må, jun 03, 2019 08:05 CET

3 June 2019

Beowulf Mining plc

(“Beowulf” or the “Company”)

Drilling Extends Higher-Grade Western Zone at Aitolampi 

Beowulf (AIM: BEM; Spotlight: BEO), the Nordic focused mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that recent drilling at Aitolampi has extended the higher-grade Western Zone.

Oy Fennoscandian Resources AB (“Fennoscandian”), the Company’s graphite business, is pursuing a strategy to develop a ‘resource footprint’ of natural flake graphite prospects that can provide ‘security of supply’ and help to enable Finland to achieve its ambition of self-sufficiency in battery manufacturing. Fennoscandian is also seeking to move downstream and develop its know-how in processing and manufacturing of value-added graphite products.

Drilling Highlights:

•  Additional 100 metres (“m”) strike extension added to the higher-grade ( > 5 per cent Total Graphitic Carbon (“TGC”) Western Zone. The Western Zone remains open in all directions.
•  Drill hole AITDD19019 intersected 102.04m at 5.07 per cent TGC, which included 46.68m at 6.09 per cent TGC. Mineralised intercepts are the down-hole widths and are not the true widths.
•  Drill hole AITDD19020 intersected 94.69m at 5.76 per cent TGC, which included 11.43m at 7.13 per cent TGC.
•  Drill hole AITDD19021 intersected 96.83m at 5.01 per cent TGC, which included 22.65m at 6.0 per cent TGC.
•  Drill hole AITDD19022 intersected 91.13m at 5.03 per cent TGC, which included 42.69m at 6.16 per cent TGC.
•  The results from the 2019 drilling programme will be used to upgrade the maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) for Aitolampi, published in August 2018.
•  Drill core will also be sampled and used for ongoing baseline environmental studies, for graphite purification and spheroidization testwork, and the further assessment of Aitolampi graphite for battery applications as part of the Business Finland funded BATCircle Project. 
•  The Company is reviewing its plans for a Scoping Study for Aitolampi, which was postponed last year allowing more baseline environmental data to be collected.
•  Finnish contractor Northdrill Oy was contracted to do the drilling. 

See website www.beowulfmining.com for plans, sections and JORC Code Table 1.

Kurt Budge, CEO, commented:

“The Fennoscandian team is having a busy year and will continue to do so.

“We will use the latest drill results to upgrade the Aitolampi MRE and then we have plans to initiate a Scoping Study later in the year, which we postponed last year allowing for more baseline environmental data to be collected.

“The exploration team will soon be back in the field, with a summer work programme, including bedrock mapping, outcrop sampling and ground geophysics, on four recently granted Claim Reservation areas.

“Also, we have work programmes under the Green Minerals and BATCircle projects, using the funding we have received from Business Finland, as we seek to develop know-how in processing and manufacturing of value-added graphite products.

“I look forward to updating markets as we continue to make progress.”  

2019 Drilling

In March and April 2019, five holes, totalling 838.2m, were diamond drilled. Four holes tested for higher-grade mineralisation to the south-east of drill hole AITDD18018, which was completed last year, and which intersected 92.5m at 6.19 per cent TGC. 

The fifth hole, AITDD19023, targeted a high-priority frequency-domain electromagnetic (“FDEM”) anomaly.  A Geophysical Data Review, Processing, Imaging and Target Generation Report for Aitolampi was prepared by Resource Potentials PTY Ltd in March 2019. The report identified a total of 13 priority FDEM target areas untested by drilling. Some of the targets have a strike length of up to 500m.

Drill Results:

*Lengths in metres, and mineralised intercepts are the down-hole widths and are not the true widths.

** No cut-off grade applied.

Background Information

The Aitolampi and Pitkäjärvi graphite prospects were discovered in 2016 and are eastern extensions to the Haapamäki prospect. Aitolampi and Pitkäjärvi are areas of graphitic schists on a fold limb, coincidental with an extensive electro-magnetic (“EM”) anomaly. Many of the EM zones are obscured by glacial till, but graphite observations in road cuttings and outcrops are also associated with abundant EM anomalies. Haapamäki is in eastern Finland approximately 40 kilometres southwest of the well-established mining town of Outokumpu.

2018 Developments

During the year, the Company made significant progress with Aitolampi. Metallurgical testwork has demonstrated the potential to produce battery grade graphite products and further to completing a second drilling campaign, the Company announced a maiden MRE.

Drilling confirmed wide graphite lenses extending along strike, at least 350m along the Eastern zone (EM anomaly extends for 700m), and at depth.

For the two parallel higher-grade zones previously identified (“Western Zone”), mineralisation has a strike length of at least 150m (the two parallel conductive zones extend for 300m and 250m), and these zones seem to merge to form one body of mineralisation.

