• iTech Minerals begins drilling the high-profile Balumbah graphite prospect
  • 3km-long anomaly eyed for resource growth features an intense electromagnetic signature
  • Company aiming to demonstrate scale for potential offtake partners

 

Special Report: iTech Minerals has started drilling an electromagnetically charged 3km-long prospect marked for additional tonnage to add to the considerable resource base at its Eyre Peninsula project in South Australia.

The Bulumbah prospect notably has an electromagnetic signature more than three times as strong as the Lacroma Central deposit which serves as the core of iTech Minerals (ASX:ITM)  current 35.2 Mt at 6% total graphitic carbon resource.

 

The company is planning for up to six holes and 1000m of drilling to test the target as it wraps up production of bulk concentrate for potential offtake partners.

Its last resource update yielded a threefold raise after just 12 months of drilling over Lacroma, a geologically and metallurgically simple deposit central to ITM’s plans for low-risk processing into material suited for lithium-ion battery markets.

A review over its 2000km2+ graphite territory has since found over 200km of conductive geological horizons likely to be formed by graphite mineralisation, with the high-intensity Balumbah target the first to be tested in 2025.

“We are excited to be back in the field and taking the next step in our long-term plan to develop the Eyre Peninsula Graphite Project with the latest round of drilling at the Balumbah Prospect,” ITM managing director Mike Schwarz said.

“Our strategy includes testing new targets to show potential offtake partners that iTech can, if necessary, scale up and add further graphite resources with good geology and good metallurgy to our already significant global resource at the project.”

 

Location of deposits and prospects over an airborne electromagnetic image. Pic: ITM

 

Great Australian graphite

While graphite prices remain volatile, iTech believes that’s just another reason to develop a low-risk project with potentially bargain-level operational and capital costs.

The company had the confidence to push forward to its next stage of development, seeing a widely predicted shortage over the next decade as its opportunity.

Demand is still largely driven by steel, but S&P Global Intelligence principal analyst, metals and mining Gavin Montgomery has said the baton for growth is soon ready to pass to a battery industry where graphite is the preferred anode material.

China currently controls around 98% of the market, with a growing desire to de-link from the flexing minerals superpower potentially benefitting companies like iTech.

Australia has never been much of a graphite player, but the Eyre Peninsula has been particularly noted for the largest resources and some of the nation’s only known commercially significant deposits.

ITech will now continue its investigation on which of those deposits lie within its tenure, after which the exploration team will head north to its Reynolds Range project to check out a standout copper-gold target in Australia’s Top End.

 

 

This article was developed in collaboration with iTech Minerals, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

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