Oar digs deep to lift Oakdale graphite resources

Oar is preparing an extensive 5,500m aircore drilling program that seeks to expand and upgrade existing resources at its Oakdale graphite project in South Australia.

With graphite considered to be a critical mineral as the world embraces net zero emissions, which requires greater adoption of lithium-ion batteries, the company is understandably keen to increase its current Indicated and Inferred resource of 13.47Mt grading 3.3% total graphitic content (TGC) at the project.

Mineralisation at Oakdale remains open along strike and at depth, and the company Oar Resources (ASX:OAR) intends to both expand current resources and upgrade portions to the higher confidence Indicated category.

Its Program for Environment Protection and Rehabilitation (PEPR) for drilling has been lodged with the South Australian Department for Energy and Mining.

Testing for battery-grade suitability

The company also intends to carry out a new metallurgical testwork program to assess if Oakdale graphite is amendable to producing a battery-grade spherical graphite for use in the production of lithium-ion batteries.

It plans to use core from previous diamond drilling, which removes the need for new diamond holes to acquire metallurgical samples.

“The company has undertaken a detailed review of its Oakdale graphite project with a view to assessing the project’s development options,” exploration manager Ross Cameron says.

“It is focused on a staged approach to expand on the previous work at the project, which includes metallurgical testwork to determine if the Oakdale graphitic material may produce a finer grade spherical graphite concentrate.

“This will be followed by an extensive drilling program to upgrade the existing Inferred JORC Resource.

“This staged approach will ensure the company is well positioned to capitalise on the prevailing strength in the graphite market which has changed substantially for the better since the initial Scoping Study was undertaken in 2015, due to the demand for ethically sourced battery-grade graphite and the rapid uptake of electric vehicles.”

This article was developed in collaboration with Oar Resources, 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.