As analysts predict severe impending shortfalls, Kingsland is greenlit for maiden drilling to claim a globally significant graphite resource.
Kingsland Minerals will drill into its 20-kilometre high-grade graphite discovery at its Leliyn Project in Australia’s Northern Territory.
Exploration will encounter graphitic schists up to 100 metres wide over 20 kilometres of strike and historic assays up to 17.4 per cent total graphitic content.
Kingsland sees a discovery that easily qualifies as a globally significant tier-one asset in a tier-one location, and it will now launch an initial program of 2000 metres of RC drilling and 1200 metres of HQ-size diamond drilling to claim its promise.
The exploration target has been set for up to 27Mt of contained graphite from just five of the 20 kilometres. Kingsland Minerals Managing Director Richard Maddocks said the company believes Leliyn has the potential to be a very large deposit indeed.
“The initial results of the EM program support our view of the potential, and the upcoming drilling program marks the start of our strategy to establish a JORC resource,” Mr Maddocks said.
“The outlook for graphite is very strong due to growing demand from the lithium battery industry.
“A large Australian deposit would be particularly valuable as the Western world looks to source graphite from outside China.”
A recently launched ground electromagnetic survey has also provided extremely positive results. A graphitic schist unit is easily defined and used to finalise the drill locations as the rigs mobilise to the site, expected to begin spinning in two to three weeks.
Commodity analysts have continued to bang the drum for a severe graphite shortfall.
While not in the name, it is the largest raw material in the lithium-ion battery industry and will become the biggest natural graphite consumer this year.
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