Press release from Companies
Publicerat: 2019-06-03 08:05:34
3 June 2019 Beowulf Mining plc (“Beowulf” or the “Company”) Drilling Extends Higher-Grade Western Zone at Aitolampi Beowulf (AIM: BEM; Spotlight: BEO), the Nordic focused mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that recent drilling at Aitolampi has extended the higher-grade Western Zone. Oy Fennoscandian Resources AB (“Fennoscandian”), the Company’s graphite business, is pursuing a strategy to develop a ‘resource footprint’ of natural flake graphite prospects that can provide ‘security of supply’ and help to enable Finland to achieve its ambition of self-sufficiency in battery manufacturing. Fennoscandian is also seeking to move downstream and develop its know-how in processing and manufacturing of value-added graphite products. Drilling Highlights: See website www.beowulfmining.com for plans, sections and JORC Code Table 1. Kurt Budge, CEO, commented: “The Fennoscandian team is having a busy year and will continue to do so. “We will use the latest drill results to upgrade the Aitolampi MRE and then we have plans to initiate a Scoping Study later in the year, which we postponed last year allowing for more baseline environmental data to be collected. “The exploration team will soon be back in the field, with a summer work programme, including bedrock mapping, outcrop sampling and ground geophysics, on four recently granted Claim Reservation areas. “Also, we have work programmes under the Green Minerals and BATCircle projects, using the funding we have received from Business Finland, as we seek to develop know-how in processing and manufacturing of value-added graphite products. “I look forward to updating markets as we continue to make progress.” 2019 Drilling In March and April 2019, five holes, totalling 838.2m, were diamond drilled. Four holes tested for higher-grade mineralisation to the south-east of drill hole AITDD18018, which was completed last year, and which intersected 92.5m at 6.19 per cent TGC. The fifth hole, AITDD19023, targeted a high-priority frequency-domain electromagnetic (“FDEM”) anomaly. A Geophysical Data Review, Processing, Imaging and Target Generation Report for Aitolampi was prepared by Resource Potentials PTY Ltd in March 2019. The report identified a total of 13 priority FDEM target areas untested by drilling. Some of the targets have a strike length of up to 500m. Drill Results: *Lengths in metres, and mineralised intercepts are the down-hole widths and are not the true widths. ** No cut-off grade applied. Background Information The Aitolampi and Pitkäjärvi graphite prospects were discovered in 2016 and are eastern extensions to the Haapamäki prospect. Aitolampi and Pitkäjärvi are areas of graphitic schists on a fold limb, coincidental with an extensive electro-magnetic (“EM”) anomaly. Many of the EM zones are obscured by glacial till, but graphite observations in road cuttings and outcrops are also associated with abundant EM anomalies. Haapamäki is in eastern Finland approximately 40 kilometres southwest of the well-established mining town of Outokumpu. 2018 Developments During the year, the Company made significant progress with Aitolampi. Metallurgical testwork has demonstrated the potential to produce battery grade graphite products and further to completing a second drilling campaign, the Company announced a maiden MRE. Drilling confirmed wide graphite lenses extending along strike, at least 350m along the Eastern zone (EM anomaly extends for 700m), and at depth. For the two parallel higher-grade zones previously identified (“Western Zone”), mineralisation has a strike length of at least 150m (the two parallel conductive zones extend for 300m and 250m), and these zones seem to merge to form one body of mineralisation. Metallurgical Testwork/Market Assessment Concentrates from the SGS testwork conducted in 2017 were sent to ProGraphite Gmbh (“ProGraphite”) based in Germany. ProGraphite specialises in the processing and evaluation of graphite materials. The results were as follows: MRE Highlights (2018) Other Developments In April 2018, Beowulf signed a Graphite Collaboration Agreement between Fennoscandian, and Åbo Akademi University ("Åbo"), located in Turku, Finland and joined a Cooperation Network of existing and new entrant raw materials suppliers to the emerging battery manufacturing industry in Finland. The Cooperation Network includes the cities of Vaasa and Kokkola; Freeport Cobalt, the world"s largest cobalt refinery and producer of battery chemicals; Nornickel, the producer of world-class nickel metals and nickel chemicals in Harjavalta; Terrafame Group, the parent company of Terrafame, producing nickel, zinc, cobalt and copper in Sotkamo; Keliber, which is preparing to start lithium production in Kaustinen and Kokkola; as well as Fennoscandian. Also, Fennoscandian was granted Euros 161,000 by Business Finland for a research project entitled "Green Minerals - Graphite, Exploration to Products". The project runs from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019 and has a total budget of Euros 323,750. The Company will contribute the balance of the funding. 