Blencowe Resources PLC (LSE:BRES) said it has completed the mining and packaging of both a one-hundred-tonne bulk sample and a 150 kilogramme sample from its flagship Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda.
In January 2023, the company received approval from the Ugandan Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development to export materials to Chinese testing facilities to enable final bulk metallurgical test work to be undertaken.
Blencowe has mandated industry specialist Jilin to complete this test work in its existing plant facility, negating the requirement for the company to build its own bulk testing facility on-site in the near term, saving both considerable time and cost.
This final stage of metallurgical test work is a key component of the company's ongoing definitive feasibility study.
Blencowe has already proved that it can achieve a high-grade, low-impurity concentrate from a composite mix of its two deposits at Orom-Cross.
The company expects to achieve the same results with this significantly larger sample size, thereby enabling the pre-qualification of end products and subsequent entry into binding offtake contracts.
Works to excavate and transport the bulk samples were undertaken under supervision of the company's geologists and the Ugandan Department of Geology, Survey and Mines. Works were carried out by local Uganda firm ADT/LogVoy.
The 100-tonne bulk sample and 400 litres of groundwater are being sea-freighted from Mombasa, and the 150 kilogrammes are being fast-track air-freighted to the same Jilin facility.
Once this bulk sample test is completed, over the next few months Blencowe will utilise these same facilities to lift the 97% concentrate to a 99.95% product, which can then be tested by potential customers to ensure it meets requirements.
When this testing is successfully completed binding offtake contracts may then be secured. In parallel Blencowe will also be doing the same 99.95% testing in the USA to obtain a separate qualification with another technical industry expert, thereby ensuring the widest range of offtake partners are available to the company.
"Our process to secure end-product qualification, which then opens the door to binding offtake contracts, is underway,” said Blencowe’s executive chairman Cameron Pearce in a statement.
“This is a methodical process designed to deliver an end-product that meets the most stringent battery grade testing by the OEMs. We are very confident in the product to be produced from Orom-Cross, especially given the lack of impurities within the concentrate in all testing thus far. If we can continue to demonstrate this quality in the months ahead we will be in excellent shape to complete this pre-qualification process," he added.