Mineral exploration company iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM) has doubled the strike length of the Sugarloaf prospect through drilling at the Campoona Graphite Project in South Australia.
The company reports a 17-hole reverse circulation (RC) drill program was designed to test the southern extent of a 4.5km electromagnetic (EM) anomaly at Sugarloaf. The northern 2km area had been drill tested by Archer Materials (ASX:AXE) between 2008 and 2012. The current round of drilling by iTech has confirmed the full 4.5km extent of the EM anomaly is caused by graphite mineralisation.
Visual estimates of the mineralisation indicates the drilling intersected multiple intervals of graphite mineralisation over the additional 2.3km of strike in the southern half of the prospect.
“iTech is pleased to announce that drilling at the Sugarloaf graphite prospect in South Australia has doubled the length of graphite mineralisation from about 2km to 4km”
Commenting on the results, iTech Minerals Managing Director Mike Schwartz says: “iTech is pleased to announce that drilling at the Sugarloaf graphite prospect in South Australia has doubled the length of graphite mineralisation from about 2km to 4km.
The drilling program has succeeded in testing the extent of graphite mineralisation and obtaining further samples for metallurgical research. The combined program will be one of the largest single programs undertaken to explore for graphite on the Eyre Peninsula in recent years.”
iTech reports an exploration target of 158-264 million tonnes @ 7-12% total graphitic carbon (TGC) was determined from drilling and a conductive anomaly measuring 4.5km by 1.3km in September 2022. The company says this drilling program has collected representative samples of the full extent of mineralisation from the 4.5km long EM conductor at the prospect.
While samples have undergone preliminary metallurgical testwork, iTech notes this work is preliminary in nature and is not aimed at producing a battery grade spherical product but aimed to determine if the graphite had the right properties to be able to produce a battery anode material.
This work confirmed Sugarloaf consists of 5 crystalline flake graphite. Now that sufficient representative samples have been collected, iTech reports further metallurgical research is being planned to determine what kind of processing will be required to produce a fine flake concentrate with suitable grades and recoveries. If this can be achieved, research will progress to spheronisation and purification stages.
The company also reports the drill rig will now move to Lacroma where graphite has previously been drilled as is assumed to be the source of a 12km long conductive anomaly. Most of this drilling will focus on the northern 6km of the Lacroma drill target with a 10,000m program planned targeting areas where metallurgy has confirmed graphite mineralisation can produce a ‘high-quality’ concentrate.
This combined program is expected to take up to 10 weeks to complete, with assay results released progressively as drilling progresses.
iTech Minerals is a mineral exploration company focused on battery materials and critical minerals within its Australian Projects. These include the Campoona Graphite Project, the Eyre Peninsula Kaolin-Rare Earth Element Project, and the Nackara Arc Project in South Australia.
Images: iTech Minerals Ltd & iStock
