South Australia Graphite Operations

COMMODITY CAPERS: The Eyre Peninsula region of South Australia plays host to six graphite projects, all at various stages of development.

Operating Mines

Uley Graphite Mine – Valence Industries (ASX: VXL)

Located 23 kilometres from Port Lincoln, the Uley mine was re-opened in November 2014 after ceasing production in 1993 and is currently the only operating graphite mine in the country.

Valence Industries re-commenced graphite mining in 2014 when it brought the project’s existing 14,000 tonnes per annum manufacturing and processing plant off care and maintenance.

In January this year the company released a Bankable Feasibility Study for the Phase II expansion of its currently operating Phase I graphite mining, processing and advanced manufacturing capacity.

The expansion is anticipated to provide additional processing capacity in 25,000 tonnes per annum increments to reach a total of 64,000 tonnes per annum.

 

Developing Graphite Projects

Eyre Peninsula – Archer Exploration (ASX: AXE)

The Eyre Peninsula graphite project of Archer Exploration comprises a number of deposits spread across several tenements covering the Campoona Shaft, Central Campoona, and Waddikee deposits, collectively representing the largest JORC 2012-compliant graphite resources in Australia.

Waddikee hosts the 6.38 million tonnes at 8.8 per cent graphitic carbon Wilco South flake graphite deposit and seven additional drilled graphite prospects (Wilco, Cut-Snake, Ridgestone, Francis, Lacroma, Balumbah, and Argent).

Wilco, Wilco South, Francis, Cut-Snake, and Argent all host large and extra-large flake.-style graphite.

Further exploration is expected to increase graphite resources indicated by prominent multi-kilometre airborne EM signatures that require drill-out.

 

Kookaburra Gully – Lincoln Minerals (ASX: LML)

The Kookaburra Gully project is located on the southern Eyre Peninsula approximately 35 kilometres north of Port Lincoln, and contains one of the highest grade graphite deposits in the world at 15.1 per cent graphitic carbon.

Metallurgical studies have demonstrated a high-grade 93 per cent to 98 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC) graphite concentrate can be extracted with 80 per cent to 90 per cent recovery from a four-stage flotation process.

Scoping studies proposed processing of 200,000 to 400,000 tonnes per annum of graphite ore.

The proposed mining lease will cover around 300 hectares with infrastructure including a processing plant with an annual rate of between 25,000 to 55,000 tonnes of graphite concentrate.

Combined exploration targets across Kookaburra Gully and the company’s Koppio prospect stand at 33 to 94 million tonnes.

 

Graphite Prospects

Gum Flat – Lincoln Minerals (ASX: LML)

Lincoln’s Gum Flat Exploration Licence (EL) 4643 is located approximately two kilometres along strike from Valence’s Uley graphite project and is considered to be prospective for graphite and iron ore resources.

Lincoln has announced an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 109 million tonnes at 24.8 per cent iron.

Re-sampling of drill cuttings has returned graphitic intervals in the Gum Flat area, including 13 metres at 12 per cent TGC from 57 metres depth.

 

Koppio – Lincoln Minerals (ASX: LML)

The historic Koppio graphite mine was intermittently mined from the early 1900s to 19444. The mine contains high-grade lenses of coarse flake graphite. Up to 100 tonnes of graphite was mined from Koppio during the 1940s.

In 2014 Lincoln announced graphite assays of up to 42.8 per cent TGC from its exploration drilling, which has extended graphite mineralisation from a strike length of 50m to over 525m at a depth of around 100m.

 

Oakdale – Oakdale Resources (ASX: OAR)

The Oakdale graphite prospect is within the company’s Brimpton Lake tenement (EL 4537), some 120km northwest of Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.

In February this year, Oakdale received approval to commence drilling. The company has an initial program of 10,000m of aircore drilling planned as well as four diamond holes to collect in-situ metallurgical samples for further testing.