Beowulf reports progress at Grafintec subsidiary

Beowulf Mining updated the market on progress at its wholly-owned Finnish subsidiary Grafintec on Friday, and the results of an electromagnetic survey and assays for the Rääpysjärvi flake graphite prospect.

The AIM-traded firm said 13 “highly conductive” electromagnetic zones had been identified, with isolated zones extending for up to 850 metres in strike length, and 250 metres width.

It said analysis of eight grab samples from outcrops in the area ranged from 0.52% to more-than-50% total graphitic carbon.

The sample assaying more than 50% total graphitic carbon was taken from a historic graphite quarry close to the north-western limit of one of the largest electromagnetic conductive zones.

Six holes drilled in the 1980s were also resampled and reassayed for total graphitic carbon, with two of the holes intersecting “significant” graphite mineralisation:

At hole SM-2, Beowulf reported 19.29 metres at 5.62% total graphitic carbon from 177.11 metres, and at hole SM-3 it recorded 9.84 metres at 6.7% total graphitic carbon from 226.16 metres, and 35.55 metres at 4.98% from 266.45 metres.

Previous metallurgical testwork on a 10 kilogram composite grab sample produced a concentrate grade of 97.4% total graphitic carbon.

The board said the “encouraging” exploration data set indicated “significant” potential for natural flake graphite mineralisation suitable for graphite anodes across Rääpysjärvi.

“We follow the announcement of our partnership with Hensen and firm plans for anode materials production, announced on 26 September, with positive exploration results, as Grafintec continues to explore and seeks to expand both its resource footprint and inventory of natural flake graphite in Finland,” said chief executive officer Kurt Budge.

“The work carried out by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) for the company follows a solid history of graphite exploration at Rääpysjärvi and is part of the memorandum of understanding signed between GTK and Grafintec earlier this year, establishing a framework and a platform to promote cooperation in the fields of graphite exploration, mineral processing, and circular economy as pertaining anode materials for the lithium-ion battery market and other value-added markets.

“The company is focussed on long-term sustainable graphite supply to its downstream projects, and with Rääpysjärvi and Aitolampi being located close to one another, as a concept, there could be possible synergies for future development of these two sites, such as shared processing infrastructure.”

In addition, Budge said the firm was continuing to develop options for securing supply of natural flake graphite in advance of mining in Finland, such as the memorandum of understanding with Technografit, and ongoing testwork on graphite-containing waste generated from recycling.

“Back to exploration, fieldwork is now continuing at Rääpysjärvi with detailed geological mapping and sampling in areas proximate to the newly identified electromagnetic conductive zones.

“With new information, we will start drawing-up plans for a possible trenching and drill programme.”

At 0802 BST, shares in Beowulf Mining were down 3.09% at 3.93p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.