Nov 14 2012
Graphite Corp. (OTCQB: GRPH) ("Graphite Corp." or the "Company"), an exploration stage company focused on the evaluation, acquisition and development of domestic graphite mining opportunities, is pleased to announce the commencement of detailed field work on its graphite-bearing properties identified as the Carr and Cahaba leases comprising a total of 3,759.6 acres located in Clay County, Alabama.
The geological work will be led by Company President Brian Goss and recently appointed Director Jason Babcock who will spearhead ongoing activities focused on surface mapping and expanded sampling of various showings and old mines as part of the preparatory efforts leading to a drill program aimed at delivering a quantifiable resource evaluation.
The team anticipates arrival on-site mid-week with efforts continuing for several weeks. As part of the trip, it is anticipated that Company management will meet with representatives of Major Drilling Group International Inc. (www.majordrilling.com) in order to discuss future plans for the property.
Initial studies have determined that the drilling program could consist of sonic drilling equipment which employs a vibratory and rotary drilling system commonly used to core overburden (sands, gravels, cobbles, and earths) or friable rock formations to depths of up to 200 meters. This system offers the best environmentally appropriate approach offering continuous core sampling which will delineate the resource in order to rapidly develop and initiate commercialization plans.
As previously noted, initial sampling was limited to an area of old mine workings, which returned values ranging from a low of 2.2% up to 6.01% graphitic carbon in unconsolidated or semi-consolidated schist. The average of these samples was 3.54% graphitic carbon. In addition, it was noted that the bulk of the disseminated graphite flakes contained in this promising location would offer a very simple extraction and material processing scenario. The material comprised moderate to large (+50mesh) flakes.
Samples from the current field work will be sent to Inspectorate (www.inspectorate.com) for assay analysis and will greatly enhance our growing picture of the resource opportunity. Graphite is abundant in the region particularly as valuable flakes dispersed within the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont section centered on Clay and Coosa counties forming one of the largest graphite deposits in the United States. The US Bureau of Mines investigated the Alabama graphite deposits in 1940 as part of activities during the onset of WWII and modern recovery methods disclosed reserves of over 25 million tons of graphitic material in the area. Since WWII, extraction has been extremely limited with almost no new exploration or investment in either the area or industry sector.
Company President Brian Goss states, "Developing a program for extraction is a very specific process, and as anyone familiar with mining will understand, this fieldwork is the next obvious step. Our stakeholders are pleased by our actions both in the field and with the early results of our probing historic research which is ongoing and contains highly positive information from very creditable sources. This field work will take care of several checkmarks on our list of activities and moves us that much closer to the development of a tenable resource valuation, which is a key to our future funding and long term goals. We look forward to providing further updates as soon as they become available."