Salvatore Catalano

ASX-listed Quantum Graphite says the first two holes of an eight-hole diamond drilling campaign along the ‘Eastern Conductor’ near its Uley 2 resource on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia appear to have successfully intercepted multiple graphitic zones. Uley 2 already takes in a hefty 6.3 million tonne resource going 11.1 per cent total graphitic content.

Quantum Graphite has wrapped up a diamond drilling program at its Eastern Conductor prospect near its Uley 2 resource in South Australia that it says is visually showing grades of up to 20 per cent in several drill cores. The program extends mineralisation to the east of the proposed Uley 2 pit that houses a 6.3m tonne resource grading a very respectable 11.1 per cent total graphitic content.

ASX-listed Quantum Graphite has executed a binding offtake agreement with Swiss-based global metal and minerals trading group MRI Trading AG for 100 per cent of stage 1 production from its Uley 2 flake graphite mine. The five-year agreement will add flake graphite to MRI’s existing mineral coverage and provide Quantum with access to the trader’s customer base across Europe and Japan.

Quantum Graphite has achieved flake purity grades of 99.99 per cent graphitic carbon following thermal purification results from its final phase of testing on samples from its Uley 2 mine in South Australia. The flake was treated at 2850 degrees celsius in a testwork program conducted by Germany’s Institute of Nonferrous Metallurgy and Purest Materials (INEMET), ProTherm Systems and Sunlands Power.

Quantum Graphite has completed a detailed airborne electromagnetic survey over its Uley tenure on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The company is on a quest to boost its current Uley 2 resource of 6.3 million tonnes at 11.1 per cent total graphitic carbon for an inventory of 697,000 tonnes of the critical battery mineral.

Quantum Graphite and its joint venture partner Sunlands Energy are a step closer to securing a US$300 million funding solution to fuel their quest aimed at feeding high-purity graphite into the American economy. The partnership has confirmed it has received a letter of interest regarding the significant financing commitment from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM).

Quantum Graphite says its airborne geophysics have defined a new high-grade graphite zone about 2.5km long in the north-west area of its Uley 2 exploration licence on SA’s Eyre Peninsula. It comes after the company confirmed in April the completion of its helicopter-borne versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) and magnetics survey that was part of its planning for Uley 2 and Uley 3 project extensions.

Quantum Graphite and its JV partner Sunlands Energy have received a big federal government tick that will help develop the companies’ graphite hub on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula. The hub will support the biggest commodity-focussed graphite supply chain between Australia and the US, centred around Quantum’s flagship Uley 2 graphite project and using Sunlands’ associated manufacturing, logistics and inventory management facilities.