Blencowe Resources PLC (LSE:BRES) has reiterated its belief that Orom-Cross in Uganda is one of the largest, highest quality, low-cost flake graphite projects in the world.
In a statement with its annual results, Cameron Pearce, executive chairman, noted that one industry veteran said Orom-Cross displays one of the best concentrates he has ever seen and thus should be well received by end users.
“As demand for lithium-ion batteries accelerates over the next decade and hundreds of gigafactories that will manufacture these batteries open their doors and begin demanding huge volumes of input materials, the forecast demand for flake graphite is anticipated to grow exponentially,” Pearce added.
Earlier this week, Blencowe also got rarely granted permission from the Ugandan authorities to export material from Orom-Cross for metallurgical testing, underlining its importance to the country said the company.
A pre-feasibility study in July attributed a net present value to Orom-Cross of US$482mln at estimated production per annum of 36,000tpa (96-97% end products) that increases to 147,000tpa in stages.
In the year to end-September 2022, Blencowe posted a loss of £1.1mln (£695,000) with cash equivalents of £347,000 though it has since raised a further £750,000.