Buxton Resources has unveiled a game-changing find at its Graphite Bull play in Western Australia’s Gascoyne region, with new results revealing 84.6m of visible graphitic mineralisation.
The hit from the company’s latest diamond drillhole includes an ultra-wide 50.35m intersection of high-grade material – within a 52.20m zone starting at 481m downhole – and once assays are confirmed for the latest results, the extent of mineralisation at depth could be doubled.
Tentatively assigned to the "Main Zone" for resource modelling purposes, the company’s eye-opening intersection is 240m down-dip from the 2014 resource of 4 million tonnes at 16.2 per cent graphite, which was also defined in a higher 240m section.
The prospective deeper target – the subject of the current drilling program – was initially picked up from an electromagnetic (EM) survey conducted on the deposit earlier in the year. The surveys have proven exceptionally effective in pinpointing the Main Zone, achieving a remarkable 100 per cent success rate with all six holes drilled since they were initiated early last year.
The latest visual results appear to reinforce the reliability of graphite resource predictions at the project as no false conductors have been drilled to date. The company believes it not only highlights the huge potential of the project, but also greatly enhances its confidence in being able to redefine a much bigger resource.
The quality of the mineralisation also appears highly promising, with 22.56m of the Main Zone visually estimated to contain grades exceeding 10 per cent total graphitic carbon (TGC). It correlates well with previous significant intersections from an earlier hole that returned 20m at 18.3 per cent TGC from 170m downhole.
Buxton Resources chief executive officer Martin Moloney said: “We’ve successfully located the mineralisation precisely where we expected, 240m below the existing resource. This discovery confirms the Main Zone at Graphite Bull is extensive, structurally simple and highly predictable – all favourable characteristics for positive economic outcomes.”
Following the completion of the most recent diamond hole to a depth of 641m, Buxton has begun drilling its next hole 600m along strike to the east and will test down-dip extensions of mineralisation intersected last year. The mineralisation remains open along strike.
Sampling of the Main Zone core has been fast-tracked, with laboratory results expected within six weeks. At the same time, the company is launching detailed structural mapping and gearing up for a comprehensive reverse-circulation (RC) drilling program.
Graphite Bull, which lies 200km east of Carnarvon in the Gascoyne, has been in the hands of Buxton for more than a decade. But with stellar visual results now coming through, its goal of becoming a tier-one supplier of graphite anode concentrate material into the burgeoning lithium-ion battery market has just got a whole lot closer to fruition.
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By James Pearson
