Aug 25 2016
Focus Graphite Inc. ("Focus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results of a trenching program conducted in 2014 at its wholly owned Lac Tétépisca Nord graphite project ("the Project") located southwest of the Manicouagan reservoir in the Côte-Nord administrative region of north-eastern Québec. Although the trenching and channel sampling work was carried out in 2014, the samples were only prepared and assayed in the spring of 2016, as the completion of the Lac Knife mineral project feasibility study was the Company's main priority at that time.
Highlights
- A single 86.8 m long trench was excavated at the Project in September 2014. Trench No. TN-TR-01 was positioned perpendicular to the trend of a 2.4 km long by 80 m wide magnetic (MAG) - electromagnetic (EM) anomaly identified by ground geophysical surveys conducted in August 2014;
- Best channel section: Trench No. TN-TR-01 intersected 67.2 m1 grading 6.75% graphitic carbon (Cg2) (from 19.6 to 86.8 m), including:
- 24.5 m grading 11.72% Cg (from 19.6 to 44.1 m)
- The initial channel sampling results indicate the potential for a second new significant graphitic corridor in the southwest Manicouagan reservoir area, in addition to the Company's "Manicouagan-Ouest Graphitic Corridor" at its nearby Lac Tétépisca project (refer to Focus news release dated August 17, 2016 available at www.focusgraphite.com and at www.sedar.com)
A maiden core drilling campaign was designed to test the subsurface graphite mineralization in areas with the strongest MAG-EM response down to a vertical depth of approximately 100 m. The drilling campaign started on the Project on August 8th, a total of 6 HQ-size drill holes were drilled and the campaign ended on August 15th, for a total of 786 m. This drilling will also provide mineralized samples for initial metallurgical testing.
"We are highly encouraged by the initial channel sampling results at Lac Tétépisca Nord, our second significant graphite discovery in the southwest Manicouagan reservoir area in addition to the "Manicouagan-Ouest Graphitic Corridor" at our Lac Tétépisca project. This represents Focus's third potential source of natural flake graphite for future customer needs." said Focus Graphite President and CEO Gary Economo.
"We believe the first round of drilling currently underway at Lac Tétépisca Nord will confirm the subsurface extensions of the graphitic zone at depth and along strike of the 2.4 km long ground MAG-EM anomaly and support a much larger opportunity than what is visible from the mineralized surface channel samples."
1 Reported channel sample sections are not true thickness but expressed as channel sample lengths. However, the trench crosscut the mineralized zone strike at a high angle.
2 All carbon analyses were performed by ALS Minerals ("ALS") in North Vancouver, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified facility, using LECO high frequency combustion method with infrared measurement (code C-IR18) and are reported as graphitic carbon (Cg).
The Lac Tétépisca North property is comprised of 51 contiguous map-designated claims ("CDCs") covering a surface area of 2,747 ha located to the southwest the Manicouagan reservoir, 8 km to the North of the Company's Lac Tétépisca project and 234 km north-northwest of the industrial city of Baie-Comeau. A map showing the location of both properties is available at www.focusgraphite.com under Lac Tétépisca project.
2014 Trenching Program
The 2014 channel sampling program at the Project was designed by Focus. Focus and IOS Services Géoscientifiques ("IOS") of Saguenay, Québec, supervised the exploration work. A total of 49 channel samples from trench TN-TR-01 were collected in the field using a rock saw. The samples were then shipped to IOS' laboratory facilities in Saguenay where they were safely stored until they could be processed and assayed. In the spring of 2016, the 49 channel samples were retrieved from secured storage, described and prepared by IOS and then sent to ALS Geochemistry in Val-d'Or, Québec, an ISO 17025 accredited facility, in preparation for assaying. IOS introduced four standards, two duplicates and four blank samples into the batch of channel samples as part of the QA/QC program. From Val-d'Or, the samples were expedited to ALS Geochemistry's North Vancouver BC facility where they were assayed for graphitic carbon (C-IR18) and total sulphur analysis (S-IR08) using LECO induction, and for multi-element (48-element) geochemical analysis using ICP methods (ME-MS61).
About the Lac Tétépisca Nord Graphite Project
Focus Graphite's 100%-owned Lac Tétépisca Nord project was map-staked by the Company during the fall of 2012 following the publication by the Québec government of the results of a new airborne geophysical survey of the southwest Manicouagan Reservoir area that identified meta-sedimentary formations with potential to host iron-rich and graphitic horizons similar to those encountered at the Company's Lac Tétépisca and Lac Guinécourt projects. Subsequent prospecting and geological reconnaissance work conducted by Focus' exploration team at Lac Tétépisca Nord in 2013 identified a series of disseminated to semi-massive natural flake graphite occurrences in outcrop within the limits of the interpreted meta-sedimentary formations.
In May 2014, the Company awarded a contract to Abitibi Géophysique of Val-d'Or, Québec to conduct a ground combined magnetic (MAG) - time domain electromagnetic (TDEM) geophysical survey with 100 m line spacing over the previously defined graphitic horizon using an IMAGEM™ MAG-TDEM system. The survey, that was completed in August 2014, identified a total of 288 EM anomalies and several magnetic zones with potential to host graphitic mineralization. The ground geophysical survey results were used to design a trenching and channel sampling program to test the main geophysical target, a 2.4 km long by 80 m wide MAG-TDEM anomaly. A single 86.8 m long trench was excavated perpendicular to the axis of the main geophysical anomaly in September 2014. A total of 49 channel samples were collected and stored in preparation for future assaying in 2016.