Date: 14 February
2025
Blencowe Resources
Plc
("Blencowe" or the
"Company")
Blencowe Advances 7,000m
Drilling Programme at Orom-Cross
Expanded campaign targeting significant
JORC Resource & Reserve upgrade
Blencowe Resources Plc (LSE: BRES) is pleased
to provide an update on its 7,000 meter drilling programme,
currently underway at the Orom-Cross graphite project in
Uganda.
Drilling
Programme Highlights:
· Geotechnical Drilling Completed at Camp
Lode: Four holes drilled (70m per hole),
providing critical data for mine design and safety
parameters.
· Additional Drill Rig
Mobilised: A second rig have arrived, with a
third scheduled this week to accelerate the drilling
campaign.
· Site Inspection by DGSM and
EU: Ugandan Mines Inspectors and an EU
representative visited Orom-Cross, evaluating the project's
progress and potential funding support.
Blencowe has successfully completed all
geotechnical holes at the Camp Lode deposit, a key requirements for
finalising mining design parameters. Logging and sampling of three
holes is also complete with all four holes confirming
mineralisation over the majority of the length (70m per
hole).
The drilling programme is structured in three
phases:
1.
Geotechnical drilling (now completed).
2.
Infill drilling at the two existing deposits to increment Reserves
(Camp Lode deposit and Northern Syncline deposit).
3.
Step-out drilling to consider a newly identified potential higher
grade deposit to the south (to increase the overall Resource
size).
Blencowe aims to achieve a substantial increase
to both JORC Resources and Reserves, positioning Orom-Cross for
higher production levels as well as longer life of mine within the
DFS.
With several new potential offtake
opportunities opening, including the possibility of large volumes
of graphite concentrate to be sold into the EU's SAFELOOP
initiative, Blencowe is seeking to aggressively add to both
Resource and Reserves at Orom-Cross to scale production. It
is believed that this will make a substantial difference to the DFS
outcome.
Government
& EU Engagement
This past week, Orom-Cross hosted officials
from the at the Ugandan Directorate of Geological Survey and Mines
(DGSM), alongside a local government representative, who reviewed
site progress and the overall work area. The DGSM expressed
satisfaction with the project's advancement.
Additionally, a European Union Representative
conducting a fact-finding mission to assess Uganda's critical
mineral projects (including Orom-Cross) was hosted, which opens a
new channel in relation to potential EU funding support for
strategic raw materials.
Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman,
commented:
"We continue to make strong progress with this drilling
campaign, a critical final step in delivering an expanded DFS for
Orom-Cross. The infill drilling is expected to significantly
upgrade our Reserves, while the step-out drilling in the south
presents an exciting opportunity to materially expand our overall
Resource base. We are particularly eager to test a completely new
deposit in this region, which, if successful, could further
demonstrate the immense scale and potential of the graphite
mineralisation at Orom-Cross which has previously been estimated at
2-3 billion tonnes.
With increasing demand for graphite, particularly through
initiatives like SAFELOOP, expanding our production capacity
becomes a key focus. Graphite is recognised as a strategic and
critical mineral worldwide, and Orom-Cross is positioned to play a
significant role in global supply chains.
We
have also included some photos and drone footage from site below,
which we hope provides investors and stakeholders with valuable
insight into the scale of the programme and the progress being
made. With 7,000m of drilling planned, including 280m completed so
far, we look forward to providing regular updates as the programme
advances."
Figure 1: Core samples from
Camp Lode deposit (Feb 2025)
Figure 2: Site visit from DGSM to
better understand drilling program (Feb 2025)
Figure 3: Rig setup and drilling the
1st Geotechnical hole
Figure 4: Drill rig set up and
drilling the 1st geotechnical hole
Figure 5: Access road to the
Northern Syncline deposit
Figure 6: Exploration camp showing
temporary tent accommodation and the area cleared in preparation of
the permanent camp arrival in mid-February
For further information please
contact:
Twitter https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
Background
Orom-Cross Graphite
Project
Orom-Cross is a potential world class graphite
project both by size and end-product quality, with a high component
of more valuable larger coarse flakes within the
deposit.
A 21-year Mining Licence for the project was
issued by the Ugandan Government in 2019 following extensive
historical work on the deposit. Blencowe completed a
successful Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in July 2022 and is
now within the Definitive Feasibility Study phase as it drives
towards first production.
Orom-Cross presents as a large, shallow
open-pitable deposit, with an initial JORC Indicated & Inferred
Mineral Resource of 24.5Mt @ 6.0% TGC (Total Graphite Content).
This Resource has been defined from only ~2% of the total tenement
area which presents considerable upside potential ahead.
Development of the resource is expected to benefit from a low strip
ratio and free dig operations together with abundant inexpensive
hydro-electric power off the national grid, thereby ensuring low
operating costs. With all major infrastructure available at
or near to site the capital costs will also be relatively low in
comparison to most graphite peers.
In 3Q 2024 Blencowe introduced a Joint Venture
concept with experienced downstream graphite processing partners to
ultimately produce upgraded 99.95% SPG in Uganda. This
strategy has several key advantages plus substantial cost savings
which will assist deliver a world class project once DFS is
completed.