ASX-listed Castle Minerals (ASX:CDT) has started a resource upgrade drilling program at its flagship Kambale Graphite Project in Ghana.
The company reports the primary aim for this 35-hole reverse circulation (RC) program for 4,100m will be to infill a ‘considerable’ volume of mineralisation that did not qualify to be included in the project’s maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) of 15.6 million tonnes @ 9% total graphitic carbon (TGC) for 1.41 million tonnes of graphite.
This includes mineralisation intersected in a first-pass test of several horizontal-loop electromagnetic (HLEM) geophysical survey conductors. Additionally, the drilling program will look to extend several ‘well-delineated’ graphitic lenses along strike and at depth.
Castle expects the drilling results to be returned in August and notes an updated MRE will be prepared by independent consultant Palaris Australia. This MRE will underpin a Scoping Study that aims to evaluate the merits of a long-life mining operation producing fine-flake graphite concentrate and, potentially, ‘higher-value’ derivative intermediate material for use in battery anode material (BAM) on site.
Commenting on the drill program, Castle Minerals Managing Director Stephen Stone says: “Castle is excited to be a participant in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle and stationary battery industry of which graphite is a critical input as the world moves to achieve mandated clean energy targets.
“Castle is excited to be a participant in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle and stationary battery industry of which graphite is a critical input as the world moves to achieve mandated clean energy targets”
We are looking to rapidly position the Kambale Graphite Project as a credible option for the delivery of fine flake concentrate into a market for which a major supply deficit is widely predicted.
We are confident that the 35-hole, 4,100m RC drilling program that has just commenced, our third in the past 18 months, will materially increase the Mineral Resource Estimate of 15.6 million tonnes @ 9% TGC containing 1.41 million tonnes of graphite to underpin a planned Scoping Study.”
Castle Minerals is an ASX-listed mining company based in Perth with interests in several projects in Western Australia and Ghana that are considered prospective for battery metals, base metals, and gold.
Included in its portfolio of Western Australian assets are the Earaheedy, Success Dome, Beasley Creek, Wanganui, Polelle, Wilgee Springs, Great Southern Graphite, Woodcutter, and Woomba Well projects. Additionally, Castle holds the Kambale project in Ghana.
The Kambale Graphite project lies in the Wa region of Ghana. Castle also notes Ghana is Africa’s largest gold producer and the sixth-largest gold producer globally.
Images: Castle Minerals Limited
