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Blencowe Resources #BRES Completes Second Successful Drilling Program at Orom-Cross Project
The Company is pleased to provide a further update to the comprehensive JORC Resource diamond drilling program that has been completed on its Orom-Cross Graphite Project in Northern Uganda.
Highlights
· Another successful drilling campaign now completed.
· An additional 38 infill holes totalling 1,140m was completed in the Northern Syncline and a further 36 holes for 1,080m in the Camp Lode.
· 1,150 samples currently in transit to the JORC-accredited labs in Tanzania for sample preparation prior to assaying at SGS in Canada.
The company commenced a second phase of resource and in-fill drilling at its Orom-Cross project in May 2021 with the aim of upgrading resources at both the Camp Lode and Northern Syncline deposits. The company made steady progress on the program after easing of the Covid lockdown in country and successfully completed the planned JORC resource drill out of both the Northern Syncline Lode and the High-Grade Camp Lode with a combined total meterage of 2,220m drilled in both deposits. An additional 38 infill holes totalling 1,140m was completed in the Northern Syncline and a further 36 holes for 1,080m in the Camp Lode. Similarly to the first phase drilling program, these holes intersected significant bands of graphite over the length of the holes.
The drilling was planned to cover the top third of the deposit to approximately 25 meters, being the weathered free dig material, which will be the focus for the initial mining program. There is considerably more graphite below as fresh material which can be drilled at a later stage if required. Each of these deposits are also open along strike. Geological logging of the holes and core sample delineation is also completed with 1,150 samples currently in transit to the JORC-accredited labs in Tanzania for sample preparation prior to assaying at SGS in Canada.
Additional drillholes were completed for geotechnical samples to aid in mine design and these samples are currently in transit to the geotechnical consultants in South Africa for testing.
The drill sites are being rehabilitated and the drilling teams have departed from site on the weekend, with a local team remaining to maintain the site on care and maintenance.
Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman’s commented;
“Once again we are pleased to report continued successful work out at site, being the second extensive drilling campaign to delineate a substantial JORC standard resource in the Indicated and/or Measured categories. Our local partners have done a fantastic job in the face of Covid restrictions and completed this program on-time and to-budget. We now expect to have enough tonnes drilled out to complete the first ten years’ mine life at Orom-Cross and we can continue to add to this cost-effectively, as required, to help meet the expected significant increase in graphite demand.
We will now commence work on the Preliminary Economic Assessment, being an internally generated first full commercial end-to-end study of the entire graphite project. This will be completed in the next quarter and we will then move immediately into Pre-Feasibility Study stage. This will involve the creation of a Full Sales and Marketing Plan and the first steps towards finding potential offtake partners to sell our end product into. We are comfortable with all the progress we have made over the past 15 months since we acquired Orom-Cross and we will continue to add value in all ways possible.”
For further information please contact:
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First Equity Limited Jason Robertson
https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
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www.blencoweresourcesplc.com Tel: +44 (0)1624 681 250 info@blencoweresourcesplc.com
Tel: +44 (0)7891 677 441
Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 5000 jonathan.evans@brandonhillcapital.com
Tel: +44(0)20 7330 1883 jasonrobertson@firstequitylimited.com
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Background
Orom-Cross is a potential world class graphite project both by size and end-product quality, with a high component of larger flakes identified from previous work performed. A 21-year Mining Licence was issued by the Ugandan Government in 2019 following extensive historical work on the deposit and Blencowe is now moving into the studies phase as it drives towards first production.
Orom-Cross presents as a large, shallow open-pitable deposit, with a maiden JORC Indicated & Inferred Mineral Resource deposit of 16.3Mt @ 6.0% Total Graphite Content. Development of the resource is expected to benefit from a low strip ratio and free dig operations, thereby ensuring lower operating and capital costs.
