Blencowe Resources (BRES ) said the Stage Two drilling program that commenced last month at Orom-Cross is now over halfway through and is expected to be completed this month. 

The resource firm designed this stage two in-fill drilling program primarily to upgrade a significant portion of the 16Mt inferred resource into an Indicated or Measured category, which can then be used for mine planning and design within the pre-feasibility study. 

Blencowe said extended drilling at the Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda is returning strong grade and geology continuity at both the Camp Lode and Northern Syncline zones. 

To date, Blencowe said 41 holes out of 74, for circa 1,200 metres of overall 2,000 metres diamond drilling, have been completed and the first batch of 554 samples has left site for 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, it noted. 

To date 29 holes of planned 36 are completed at Camp Lode. Blencowe highlighted that this bodes well for a JORC Resource upgrade once all the drilling and assaying is completed. 

Two further benefits will be to both add more tonnes into the overall JORC Resource and increase the overall grade by bringing in the Camp Lode deposit for the first time, it said. 

Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman of the Company said, “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.” 

Pearce said that together, both this test work and drilling 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,” he added. 

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Addressing shareholders, Blencowe said Orom-Cross is “shaping up to be an outstanding graphite project” and that it will continue to develop it in “all facets towards first production, “ 

The Group said this will occur while momentum gathers all the time for its end-product, “being one of the critical input materials into lithium-ion batteries used to power electric vehicles." 

Back in May 2021, the Company received positive results from metallurgical test work currently underway in regard to its Orom-Cross graphite project in Northern Uganda.  

That same month, Blencowe Resources initiated its second stage of its diamond drilling program at the Orom-Cross Graphite Project which involved drilling 2,200m, or 74 holes.   

Analysts said that both drilling news in the coming months from its stage two programme, along with the positive results could provide the catalysts for the market to reprice the shares.  

Both drilling and metallurgical test work are expected to deliver a high-grade end product and move the Orom-Cross project into the feasibility study stage over the next 6-12 months. 

Blencowe is a mineral resources company focused on fast-tracking its 100% owned Orom Cross Jumbo Graphite Project in Uganda to production. Orom Cross is an advanced exploration stage project which was awarded a 21-year mining licence in October 2019.    

The development company which is currently focused on bringing the Orom-Cross graphite project into production, completed its 69-hole (1,950m) diamond drill programme into the Eastern Limb Lode and the High-Grade Camp Lode in September 2020.   

The size and scale from exploration work that has already been completed in the licence area has clearly demonstrated that Orom Cross has the potential ‘to become one of the largest graphite projects in the world based on both size and the quality of the end product.’    

Blencowe is fast tracking the project through to defining a maiden JORC-compliant resource, completing further metallurgical test work with a plan to deliver a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) in Q1 2021 followed shortly after by a Pre- Feasibility Study (PFS).    

Align Research describes Graphite as ‘an important battery metal’ since it represents around 50% of Li-ion batteries by mass, which uses the smaller sized flakes. In recent years there have been some racy growth rates suggested for graphite demand for lithium ion batteries.    

Meanwhile, the group said demand for electric vehicles (EV) is rising on the back of green legislation being adopted by the UK, India, Germany, France, Norway and China, which is expected to lead to an increasing demand for Li-ion batteries and in turn for graphite.    

Another integral factor is that Uganda’s economy is believed to hold ‘great potential’ with this whole region of East Africa viewed as a key African growth platform by the World Bank, hosting significant natural resources including copper, cobalt, gold, nickel and platinum.    

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