2019 Developments In March 2019, the Company announced that Fennoscandian is to receive additional funding from Business Finland, 50 per cent contribution to a budget of Euros 224,900, for graphite purification and spheroidization testwork, and the further assessment of Fennoscandian"s graphite for battery applications. Business Finland has been granted Euro 10 million funding for a project titled “BATCircle - the development of a Finland-based Circular Ecosystem of Battery Metals”. 2019 Work Programme Fennoscandian’s exploration team continues to evaluate each prospect in the Company’s exploration portfolio, and this summer will be conducting field work, including bedrock mapping, outcrop sampling and ground geophysics at the Company’s recently granted Claim Reservation areas Polvela, Tammijärvi, Karhunmäki and Merivaara, which show potential for flake graphite mineralisation. Competent Person Review The information in this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Rasmus Blomqvist, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr. Rasmus Blomqvist has sufficient experience, that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit taken into consideration, and to the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code of Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr. Rasmus Blomqvist is a full-time employee of Oy Fennoscandian Resources AB, a 100% owned subsidiary of Beowulf. Mr Blomqvist consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the information presented in the form and context in which it appears. Enquiries: Cautionary Statement Statements and assumptions made in this document with respect to the Company’s current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs, and other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Beowulf. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such as "may", "might", "seeks", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates", "believes", "projects", "plans", strategy", "forecast" and similar expressions. These statements reflect management"s expectations and assumptions in light of currently available information. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political environments in the countries where Beowulf operates; (ii) changes relating to the geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken; (iii) Beowulf’s continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards iron ore. In the light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding any mineral project at an early stage of its development, the actual results could differ materially from those presented and forecast in this document. Beowulf assumes no unconditional obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or forecasts.
Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
*Width (m)
**TGC %
Location - Comments
DD19019
23.96
126.00
102.04
5.07
50m SE of AITDD18017 (drilled 2018), up-dip AITDD19021, profile 6935163N. Test strike length of Western Zone.
including
56.00
102.68
46.68
6.09
including
93.70
102.68
8.98
7.19
DD19020
81.05
175.74
94.69
5.76
Down-dip AITDD19022, 50m SE of AITDD19021, profile 6935142N. Test Western Zone interpreted brittle fault structure.
including
138.57
150.00
11.43
7.13
DD19021
89.91
186.74
96.83
5.01
50m SE of AITDD18018 (drilled 2018), down-dip AITDD19019, profile 6935163N. Test strike length of Western Zone.
including
124.00
146.65
22.65
6.00
DD19022
18.74
109.87
91.13
5.03
Up-dip AITDD19020, 50m SE of AITDD19019, profile 6935142N. Test strike length of Western Zone and interpreted brittle fault structure.
including
67.18
109.87
42.69
6.16
including
78.50
97.00
18.50
7.13
DD19023
139.40
206.6
67.20
4.20
Exploration drill hole on untested anomaly, 110m SE of AITDD19020, profile 6935004N.
including
151.16
173.00
21.84
5.05
Beowulf Mining plc
Kurt Budge, Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3771 6993
SP Angel
(Nominated Adviser & Broker)
Ewan Leggat / Soltan Tagiev
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3470 0470
Blytheweigh
Tim Blythe / Megan Ray
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7138 3204