Mining exploration hopeful Sarytogan Graphite (ASX:SGA) has scored a huge victory as it looks to start work at its eponymous project in Kazakhstan, with the local government granting the company a 25-year mining licence.

The approval, which was issued just after Christmas, was one of the last big hurdles the Sarytogan graphite project needed to clear before things got underway.

There were some expectations that the mining licence – which comes hot on the heels of a green light from the country’s Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources – was going to land on the company’s desk in January.

Instead, Kazakhstan’s gov’t has given Sarytogan a slightly late Christmas surprise; and included a 20-year extension option on top of the quarter-century bill.

Things can now get underway once 10 working days have passed post-licence approval.

Sarytogan has near free reign with its project now, with open pit mining of graphitic ore, ore stockpiling, and the establishment of secure repositories for mine, landfall waste-rock, and any wet tailings all included.

The miner will, of course, have to kowtow to a small suite of environmental monitoring and management system reports semi-regularly to keep the licence.

At Sarytogan’s headquarters, it’s all celebrations, with managing director Sean Gregory declaring it a “critical” moment for the mining company.

“This is another important milestone in the development of the Sarytogan graphite project… it’s the culmination of several years of environmental studies and engagement with the local communities,” Mr Gregory said.

“[This approval] takes this activity off the critical path for the future mine development.”

Sarytogan now turns its attention to feasibility studies, which are progressing with a 20-tonne sample being milled at a Kazakh lab in January.

One tonne of that tested sample will then be airfreighted to Australia for flotation in the coming quarter before it is sent across to the U.S. for purification. That final leg of the sample’s journey should wrap up by June.

On the back of this licence news, Sarytogan traded up 4.55% at 6.9cps.

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