Castle Minerals, a graphite miner in Ghana, said it is upbeat about the trajectory of its operations, after hitting graphitic schists in areas untouched by the drill bit in its search for graphite.
With more than half of a 46-hole RC drilling program under its belt, this drill result shows potential for growth and as such, the company expects to wrap up the drilling later this month and send samples to Perth for assaying.
Castle hopes to expand the footprint of its Kambale deposit by testing several new high conductivity zones that extend north and south and well outside of the known inferred resources of 14.4Mt at 7.2 per cent graphitic carbon for 1.03Mt contained graphite. It aims to upgrade its inferred estimate to an exploration target range estimate.
Kambale is 6km west of the Upper West region capital of Wa, 400km north of a major rail hub and about 240km by rail to export markets from the international port of Tema. The graphite deposit was identified in the 1960s by Russian geologists prospecting for manganese.
Previous operator, Newmont also added to information on drill results, outlining a 10km-long target area possibly containing multiple lenses of graphite mineralisation. Low graphite prices caused the project to be stalled until they rebounded and Castle, which acquired the project early last decade, started exploration again last year.
Castle has sunk 26 holes for 2660m of the planned 46-hole, 4800m RC drilling campaign at Kambale and has seen early signs of a good correlation with high-priority electromagnetic conductivity zones.
More Drilling Programs Show Presence of Schists
The company has also noted graphitic schists in several holes in previously undrilled areas. It flagged a possible diamond core drilling program designed to recover sufficient graphitic schist material for test work and flow-sheet development.
The company has appointed Ghana-based Sahara Mining Services to provide independent quality assurance and control services and a JORC exploration target range estimate. Metallurgical consultants IMO doing test work and sample concentrate production.
Castle has also brought on board CSA Global to provide graphite-specific technical assistance. The company noted that the samples will be prepared in Ghana and flown to Perth assay labs, with first assay results expected in mid-August.
Castle Minerals’ Managing Director, Stephen Stone, said:
“This is the perfect time to be advancing Kambale as indications are that the graphite concentrates market will remain very strong for several years to come on the back of the burgeoning production of electric vehicles and the new breed of power storage devices. Castle’s expectation of being able to extend the footprint of the graphitic schist at Kambale is proving well-founded after seeing the early results.”
Stephen Stone
Graphite has a diverse range of markets including industrial, metallurgical, chemical and most recently battery metal applications, with each sector having varying, specific requirements.
The current medium to long term outlook for the broader graphite concentrates market is one of escalating demand and a looming supply deficit driven in particular by the fast-growing electric vehicle and power storage sectors.
The Ghanaian Government has the right to a 10 per cent free carried cut of the project and a 5 per cent gross production royalty. Castle Minerals noted that its Kambale licence is being renewed and the company is now awaiting formal receipt of the licence agreement from the minister’s office.
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