REG - Blencowe Resources - Metallurgical test work results

Blencowe ResourcesAnnouncement

19/06/2023 07:00

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RNS Number : 0756D  Blencowe Resources PLC  19 June 2023

Date: 19 June 2023                          Blencowe
Resources

 

Further metallurgical test work confirms high quality of end products from
Orom-Cross

 

Highlights:

·    Blencowe successfully completes critical metallurgical test work on a
substantially increased scale of 150kgs by leading Chinese graphite
metallurgical test laboratory at Wuhan University.

·    Previous metallurgical test work by both SGS in Canada and IMO in
Australia based on smaller sample sizes.

·    Results continue to highlight a high grade, low impurity concentrate.

·    Refinements to the processing methodology delivers;

o  Increased percentage of higher value large and jumbo flakes within the 97%
concentrate (36% increases to 38%).

o  Increased recoveries (90% increases to 93%).

·    Blencowe now has considerably more volume of end product concentrate
to send to potential offtake and strategic parties ahead.

 

Blencowe Resources Plc ("Blencowe" or the "Company"), is pleased to announce
that additional metallurgical test work on its Orom-Cross graphite project in
Northern Uganda has been completed by the leading Chinese graphite technical
specialist laboratory, based at Wuhan University.  This is recognised as one
of the most experienced graphite facilities in the world and has been
conducting similar tests to improve graphite processing methodology for over
30 years.

This test work is also critical to understanding the quality of the
end-product that Orom-Cross can deliver as a high-grade graphite concentrate,
as well as what the process flow will look like to achieve this on a
commercial scale.  It also provides significantly greater quantum of end
product for end user testing, which is critical within the Definitive
Feasibility Study ("DFS").

Metallurgical Test Work Objectives

Blencowe appointed Wuhan University in partnership with Jilin New Technology
to undertake metallurgical test work on material gathered from its drilling
campaigns, which covered both the Northern Syncline and Camp Lode areas within
Orom-Cross.

The program was designed to deliver the following objectives:

1.    Confirm a 95-97% TGC (Total Graphite Content) pure concentrate is
achievable on the larger sample size with low impurities (in particular
thorium and vanadium) as previously indicated.

2.    Confirm +90% recovery is achievable for this concentrate.

3.    Confirm the liberation process in order to maintain a majority of
Jumbo/XL/Large flakes within the concentrate.

4.    Confirm the process flow diagram for the pilot plant design as part
of the DFS.

5.    Deliver bulk concentrate to allow Blencowe to initiate discussions
with potential off-take partners.

Metallurgical Test Work Results

Blencowe is pleased to announce that all 5 objectives have been met or
exceeded in this round of test work. Open cycle floatation test produced
recoveries between 92-94% (previously 90%) and concentrate grades consistently
range between 95-98% for all graphite mesh sizes.

The additional metallurgical test work was commissioned to test the required
pilot plant configuration and all metallurgical test-work undertaken to date
shows a robust flowsheet capable of repeatable metallurgy for a wide range of
feed samples from Orom-Cross.

The proposed flowsheet was employed in a continuous pilot operation to
determine the metallurgical response under typical operating conditions. The
final concentrate graded 96.0% C(t) at 93.2% total carbon recovery which
exceeded the company's expectations and places the end product recovered at
the higher end of the spectrum in comparison to its peers.

The pilot plant circuit optimisation undertaken to date has lifted the large
flake recovery by 3% and also lifted the fines concentrate grade by some 2%
TGC, whilst maintaining the grade in other flake sizes. This is important in
terms of further downstream processing these fines to deliver a 99.9% SPG
(spheronised, purified graphite) battery-ready product.  The resultant test
work was focused towards achieving the five key objectives as outlined above,
as well as being geared towards optimising the flake size fractions and the
finer mesh concentrate grade.

100t Bulk Update

These highly encouraging results will enable the Company to now proceed with
further improvements and optimisation to the plant ahead of processing the
previously announced 100t bulk sample, which has already been extracted and
exported from Uganda to China.  Blencowe will continue to refine the
commercial plant design throughout the DFS to optimise the pilot process and
the end product it will deliver.

 

Executive Chairman Cameron Pearce commented:

"We are delighted that to see that our graphite product continues to deliver
strong metallurgical results which is now endorsed by the leading graphite
processing team in China. These results indicate that our concentrate is a
highly marketable end product and will translate to more interested strategic
and offtake parties being able to buy our product.

We will now progress with the much larger 100t bulk sample for our DFS, which
will underpin our project value. I cannot emphasise enough that success within
graphite projects is largely based on metallurgy and we are consistently
getting results that end users of the product will find highly attractive when
it comes to mining Orom-Cross and selling the range of products from that
operation."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For further information please contact:

  Blencowe Resources Plc    www.blencoweresourcesplc.com

  Sam Quinn                 Tel: +44 (0)1624 681 250

                            info@blencoweresourcesplc.com (mailto:info@blencoweresourcesplc.com)

 Investor Relations         Tel: +44 (0) 7891 677 441

 Sasha Sethi                sasha@flowcomms.com (mailto:sasha@flowcomms.com)

 Tavira Financial           Tel: +44 (0)20 3192 1733

 Jonathan Evans             jonathan.evans@tavira.group

 First Equity Limited       Tel: +44(0)20 7330 1833

 Jason Robertson            jasonrobertson@firstequitylimited.com
                            (mailto:jasonrobertson@firstequitylimited.com)

 

Twitter https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes (https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes)

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
(https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/)

 

Background

Orom-Cross Graphite Project

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 Definitive Feasibility Study phase shortly 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 24.5Mt @ 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.

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