Metallurgical Testwork/Market Assessment  

Concentrates from the SGS testwork conducted in 2017 were sent to ProGraphite Gmbh (“ProGraphite”) based in Germany. ProGraphite specialises in the processing and evaluation of graphite materials. The results were as follows:

•  Alkaline purification produced 99.86 per cent Total Carbon (“C(t)”) for +100-mesh concentrate and 99.82 per cent C(t) for -100-mesh concentrate.
•  Results from acid purification were also promising and reached 99.6 per cent C(t) for the +100-mesh and 99.41 per cent C(t) for the -100-mesh concentrate.
•  The alkaline and acid purification results indicate that, with some process optimisation, Aitolampi concentrates may meet the purity specification of 99.95 per cent C(t) required for the lithium ion battery market.
•  Aitolampi graphite shows high crystallinity, with the degree of graphitisation measuring approximately 98 per cent, which is almost perfect crystallinity, an important prerequisite for high tech applications, such as lithium ion batteries.
•  Volatiles are low, which is an attractive product attribute in many applications, including refractories, lubricants, crucibles, and foundries.
•  Specific Surface Area (“SSA”) is comparable to that of high-quality flake graphite from China.
•  Oxidation behaviour is comparable with Chinese graphite of the same flake size, used for refractories, and other high temperature applications.

MRE Highlights (2018)

•  A global Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource (reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012 edition)) of 19.3 Mt at 4.5 per cent TGC for 878,000 t of contained graphite, reported from all material within the eastern and western lenses which are interpreted above a nominal 3.0 per cent TGC cut-off grade;
•  A higher-grade Western Zone with an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.8 Mt at 5.0 per cent TGC for 490,000 t of contained graphite;
•  An Eastern Zone with an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 9.5 Mt at 4.1 per cent TGC for 388,000 t of contained graphite;
•  Reporting above a 4.0 per cent TGC cut-off grade based on the grade-tonnage curve for Aitolampi, gives an Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource of 12.8 Mt at 5.0 per cent TGC for 639,000 t; and
•  The MRE was prepared by CSA Global PTY Ltd (”CSA Global”) of Australia.

Other Developments

In April 2018, Beowulf signed a Graphite Collaboration Agreement between Fennoscandian, and Åbo Akademi University (”Åbo”), located in Turku, Finland and joined a Cooperation Network of existing and new entrant raw materials suppliers to the emerging battery manufacturing industry in Finland. 

The Cooperation Network includes the cities of Vaasa and Kokkola; Freeport Cobalt, the world’s largest cobalt refinery and producer of battery chemicals; Nornickel, the producer of world-class nickel metals and nickel chemicals in Harjavalta; Terrafame Group, the parent company of Terrafame, producing nickel, zinc, cobalt and copper in Sotkamo; Keliber, which is preparing to start lithium production in Kaustinen and Kokkola; as well as Fennoscandian.

Also, Fennoscandian was granted Euros 161,000 by Business Finland for a research project entitled ”Green Minerals – Graphite, Exploration to Products”.  The project runs from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019 and has a total budget of Euros 323,750.  The Company will contribute the balance of the funding. 

2019 Developments

In March 2019, the Company announced that Fennoscandian is to receive additional funding from Business Finland, 50 per cent contribution to a budget of Euros 224,900, for graphite purification and spheroidization testwork, and the further assessment of Fennoscandian’s graphite for battery applications.  Business Finland has been granted Euro 10 million funding for a project titled “BATCircle – the development of a Finland-based Circular Ecosystem of Battery Metals”.

2019 Work Programme

Fennoscandian’s exploration team continues to evaluate each prospect in the Company’s exploration portfolio, and this summer will be conducting field work, including bedrock mapping, outcrop sampling and ground geophysics at the Company’s recently granted Claim Reservation areas Polvela, Tammijärvi, Karhunmäki and Merivaara, which show potential for flake graphite mineralisation. 

Competent Person Review

The information in this announcement has been reviewed by Mr. Rasmus Blomqvist, a Competent Person who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.  Mr. Rasmus Blomqvist has sufficient experience, that is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit taken into consideration, and to the activity being undertaken, to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the ”Australasian Code of Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves”.

Mr. Rasmus Blomqvist is a full-time employee of Oy Fennoscandian Resources AB, a 100% owned subsidiary of Beowulf.

Mr Blomqvist consents to the inclusion in the announcement of the information presented in the form and context in which it appears.

Enquiries:

Cautionary Statement

Statements and assumptions made in this document with respect to the Company’s current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs, and other statements that are not historical facts, are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Beowulf. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those using words such as ”may”, ”might”, ”seeks”, ”expects”, ”anticipates”, ”estimates”, ”believes”, ”projects”, ”plans”, strategy”, ”forecast” and similar expressions. These statements reflect management’s expectations and assumptions in light of currently available information. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political environments in the countries where Beowulf operates; (ii) changes relating to the geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken; (iii) Beowulf’s continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and alliances, if any; (v) metal prices, particularly as regards iron ore. In the light of the many risks and uncertainties surrounding any mineral project at an early stage of its development, the actual results could differ materially from those presented and forecast in this document. Beowulf assumes no unconditional obligation to immediately update any such statements and/or forecasts.