial processing plans.
According to the company, production has been temporarily suspended at the Vatomina operation in Madagascar to allow for additional drilling work, mine planning, infrastructure improvements and optimisation of the processing plant. Production is scheduled to resume in December this year, with a target of over 1,000 tonnes per month.
At the same time, the company states that it is moving forward with updating the definitive feasibility study for the Montepuez project in Cabo Delgado, for a first-phase operation with a projected capacity of “50,000 tonnes per year”.
Total Graphite adds that the analysis carried out as part of the optimisation programme has reinforced the management’s conviction that the group has “a portfolio of valuable assets capable of supporting a significantly larger integrated graphite business”, linked to the global battery market and the energy transition.
According to the press release, the company currently has a total cash position of $3.8 million (€3.3 million), including a bank guarantee of $2.3 million (€2 million) linked to the Mozambican mining projects. The company adds that it continues to evaluate “financing opportunities and strategic partnerships” to support the development of its assets.
The announcement comes at a time when Mozambican graphite production is showing a significant recovery. Government figures indicate that the country produced 28,018 tonnes in the first three months of 2026, equivalent to almost double the target initially set for the whole year, which stood at 14,814 tonnes.
According to the government, this performance was driven by the operational consistency of the mineral’s main producer and the commencement of operations by a new company in Niassa province, enabling the country to achieve 189% of the target set for the period.
This development marks a recovery following the volatility of recent years. Mozambique produced a record 165,900 tonnes of graphite in 2022, a figure that fell to 97,300 tonnes in 2023 and to 34,900 tonnes in 2024.
However, the country ended 2025 with an actual production of 67,078 tonnes, despite having recorded no production in the first quarter of that year due to the shutdown of the Balama mine in Cabo Delgado, which was affected by the protests that followed the general elections in October 2024.
The Balama mine is one of the world’s most important graphite operations supplying the electric vehicle battery market, including in the United States.
In January, the Mozambican president, Daniel Chapo, remarked at the opening of the new graphite processing plant in Niassa that this represented an opportunity for the country to establish itself as a supplier of high-purity graphite, rather than merely an exporter of raw materials.
The Chinese-owned plant represented an investment of around $200 million (€171.5 million) and has the capacity to produce and process up to 200,000 tonnes of graphite per year.
Located in the region of Nipepe, some 400 kilometres from Lichinga, the provincial capital, the plant currently employs 1,090 workers, with the number of jobs expected to exceed 2,000 once it reaches full capacity.
PVJ/AYLS // AYLS
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