Drilling has more than doubled the strike length of graphite mineralisation at iTech’s Sugarloaf graphite prospect in South Australia from 2km to over 4km.

An additional 2.3km of graphite mineralisation was defined across the southern end of the prospect with drilling returning visual graphite intersections up to 60m thick.

The extension also confirms the southern extent of iTech Mineral’s (ASX:ITM) Exploration Target of between 158Mt and 264Mt at 7% to 12% total graphitic carbon (TGC), which provides a hint into the potential scale of Sugarloaf.

Final assays from the 17 hole program totalling 1,594m are expected within three to four weeks while high quality samples of graphite mineralisation have been obtained for metallurgical research.

“iTech is pleased to announce that drilling at the Sugarloaf Graphite Prospect in South Australia has doubled the length of graphite mineralisation from ~2km to over 4km,” managing director Mike Schwarz said.

“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.”

Drilling extension

The drill program was designed to test the southern extent of a 4.5km electromagnetic anomaly at the Sugarloaf, the northern 2km of which had been drill tested by Archer Materials between 2008 and 2012.

Additionally, this drilling has successfully collected representative samples of the full extent of graphite mineralisation from the conductor.

While preliminary metallurgical test work on samples collected from Sugarloaf had previously confirmed that it has the right properties to produce battery anode material, the upcoming research will determine what kind of processing will be required to produce a fine flake concentrate with suitable grade and recoveries.

Success will allow research to progress to the spheronisation and purification stages.

 

Further activity

iTech will now move the drill rig to the Lacroma prospect, where graphite has been previously drilled and is assumed to be the source of a 12km long conductivity anomaly.

Most of the 10,000m drill program will focus on the northern 6km of the target with a focus on areas where metallurgy has confirmed graphite mineralisation can produce a high-quality concentrate.

The combined program is expected to take up to 10 weeks to complete with assay results released progressively as drilling progresses.

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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