iTech announced that drilling at the Sugarloaf Graphite Prospect in South Australia has doubled the length of graphite mineralisation from 2km to over 4km. The drilling program has succeeded in testing the extent of graphite mineralisation and obtaining further samples for metallurgical research. The combined program will be one of the larger single programs undertaken to explore for graphite on the Eyre Peninsula in recent years.

The reverse circulation (RC) drill program consisted of 17 drill holes designed to test the southern extent of a 4.5km electromagnetic anomaly at the Sugarloaf Graphite Prospect. The northern 2km area had been drill tested by Archer Materials Ltd. between 2008 and 2012. The current round of drilling by iTech, has confirmed the full 4.5km extent of the Electromagnetic (EM) anomaly is caused by graphite mineralisation.

The visual estimates of mineralisation indicate that the drilling intersected multiple intervals of graphite mineralisation over the additional 2.3km of strike in the southern half of the prospect. An Exploration Target at Sugarloaf of 158-264 Mt @ 7-12 % TGC was determined from drilling and a conductivity anomaly measuring 4.5km by 1.3km and was reported to the ASX on 19 September 2022. This drilling program has been successful in collecting representative samples of the full extent of graphite mineralisation from the 4.5km long EM conductor at Sugarloaf.

While samples from Sugarloaf have undergone preliminary metallurgical test work, the work is preliminary in nature and is not aimed at producing a battery grade spherical product. The was to determine if the graphite at Sugarloaf had the right properties to be able to produce battery anode material. This work was successful, and it has been confirmed that Sugarloaf consists of a fine crystalline flake graphite.

Now that sufficient representative samples have been obtained from drilling, further metallurgical research is being planned to determine what kind of processing will be required to produce a fine flake concentrate with suitable grade and recoveries. If that can be achieved, the research will progress to the spheronisation and purification stages. The drill rig will now move to Lacroma, where graphite has been previously drilled and is assumed to be the source of a 12km long conductivity anomaly.

Most of the drilling will focus on the northern 6km of the Lacroma drill target with a 10,000m drill program planned targeting areas where metallurgy has confirmed graphite mineralisation can produce a high-quality concentrate. "iTech announced that drilling at the Sugarloaf Graphite Prospect in South Australia has doubled the length of graphite mineralisation from ~2km to over 4km. The drilling program has succeeded in testing the extent of graphite mineralisation and obtaining further samples for metallurgical research.

The combined program will be one of the larger single programs undertaken to explore for graphite on the Eyre Peninsula in recent years. The reverse circulation (RC) drill program consisted of 17 drill holes designed to test the southern extent of a 4.5km electromagnetic anomaly at the Sugarloaf Graphite Prospect. The northern 2km area had been drill tested by Archer Materials Ltd. between 2008 and 2012.

The current round of drilling by iTech, has confirmed the full 4.5km extent of the Electromagnetic (EM) anomaly is caused by graphite mineralisation. The visual estimates of mineralisation indicate that the drilling intersected multiple intervals of graphite mineralisation over the additional 2.3km of strike in the southern half of the prospect. An Exploration Target at Sugarloaf of 158-264 Mt @ 7-12 % TGC was determined from drilling and a conductivity anomaly measuring 4.5km by 1.3km and was reported to the ASX on 19 September 2022.

This drilling program has been successful in collecting representative samples of the full extent of graphite mineralisation from the 4.5km long EM conductor at Sugarloaf. While samples from Sugarloaf have undergone preliminary metallurgical test work, the work is preliminary in nature and is not aimed at producing a battery grade spherical product. The was to determine if the graphite at Sugarloaf had the right properties to be able to produce battery anode material (ASX release on 16 December 2022, Sugarloaf Graphite Metallurgy update).

This work was successful, and it has been confirmed that Sugarloaf consists of a fine crystalline flake graphite. Now that sufficient representative samples have been obtained from drilling, further metallurgical research is being planned to determine what kind of processing will be required to produce a fine flake concentrate with suitable grade and recoveries. If that can be achieved, the research will progress to the spheronisation and purification stages.

The drill rig will now move to Lacroma, where graphite has been previously drilled and is assumed to be the source of a 12km long conductivity anomaly. Most of the drilling will focus on the northern 6km of the Lacroma drill target with a 10,000m drill program planned targeting areas where metallurgy has confirmed graphite mineralisation can produce a high-quality concentrate.