Blencowe Resources PLC (LSE:BRES) said it marked up a number of key milestones last year at its Orom-Cross graphite project as it published its annual report.
Blencowe acquired the Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda 18 months ago and is working towards first production before 2025.
Since acquiring the project, Blencowe has delivered two extensive programmes for roughly 5,000 metres of diamond drilling that were required for Orom-Cross to progress; firstly to deliver a maiden JORC Standard Resource of 16mln tonnes grading at a respectable 6.0% total graphite content (TGC), and more recently to upgrade this into a larger measured and/or indicated resource.
The revised JORC resource statement is due in early 2022 and will likely deliver enough graphite for the first 10-15 years life of mine, Blencowe told shareholders. It is also hoped the in situ grade will rise as a result of including the higher grade Camp Lode deposit into the JORC resource for the first time.
“Whilst this drilling has been both costly and time-consuming it was absolutely necessary as one cannot proceed to mine planning and pit designs without knowing where the graphite is positioned, geophysics (ground conditions) and, very importantly, the metallurgical qualities of the product,” said Mike Ralston, the chief executive officer of Blencowe.
Over the past year, Blencowe has sent quantities of graphite from Orom-Cross for analysis to establish the metallurgical properties of the graphite and the results exceeded management’s expectations, with 97% TGC and a concentrate with almost zero impurities and high recoveries.
The quality of the end product is crucial in the sales and marketing process, which will begin in early 2022 as prospective end users are identified and samples sent to each of them to qualify and vet our products, Ralston explained.
A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) was delivered before the end of September and highlighted strong economic returns from a profitable mining venture. The PEA provided the groundwork for a pre-feasibility study (PFS), which is underway and due for completion by the middle of this year.
The mine developer is in the pre-revenue stage so is currently making a loss. In the year to the end of September, the loss was cut back to £694,726 from a loss of £1.06mln the previous year.
At 30 September 2021, the group had a cash balance of £93,288 (2020: £205,856),