Western Australia – Gascoyne
Graphite Bull
The Graphite Bull Project is located 280km East of Carnarvon, Western Australia, and covers an area of 22km2 (Figure 1). Buxton have undertaken a range of exploration and resource development programs at Graphite Bull including geological mapping, EM surveys, flora, fauna & heritage assessments, several rounds of drilling, petrology, two resource estimates and metallurgy test work.
Elements that define Graphite Bull as a quality development-stage Project include;
- Tier 1 jurisdiction
- High grade, thick mineralisation
- Shallow, ideal for open pit mining
- Excellent continuity
- Flotation produces >95% TGC concentrate
In 2013, the Company completed a 15 hole RC drilling program for 1,674m. This work confirmed that very high-grade graphite occurs within multiple zones over a minimum 500m strike length. Assays results included;
YBRC001 32m @ 23.4% TGC inc. 7m @ 32.6% TGC
YBRC002 14m @ 22.3% TGC inc. 6m @ 26.8% TGC
YBRC011 14m @ 21.5% TGC inc. 5m @ 33.0% TGC
YBRC012 31m @ 22.9% TGC inc. 5m @ 30.2% TGC
YBRC015 31m @ 22.5% TGC inc. 6m @ 33.0% TGC
These are among the highest grade and thickness graphite drill intercepts reported in Australia.
In February 2014, Buxton announced a maiden, very high-grade JORC 2012 compliant Inferred graphite resource estimate of 2.27Mt @ 20.1% TGC using a 10% TGC cut-off.
In July 2014, Buxton completed a combined RC and Diamond drilling program of 17 holes for 2476m Graphite Bull. An updated JORC compliant Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate was calculated at 4.0Mt @ 16.2% TGC, using a 4% TGC cut-off.
In 2023, Buxton completed ground EM surveys followed by a 5-hole RC drilling program for 991m.
This work confirmed that high grade graphite mineralisation extends for at least 2kms along strike and a new zone of mineralisation was discovered at shallow depths in the hangingwall to the existing resource (Figure 2). Significant intersections from this program included;
GB001RC 33m @ 18% TGC
GB003RC 18m @ 16.2% TGC
GB004RC 32m @ 17.7% TGC inc. 5m @ 24.7% TGC
GB005RC 5m @ 24.5% TGC
Buxton will be progressing resource infill and expansion, along with metallurgical studies in the short term.
Continuing metallurgical studies have focused on delivering a simplified, low-cost flowsheet for producing concentrate suitable for Battery Anode Material production. Buxton has seen exceptional results from this work, including;
- Flotation producing >95% TGC concentrate at recoveries up to 93.7%
- Concentrate grades >98% TGC achieved from flotation alone
These results confirm Graphite Bull as one of Australia’s highest quality graphite projects. Metallurgical work is now progressing to Battery Anode Amenability testwork by experienced laboratories in Germany. This work is aimed at defining Graphite Bull as Australia’s preeminent graphite supplier.
Figure 1. Regional location of Graphite Bull tenement, E 09/1985.
Figure 2. Plan view of E09/1985 showing recent drill hole locations in reference to the existing JORC inferred resource. Mineralisation in holes GB001RC – GB005RC allow interpretation of continuous mineralisation along strike and GB001RC indicates a new graphitic zone.
The 2023 RC drill program intersected a new shallow zone of graphite mineralisation located south of the known JORC resource. The cross section (Figure 3) shows that this zone was not modeled due to the configuration of recent ground EM surveying.
Alongside a newly discovered graphitic zone, holes GB004RC and GB005RC, the two largest step out holes from the defined resource, both returned exceptional intercepts of high grade graphitic mineralisation. This provides categorical evidence that graphite mineralisation occurs across at least 2.0km of strike which remains open, including at depth.
This newly identified zone will be further explored in the 2023 field season as Buxton looks to expand the scale of Graphite Bull.
Figure 3 left: Cross section of drill hole GB001RC (looking west) showing the newly discovered shallow graphitic zone which was not detected by recent moving loop ground EM (blue plates).
Petrographic work has confirmed that a significant portion of the graphite exists as medium to coarse flakes within high-grade microbands. Observations show that graphite flakes generally range from 100 to 500 microns long and in some cases reach over 1mm in length.
Figure 4 right: Microphotograph of Graphite Bull mineralisation.
