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Kitgum, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Blencowe Resources Plc. has announced the commencement of the Phase 7 exploration programme that involved drilling, at its Orom-Cross graphite project in Kitgum district.
Blencowe acquired the Orom-Cross Graphite Project mining license in 2019 for 21 years through the acquisition of a 100 percent owned Ugandan subsidiary (Consolidated Africa Resources).The project lies in Akurumor Parish, Orom East Sub-county, Kitgum district, covering an area of approximately 2093 hectares of land.Geologists estimate the graphite deposit is between two to three billion tons and can be extracted for more than 50 years.According to the company, the 6,750-meter campaign will be the final drilling programme to complete the Definitive Feasibility Studies-DFS and establish an updated Joint Ore Reserves Committee-JORC Resource to support the expanded mining operations at Orom-Cross.
Cameron Pearce, Blencowe’s Executive Chairman noted that the Phase 7 programme will involve drilling over the identified Camp Lode and Northern Syncline deposits where the Company has already established an existing JORC Resource.
Cameron further stated that the objective of this drilling is primarily to upgrade existing Indicated and Inferred resources to Measured, under the JORC guidelines.
He revealed that the Company will also target extensions to the Northern Syncline (Western Limb) as well as the exciting new prospective Southern GT-01 target.
In his statement, he further cited that the current average grade of 6% at Orom-Cross is already in the top quartile globally of graphite projects and historical work undertaken by the Company has highlighted the potential for even higher grades in these areas.
“We have now started the latest drilling programme at Orom-Cross after considerable preparation work undertaken during December. This extensive campaign will be one of the last key components to wrapping up the DFS,” Cameron says.
Adding that, “we aim to deliver considerably larger Resources and Reserves to support the higher production levels expected as well as a longer life of mine.”
The Company further noted that as a component of the programme, several holes will be drilled to provide the necessary geotechnical information for the confirmation of pit design parameters and slope stability parameters for the project.
According to Blencowe, the drilling and subsequent assessment will be undertaken by the local Ugandan drilling firm, ADT Drilling, while Minrom Consulting from South Africa will undertake the geological assessment alongside Middindi Consulting.
URN has also learned that both ADT and Minrom have been associated with the Orom-Cross project since 2012 and have a solid understanding of the project.
“We are on track to complete the DFS in H1 2025 and we expect to begin reporting drilling results during the current quarter,” Cameron reveals.
However, other works planned as part of this programme include trenching and mapping on additional areas outlined from aeromagnetic, designed to identify further areas for future resource expansion, noting the existing JORC Resource sitting on just ~2% (as drilled to date) of the broader Orom-Cross license.
In the third quarter of 2024, Blencowe introduced a Joint Venture concept with experienced downstream graphite processing partners to ultimately produce an upgraded 99.95% SPG in Uganda.
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.
