Jan 14 2015
Canada Carbon is pleased to provide a report of advances in the development of the Company's business opportunities, as well as an exploration update with respect to recent work done on its flagship 100% owned Miller Hydrothermal Lump Vein Graphite Project.
Off-take Qualification Process:
Canada Carbon has begun the qualification process for obtaining off-take agreements with specialty graphite processors. The qualification process required prior to signing an off-take or supply agreement is a multi-step process, requiring not only multiple samples, but also increasing sample sizes. In one instance, a senior scientist representing a well-known high-tech graphite processor collected graphite grab samples during a site visit to the Miller Project, last year. This was followed up by a request for an 8 kg representative sample of the same material submitted to SGS Canada (Lakefield) for the pilot plant scale flotation optimization program, as well as a 2 kg "run of mill" sample of the flotation concentrate produced from that flotation optimization program. This graphite processor has now requested a container shipment, holding not less than 20 metric tonnes of the Miller HLV graphite, to conduct a full-scale process qualification for both graphite and graphene products, all at their cost. A revenue sharing agreement is in place for the products developed from this large sample.
Canada Carbon is participating in a number of off-take qualification processes with other high-tech graphite processors, each currently at a different stage of progression. Canada Carbon's presentation at the Graphite and Graphene Conference in Berlin in early December 2014 was a great success. A number of potential off-takers in attendance at the conference were made aware of the unique technical characteristics of our Miller HLV graphite and have since begun the off-take qualification process. Numerous graphite samples have been shipped for further assessment, both domestically and internationally.
Executive Chairman and CEO Mr. R. Bruce Duncan stated, "Canada Carbon has received numerous requests for samples of its highly distinctive natural graphite. These inquiries initially started when we demonstrated that several properties of this natural crystalline graphite matched and even exceeded those of synthetic graphite. While we fully recognize that our graphite is not synthetic and cannot be used in all the applications in which synthetic graphite is currently employed, we believe some of the qualification testing being conducted will assist in determining the applications for which our graphite can be substituted for synthetic graphite." Mr. Duncan further stated, "It is gratifying that Canada Carbon's stellar graphite results, such as achieving nuclear purity by flotation concentration alone, have attracted the attention of leaders in the graphite industry from around the globe, without requiring costly promotional activities. With our existing bulk sample permit, easy surface access to material, and stockpiles of pilot plant flotation concentrate, we can easily meet requests to supply our Miller HLV graphite for further assessment, whether by the kilogram, or by the truckload."
Cooperative Academic Research and Development Activities:
Canada Carbon has initiated cooperative academic research and development programs, partnering with two leading academic institutions in Quebec. Planned mineralogical work includes thin section petrology to be done at the University of Quebec at Montreal. Isotopic aging of various rocks and minerals on the property, modeling of the spatial dispersion of wollastonite, and isotopic analysis of oxygen is also planned at McGill University, to develop a model of the hydrothermal fluid flows responsible for the graphitic mineralization. Canada Carbon is seeking to better understand the processes leading to the deposition of the Miller graphite mineralization, and will use the mineralogical information to better select targets during small and large scale exploration work.
West Block Exploration Activities:
A ground geophysical survey, employing the man-portable PhiSpy Time-Domain Electromagnetic ("TDEM") geophysical system, was conducted in the vicinity of the West Block Versatile Time-Domain ElectroMagnetic ("VTEM") airborne survey anomaly W3 (see news release dated November 14th, 2013), located approximately 10 kilometers west of the Miller Mine. The PhiSpy results included 21 smaller conductive anomalies, and 3 much larger ones. The large anomalies are, respectively: 120 m by 70 m, 90 m by 49 m, and 43 m by 26 m. Each of these anomalies is larger than the surface footprint of the historic Miller Mine pit; (38 m by 22 m, for comparative purposes).
Preliminary prospecting using Beepmat technology led to the discovery of graphite blocks in the overburden in the vicinity of the PhiSpy anomalies, including disseminated graphite in marble, and vein graphite, similar to that seen on the East Block. Graphitic marble has also been observed in bedrock exposures. All of the West Block anomalies are at the contact between a marble unit and a paragneiss unit, which is consistent with the East Block graphitic mineralization discovered to date.
The Company has modeled the graphite mineralizing event as having occurred on a district scale. A significant exploration program is in the planning phase for these targets, which may provide evidence to support this hypothesis.
Source: http://www.canadacarbon.com/