Blencowe Resources #BRES – Orom-Cross Graphite Project – Drilling Progressing to Plan
Highlights
- Stage Two drilling programme over halfway completed and ahead of schedule
- Expected to define a +10Mt TGC Measured and Indicated Resource with increased tonnage and grades expected from the high-grade Northern Syncline and Camp Lode zones
Blencowe Resources Plc (“Blencowe Resources” or the “Company”) (LSE: BRES) is pleased to announce that the Stage Two drilling program that commenced in June is over halfway through, with full completion and demobilisation expected before end-July.
To date 41 holes out of 74, for circa 1,200m of overall 2,000m diamond drilling, have been completed and the first batch of 554 samples has left site for to Mwanza in northern Tanzania where the regional JORC-accredited laboratory is located.
Most of the current drilling program has taken place at the higher grade Camp Lode deposit, which required further drilling in order to bring it into the JORC Standard Resource. To date 29 holes of planned 36 are completed at Camp Lode and Blencowe Resources is happy to report that the continuity of both grade and geology is strong within the Camp Lode. This bodes well for a JORC Resource upgrade once all the drilling and assaying is completed.
Blencowe Resources has also undertaken further drilling at the nearby Northern Syncline deposit where 12 of the planned 38 holes are completed. Grade and continuity are also maintaining and a resource upgrade will be likely there too.
The Company designed this Stage Two in-fill drilling program primarily to upgrade a significant portion of the 16Mt Inferred Resource as announced previously into an Indicated or Measured category, which can then be used for mine planning and design within the Pre-Feasibility Study. Two further benefits will be firstly to add more tonnes into the overall JORC Resource and secondly to raise the overall grade of the JORC Resource by bringing in the Camp Lode deposit for the first time.
Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman commented;
“Blencowe is making excellent progress everywhere and the continued good work in the field by our technical partners within Uganda will allow us to upgrade our JORC Resource for Orom-Cross in Q4 2021. This drill program is being done in parallel with metallurgical test work to determine our optimal end product, the results of which are due shortly from SGS in Canada, and together they will provide the Company with the foundation upon which it can shortly commence its first commercial studies of the project.
Our team has delivered considerable value uplift on Orom-Cross in just fifteen months since we acquired the project and in the next few months we believe we will add considerably more value as the Stage Two drilling and metallurgical test work programs complete.
Orom-Cross is shaping up to be an outstanding graphite project and we will continue to develop it in all facets towards first production, while momentum gathers all the time for our end-product, being one of the critical input materials into lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles.”
For further information please contact:
| Blencowe Resources Plc
Sam Quinn
Investor Relations Sasha Sethi |
www.blencoweresourcesplc.com Tel: +44 (0)1624 681 250
Tel: +44 (0)7891 677 441
|
| Brandon Hill Capital Limited
Jonathan Evans |
Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 5000
jonathan.evans@brandonhillcapital.com
|
First Equity Limited Tel: +44(0)20 7330 1883
Jason Robertson jasonrobertson@firstequitylimited.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
Background
Orom-Cross is a potential world class graphite project both by size and end-product quality, with a high component of more valuable larger flakes within the deposit. A 21-year Mining Licence for the project was issued by the Ugandan Government in 2019 following extensive historical work on the deposit and Blencowe is moving into the studies phase shortly as it drives towards first production.
Orom-Cross presents as a large, shallow open pitable deposit, with an estimated overall resource between 2-3 billion tonnes of graphite. Development of the resource is expected to benefit from a low strip ratio and free dig operations thereby ensuring lower operating and capital costs
Blencowe Resources #BRES – Maiden JORC Mineral Resource delivered at Orom-Cross Project
Blencowe Resources Plc is pleased to announce its maiden JORC Mineral Resource Estimate at its 100% owned Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda:
Highlights
- JORC Indicated & Inferred Mineral Resource for Northern Syncline deposit of 16.3Mt @ 6.0% Total Graphite Content (4% TGC cut off), approximately double the targeted 8-10Mt.
- Includes higher grade zones of 3Mt @ 8.1% TGC (7% TGC cut off).
- Resources commence from surface to a depth of 30m, where drilling ended in mineralisation.
- Drill results from higher grade Camp Lode deposit to be added into a further Orom-Cross JORC Resource statement ahead, further boosting both tonnes and average grade.
