British firm Blencowe Resources Plc says results from its latest drilling programme at the Orom-Cross graphite project in Kitgum district showed twice more resources than the firm was targeting, further raising the profile of the project.
Blencowe was undertaking its maiden JORC mineral resource study, an internationally acclaimed way of reporting exploration results, which, the firm later said, showed that the Orom-Cross is a low cost graphite project.
“Blencowe’s 2020 drilling program focused on a small part of the estimated 3 billion tonnes of graphite deposit at Orom-Cross, with the objective of identifying a maiden JORC Mineral Resource of around 8-10Mt, being sufficient to provide the basis for an initial 25,000 tonnes per annum mining operation for the first ten years,” the company said in an April 13 statement.
It added: “The maiden JORC Mineral Resource, which covers only one of the two deposits drilled, being the Northern Syncline lode, has yielded almost double the targeted tonnage.”
The British firm says it will soon embark on another round of drilling as it tries to figure out the economic assessment of the project, the results of which will be included in a Pre-Feasibility Study slated for later this year.
Cameron Pearce, the executive chairman of Blencowe, said: “As we move through exploration into the studies phase Orom-Cross remains on course to become a significant developer of flake graphite, which is one of the key input materials into the highly sought-after lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. With an active programme of work and news flow ahead we look forward to continued progress in 2021″
Blencowe says that the Orom-Cross has the potential to deliver a high grade graphite concentrate which would prove desirable to potential offtakers and the broader market.
The company is in the second year of its 21-year mining license for the Orom-Cross project.
