WATCH: In this Exploration Update iTech’s Managing Director Mike Schwarz takes a deep dive into the process of drill targeting at the Campoona Graphite Project (7min)
HIGHLIGHTS
• Resource drilling at Lacroma Central has highlighted the potential for a low-cost mining operation in clay hosted graphite mineralisation near surface.
• iTech Minerals plans to explore for more of this material by expanding the current drill program to nearby drill targets, which have similar characteristics.
• Targets have been generated from regional electromagnetic data, historical drill data and geological mapping.
• The Lacroma North target is twice the size of Lacroma Central and extends for over 5 km.
• The Balumbah target is approximately 3km long and has an electromagnetic signature over 3 times as strong as Lacroma Central.
• Balumbah North appears to be an extension of Balumbah and brings the combined target length to over 5 km.
• Lacroma North and Balumbah have confirmed graphite mineralisation in historical drilling. Balumbah North has not been drilled.
• Overall, these targets add another 10km of prospective strike to iTech’s upcoming drilling targets.
DRILL TARGETS
Resource drilling at Lacroma Central is expected to continue into next year. When completed iTech plans to move the drill rig to the next best targets to determine the optimal location to add additional resource tonnes to its graphite inventory.
Lacroma North
The Company has identified Lacroma North as the next best target for the following reasons.
• Lacroma North is just 3.5 km north of Lacroma Central, occurs along the same geological horizon and is most likely an extension of the Lacroma Central mineralisation.
• It is likely to have similar positive metallurgical characteristics to Lacroma Central with easy beneficiation using industry standard flotation techniques.
• Is likely to have similar geological characteristics to Lacroma Central, that potentially could support a low-cost mining operation such as:
o Graphite mineralisation outcrops at the prospect.
o Deep weathering, clay hosted mineralisation with likely negligible grinding costs.
o Deep (>60m) groundwater table which means low dewatering costs and easier mining characteristics.
o Low sulphide content which means more efficient flotation/concentration.
o Shallow mineralisation/low stripping ratio.
• The electromagnetic anomaly is the same intensity but more than twice the length of the Lacroma central anomaly which suggests more extensive mineralisation.
• Graphite has been logged in historical drilling in two separate horizons over a distance of >1.2km (Env 3583, SARIG, 2023).
Balumbah and Balumbah North
• Balumbah has a very high intensity electromagnetic signature, over 3 times that of Lacroma Central, suggesting potential for higher grades.
• It appears to be on a different geological horizon from Lacroma Central and its metallurgical characteristics are unknown.
• It has shallow graphite mineralisation intersected in several drill holes over a distance of 1.3km which are coincident with the AEM anomaly (Env 3583, SARIG, 2023).
• The prospect appears to be partially obscured by thin (<30m) palaeochannel sediments which could enhance the AEM signature due to overlying salty groundwater. The presence of graphite in drill holes confirms the main anomaly is caused by graphite mineralisation.
• Balumbah North appears to be an extension of Balumbah graphite mineralisation but has never been drill tested.
• Together they constitute a drill target over 5 km long.
iTech’s drilling program has had a strong focus on adding resources over the past 4 months and will continue to do so into next year.
The addition of these new drill targets will add over 10km of highly prospective strike length and ensure significant upside to the Company’s resource inventory.
RECENT NEWS FROM THE CAMPOONA GRAPHITE PROJECT
iTech Launches Share Purchase Plan (SPP)
iTech Expands Graphite Mineral Resource By Over 300%