Blencowe’s 2020 drilling program focused on a small part of the estimated 3 billion tonnes graphite deposit at Orom-Cross, with the objective of identifying a maiden JORC Mineral Resource of around 8-10Mt, being sufficient to provide the basis for an initial 25Kt per annum mining operation for the first ten years. The maiden JORC Mineral Resource, which covers only one of the two deposits drilled, being the Northern Syncline lode, has yielded almost double the targeted tonnage. These numbers will be further boosted by inclusion of the previously reported higher grade drilling results from the Camp Lode deposit to be reported in a further JORC Mineral Resource update in 2H 2021.These results, which come from the weathered, close to or at surface, zone of the deposit, highlight the quality of the Project’s mineralisation and the potential for Orom-Cross to become a low-cost graphite producer. These resources were identified in an area adjacent to the proposed plant site, thereby expected to further boost the project economics of any subsequent development.
Blencowe will conduct a further geotechnical drilling programme to commence shortly for inclusion within the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) later this year. At the same time Blencowe will add further holes on the Camp Lode deposit to enable this higher grade portion of the deposit to be included in the next upgraded JORC Mineral Resource, along with some additional drilling in the Northern Syncline to convert more of the existing Inferred resources into an Indicated category.
The Company is pleased to report good progress is being made by globally respected consultants SGS Lakefield with respect to its metallurgical studies and expects to be in a position to release the results from this test work towards the end of the current quarter. These metallurgical studies are a key input into the upcoming Feasibility Study and also to progress a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) for the project, for which work is set to begin imminently and which will be delivered prior to the Pre-Feasibility Study.
The objective of the metallurgical test work is to fully understand the quality of the end-product that Orom-Cross can deliver, as well as the process flow to achieve that. Blencowe believes Orom-Cross has the potential to deliver a high grade graphite concentrate which would prove desirable to potential offtakers and the broader market.
Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman commented:
“Following our acquisition of the project less than one year ago I am delighted to announce our maiden JORC Mineral Resource at Orom-Cross and at a time when the global market for graphite is set to grow exponentially.
This resource has provided almost double the tonnes we set out to deliver from just one of the two deposits we explored, being the Northern Syncline. When coupled with the higher grade Camp Lode drill results and their expected inclusion in a further resource update, it will enable Blencowe to either high grade any mining activities or to increase our production targets.
Additional drilling at Orom-Cross is set to begin shortly as is work towards delivery of a Preliminary Economic Assessment as a pre-cursor to the Pre-Feasibility Study. We also look forward to the results of the met-test work from the SGS Lakeside (Canada) labs during this quarter.
As we move through exploration into the studies phase Orom-Cross remains on course to become a significant developer of flake graphite, which is one of the key input materials into the highly sought-after lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. With an active programme of work and news flow ahead we look forward to continued progress in 2021″
Mineralization Zones
The Orom Graphite Project is located in the Kitgum District in north-eastern Uganda. The exploration activity identified and named at least five (5) major graphite mineralised zones within the project property underpinned by Mining Licence (ML) 1959, namely:
1. Northern Syncline
2. Camp Lode
3. Central Anticline
4. Synformal Saddle
5. Southern Anomaly
The Phase 5 Resource Delineation Programme aimed at investigating the near surface, free dig graphite mineralised material within a portion of the Northern Syncline and Camp Lode mineralised zones. Therefore, each mineralised zone was divided into four sub-zones based on the subsurface level of oxidation and weathering. Field observations and preliminary analyses suggest a mean global weathering depth of ~15m with a range of ~9m to ~25m in some instances.
The Graphitic Carbon (GC) grade population within the investigated mineralised zones indicates that the in situ graphite grade for the deposit ranges from 0.01% to 24.1% GC with a mean grade of 5.6% GC and a mode of 6.2% GC. The JORC compliant resource estimate for these two graphite mineralised areas has been completed and is based on the drill hole spacing, grade variability and geological confidence. The result of the modelling and estimation process is the initial Mineral Resource below.
