Black Rock Mining Ltd (ASX:BKT) has revealed robust results from metallurgical testwork on graphite material from its Mahenge project in Tanzania.
The metallurgical testing returned high proportions of coarse and jumbo flake, producing 98.27% total graphitic content (TGC), and these results came from a straightforward three-stage flotation process.
Black Rock added that there was scope for “further material improvement”.
More news flow is expected within the next week from Black Rock when a JORC resource for Mahenge is released, which will include the drill results from the Epanko north, Ulanzi and Cascades prospects.
Material for the current round of testwork came from the Epanko north primary mineralisation where Black Rock said there was a 54.2% distribution of coarse and very coarse (jumbo) flake in concentrate.
“These are highly encouraging results from a straightforward three-stage flotation process and validate the potential to produce premium quality flake graphite,” Black Rock said.
"More significantly, 86.2% of the flake concentrate, representing all graphite flake plus-75 microns in size, returned a weighted average grade of 97.88% TGC.
"Flake size distribution and purity is biased towards the coarser sizing fractions. There is considerable potential for additional testing to further improve coarse flake yields and grades."
The testwork program is designed to evaluate graphite mineralisation from Epanko north and Ulanzi prospects.
Both oxide and primary rock types are being tested to optimise the flowsheet design.
Analysis
The full results from the first stage of the metallurgical testwork program are expected to be announced in mid-March.
Additional test work has the scope to deliver improvements to both coarse flake size distribution and graphite concentrate grade.
Black Rock is targeting 41 to 52 million tonnes at 9.36% to 10.42% TGC at Ulanzi, a prospect at which there have been some robust assays.
In January, intercepts from a 31-hole program included 84 metres at 9.38% TGC, including 32 metres at 14.7% TGC; and 78 metres at 8.57% TGC, including 50 metres at 10.14% TGC.
Confidence in the company has been buoyed by Black Rock’s recent completion of a $5 million capital raising.
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