Blencowe Resources PLC (LSE:BRES) told investors that a bulk sample of graphite from its Orom-Cross project in Uganda has been sent for testing in China, with another milestone for US grant funding said to be close to completion.
Work on the project’s definitive feasibility study (DFS), which as well as China is also taking place in the US and Australia, is also including environmental and infrastructure work in Uganda, it added, where it hailed the access to roads, communications and hydro-electric energy from the national grid.
It was also noted that the Ugandan government has been very supportive of the latest bulk sample programme, with backing of the project at all levels.
The recent 600-tonne sample of graphite delivered to China was mined at Orom-Cross late last year to provide more product for commercial scale testing by graphite experts Jilin, which completed testing on a 100-tonne sample previously.
Testing will be undertaken in the current quarter of 2024 and the resultant concentrate will then be further processed to 99.95% purified product for testing by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) thereafter, Blencowe said, which it expects to lead to off-take agreements.
“To date all testing has been extremely positive and as a result there is plenty of interest in all Orom-Cross products from various tier one battery off-takers,” the company said, noting that the project has a mix of both coarse and smaller flake, both of which are commodities in demand.
Test work in Chicago, USA will also be finalised this quarter on creating expandable graphite from the Orom-Cross coarse flake, working with a leading graphite technical expert.
On the grant funding from the US Government Development Finance Corporation, Blencowe said it will make a further announcement once funds are cleared.
Executive chairman Cameron Pearce said: “All in all we envisage an exciting year ahead as we complete the DFS and move the project towards a decision to mine."
Shares in the company rose over 3% to 4.97p in early trades on Tuesday.