Metals Australia (ASX:MLS) is further advancing its Lac Carheil Graphite Project in Québec, Canada, towards the Prefeasibility Study (PFS) stage after testwork in the northwest zone returned coarse flake graphite 27% higher than in the southeast.
Metallurgical testwork confirmed higher quantities of higher value coarse flake graphite in the northwest zone of the mineral resource, with average mass recoveries of 32.4% in the +100# product fraction, compared to 25.5% in the southeast portion of the resource.
The $17.45 million market capitalised company says this represents a 27% increase in the proportion of coarse flake graphite in this zone of the resource, where coarse flake attracts premium pricing.
Metals Australia also reveals an enhanced processing capability has been achieved in design updates to the flake graphite concentrator flowsheet to maximise recovery of coarse flake and optimise production efficiency — at an initial production rate of 100,000 tonnes per year of concentrate.
CEO Paul Ferguson says the work the company committed to complete as part of the planned PFS is rapidly advancing.
“Comprehensive metallurgical testwork for the PFS level flowsheet design of the planned 100,000 tonnes per annum concentrate plant is well progressed — as are the plant designs for the concentrate plant,” Ferguson says.
“We are very close to dispatching the bulk concentrate sample to Germany that will launch the downstream design phase of the project, on schedule.”
Metals Australia is advanced with proposals, including contract-ready proposals to deliver a PFS. The work scopes are planned to begin once a drilling permit has been granted.
Metals Australia says the work scopes include a resource estimation, which will be based on the anticipated results of the planned drilling program. A revised resource estimate will then be used to develop the detailed mining plans for optimum extraction sequencing of a larger open cut mining plan.
The mine planning work includes designs, mining equipment and parameters, production schedules, waste disposal plans, and required infrastructure.
Once completed, the third work scope will include all of the biophysical surveys required to complete an environmental and social impact assessment. This work will take two years to complete, given the season specifics for the surveys and the requirement to undertake successive season surveys in some cases to verify results.
Ferguson notes the design work to date has given rise to a prioritised list of follow-up projects that the company plans to further refine and progress as it moves from PFS level studies and into the Feasibility Study design.
“We have held discussions related to grant funding avenues in Canada, including in Québec and in the US, with funding applications made and more to follow,” he says.
“The work we are proposing is innovative and the solutions to be generated match well with the criteria set by governments for grant funding.”
While the company has been focused on the engineering and scientific elements of design, it is also focusing on engaging broadly with stakeholders and communities to understand their concerns and identify solutions.
Further, Metals Australia has increased Lac Carheil’s landholding by 62% to 11,905 hectares through pegging additional claims covering potential southeast extensions of the existing resource and for placement of key infrastructure.
The Lac Carheil Project lies in a major graphite province in eastern Québec, Canada. It hosts a mineral resource of 13.3 million tonnes at 11.5% graphitic carbon, which includes an indicated resource of 9.6 million tonnes at 13.1% graphitic carbon and an inferred resource of 3.7 million tonnes at 7.3% graphitic carbon.
Metals Australia is a critical minerals-focused explorer which holds several advanced exploration and pre-development projects in highly endowed and well-established mining jurisdictions in Canada and Australia.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Metals Australia
