Drilling at Corella has doubled Lithium Energy’s graphite inventory at its QLD projects. Pic via Getty Images.
Lithium Energy sharpens the pencils for an expanded “pit to processing” model after doubling graphite inventory
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Confirmation of Corella’s high-grade graphite endowment means Lithium Energy is now considering expanded development options for its vertically integrated graphite mining and processing business model.
An impressive maiden drilling campaign at the Corella graphite project has delivered an inferred mineral resource of 13Mt @ 9.5% total graphite carbonate (TGC) for 1.3Mt of contained graphite at a 5% TGC cut-off grade.
This doubles the company’s graphite inventory across its QLD projects, with Corella adding to the Bourke deposit’s JORC indicated and inferred mineral resource of 9.1Mt @ 14.4% TGC for 1.3Mt of contained graphite for a total of 2.6Mt.
On top of that, Lithium Energy (ASX:LEL) says there’s an even higher grade inferred resource of 4.5Mt @ 12.7% TGC for 0.57Mt of contained graphite at a cut-off grade of 10% within Corella’s mineralisation envelope.
Significant added value
LEL chair William Johnson said the major increase to the graphite inventory contributed from Corella adds significant value to the overall Burke graphite project.
“In particular, the additional resource provides the company with the potential for expanded development options for our proposed vertically integrated battery anode material manufacturing facility based in QLD.
“These potential options will be considered as part of the engineering studies currently being undertaken at Burke.”
LEL believes that the natural graphite sourced from Corella can be upgraded by standard flotation techniques to produce suitable feedstock concentrate into the company’s proposed purified spherical graphite (PSG) processing facility in Townsville.
Testwork is currently being planned to test Corella’s graphite’s grade and recovery performance in the flotation process and the PSG processes – similar to previous testwork conducted at Burke.
The company expects the Corella to form part of the overall vertically integrated “pit to PSG” product plan underpinned by the high-grade Burke graphite material.
This article was developed in collaboration with Lithium Energy, 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.