Resource Estimates
Geostatistical analysis of the data allowed for the Northern Syncline to be estimated and reported according to the into JORC (2012) code. A Resource block model was therefore constructed for the Northern Syncline. The block size for the model was dependant on the data spacing and a final block size of 10m x 20m x 3m was selected with a rotated grid to match the orientation of the graphite mineralisation zones.
An Ordinary Kriged estimation was performed and resulted in both Inferred and Indicated Resources being reported for the Northern Syncline. The Resources for the Northern Syncline have been tabulated at various cut-off grades starting at 3% GC. A 4% GC cut-off was determined to be appropriate based on preliminary economic analysis. The Resources are presented as follows:
The Resources declared can be summarised as follows:
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Mineral Resources – Block Models |
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Area |
Material |
Resource Category |
Cut-off Grade |
Tonnage (t) |
Mt |
SG |
%GC |
%TC |
|
Northern Syncline |
Weathered |
Inferred |
4% GC |
3 517 350 |
3.5 |
2.18 |
5.86 |
6.09 |
|
Indicated |
4% GC |
1 941 840 |
1.9 |
2.18 |
5.60 |
5.82 |
||
|
Measured |
Not reported |
|||||||
|
Subtotal |
4% GC |
5 459 190 |
5.4 |
2.18 |
5.77 |
5.99 |
||
|
In situ |
Inferred |
4% GC |
8 979 330 |
8.9 |
2.70 |
5.83 |
6.06 |
|
|
Indicated |
4% GC |
1 911 300 |
1.9 |
2.69 |
5.52 |
5.80 |
||
|
Measured |
Not reported |
|||||||
|
Subtotal |
4% GC |
10 690 650 |
10.7 |
2.70 |
5.78 |
6.01 |
||
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TOTALS
|
All |
Inferred |
4% GC |
12 496 700 |
12.5 |
2.56 |
5.84 |
6.07 |
|
All |
Indicated |
4% GC |
3 353 140 |
4.3 |
2.43 |
5.56 |
5.81 |
|
|
|
TOTAL |
Inf.+ Ind. |
4% GC |
16 349 840 |
16.3 |
2.53 |
5.77 |
6.01 |
* GC – Graphitic carbon, TC – Total carbon
** Tonnes have been rounded off
In conclusion it can be seen that significant mineralisation was identified and delineated by the exploration programme. Although not all the mineralisation identified had sufficient geological confidence to be classified as a Mineral Resource (JORC, 2012), approximately 75% of the mineralisation was classified as such after applying a cut-off grade of 4% GC.
Competent Person’s Statement
The information in this release, which is related to Mineral Resource estimation, was compiled under the supervision of Mr JP van den Berg who is an employee of Minrom Consulting (Pty) Ltd, Member of the Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA) and a Certified Professional Natural Scientist (Pr.Sci.Nat) with the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP).
Mr Van den Berg has sufficient experience relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity that he has undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined by the JORC (2020) Code. Mr Van den Berg consents to the inclusion in this report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
For further information please contact:
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Blencowe Resources Plc Sam Quinn
|
Tel: +44(0) 1624 681 250 info@blencoweresourcesplc.com
|
|
Investor Enquiries Sasha Sethi
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Tel: +44 (0) 7891 677 441 sasha@flowcomms.com
|
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Brandon Hill Capital Limited Jonathan Evans
|
Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 5000 jonathan.evans@brandonhillcapital.com |
|
First Equity Limited Jason Robertson |
Tel: +44 (0)20 7330 1883 jasonrobertson@firstequitylimited.com |
Background
Orom-Cross is a potential world class graphite project both by size and end-product quality, with a high component of larger flakes identified from previous work performed. A 21-year Mining Licence was issued by the Ugandan Government in 2019 following extensive historical work on the deposit.
Orom-Cross presents as a large, shallow open pitable deposit, with an estimated resource in excess of 3 billion tonnes of graphite. Development of the resource is expected to benefit from a low strip ratio and free dig operations, thereby ensuring lower operating and capital costs.