Blencowe Resources PLC (BRES) has completed four geotechnical drill holes at the Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda.
The holes are key to finalising mining design parameters, and form part of a wider, 7,000 metre campaign.
Logging and sampling of three holes is also complete with all four holes confirming mineralisation over the majority of the length (70m per hole).
A second drill rig has now arrived on site, with a third scheduled to arrive this week.
The drilling programme is structured in three phases:
Infill drilling at the two existing deposits will now get underway, to be followed by step-out drilling.
Blencowe aims to achieve a substantial increase to both JORC resources and reserves, positioning Orom-Cross for higher production levels as well as longer life of mine within its definitive feasibility study.
In addition, this past week, Orom-Cross hosted officials from the at the Ugandan Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines (DGSM), as well as a local government representative, who reviewed site progress and the overall work area. The DGSM expressed satisfaction with the project's advancement.
"We continue to make strong progress with this drilling campaign, a critical final step in delivering an expanded DFS for Orom-Cross,” said Blencowe executive chairman Cameron Pearce.
“The infill drilling is expected to significantly upgrade our reserves, while the step-out drilling in the south presents an exciting opportunity to materially expand our overall resource base. We are particularly eager to test a completely new deposit in this region, which, if successful, could further demonstrate the immense scale and potential of the graphite mineralisation at Orom-Cross which has previously been estimated at 2-3 billion tonnes.”
View from Vox
With increasing demand for graphite, particularly through initiatives like SAFELOOP, expanding production capacity has become a key focus for Blencowe. Big is beautiful, in this case. Graphite is recognised as a strategic and critical mineral worldwide, and Orom-Cross is positioned to play a significant role in global supply chains.