Date: 08 October
2024
Blencowe Resources
Plc
("Blencowe" or the
"Company")
Blencowe Receives Global MSP
Accreditation
New Funding Channels Open as
Orom-Cross Joins Elite Group of Critical Minerals
Projects
Blencowe Resources Plc (LSE: BRES) is pleased
to announce that its Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda has
received full Mineral Services Partnership ("MSP") accreditation.
The MSP, a global initiative backed by 14 countries and the EU,
promotes public and private investment in responsible critical
minerals supply chains worldwide.
Highlights:
·
South
Korea, as current MSP Chair, proposed
Orom-Cross for full accreditation at the MSP Members Forum meeting
in New York in September 2024.
· The
proposal received unanimous
approval, granting Orom-Cross immediate accreditation.
·
Accreditation provides international exposure at the highest
level, enhances the project's credibility with tier-1 offtakers, and
enables access to potential new
funding sources.
·
This milestone further affirms the high quality of the Orom-Cross graphite
project, and its growing status as a leading new graphite project
globally, as it moves towards first production.
Following a series of successful meetings over
the past few months between Blencowe and senior officials in Seoul,
South Korea nominated Orom-Cross for MSP accreditation, which was
unanimously approved at the most recent MSP Forum. South Korea,
which assumed the MSP Chairmanship in June 2024, played a pivotal
role in championing Orom-Cross and securing this
achievement.
The Mineral Services Partnership comprises the
USA, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, the UK, Australia and
other leading nations as well as the European Commission, seeks to
bolster critical mineral supply chains to support the clean energy
transition. MSP accredited projects are assisted to deliver
concrete results through collaboration between member nations and
tangible support.
Orom-Cross stands out as one of the world's
largest estimated graphite deposits with a unique mix of several
key competitive advantages that will enhance its chances of
success, including lowest
percentile operating costs, low capital startup
requirements, and proven very high quality of end products, both
as concentrates and purified battery ready 99.95% SPG (spheronised
purified graphite). These qualities align with the MSP's
goals of securing high quality,
long-life graphite supplies outside of China, crucial to
meeting accelerating demand for graphite in lithium-ion
batteries. Orom-Cross has very strong ESG credentials too,
which is another important factor in gaining MSP
support.
Blencowe's recently announced strategy to build
an in-country downstream purification facility in Uganda to upgrade
graphite concentrate to battery ready SPG, was also instrumental
for MSP's support. This proposed in-country beneficiation
facility would be one of very few delivering 99.95% purified
graphite products outside of China.
While the full scope of all the benefits this
accreditation will bring is still being explored, it immediately
elevates Orom-Cross status within all 14 MSP member countries and
their networks. Blencowe will now work closely with MSP members,
and specifically the Government of South Korea, to explore
new funding
avenues, offtake
agreements, and additional
opportunities to advance the project.
Cameron Pearce, Executive Chairman
commented;
"Achieving MSP accreditation is a huge step milestone for
Blencowe, further differentiating Orom-Cross as one of only a
select few top tier critical minerals projects worldwide to have
received this rare MSP status. We are excited and honoured at
this recognition and look forward to working closely with the MSP
to explore opportunities that will unlock further Orom-Cross
development."
"With the end-product pre-qualification process now completed
we can look forward to additional news flow relating to offtake in
the near term. Furthermore, we have other exciting
initiatives that we intend to bring to market soon that will
continue to differentiate our strategy and our project from our
graphite peers."
For further information please
contact:
Twitter https://twitter.com/BlencoweRes
LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/72382491/admin/
Background
Orom-Cross Graphite
Project
Orom-Cross is a potential world class graphite
project both by size and end-product quality, with a high component
of more valuable larger coarse flakes within the
deposit.
A 21-year Mining Licence for the project was
issued by the Ugandan Government in 2019 following extensive
historical work on the deposit. Blencowe completed a
successful Pre-Feasibility Study on the Project in July 2022 and is
now within the Definitive Feasibility Study phase as it drives
towards first production.
Orom-Cross presents as a large, shallow
open-pitable deposit, with an initial JORC Indicated & Inferred
Mineral Resource of 24.5Mt @ 6.0% TGC (Total Graphite Content).
This Resource has been defined from only ~2% of the total tenement
area which presents considerable upside potential ahead.
Development of the resource is expected to benefit from a low strip
ratio and free dig operations together with abundant inexpensive
hydro-electric power off the national grid, thereby ensuring low
operating costs. With all major infrastructure available at
or near to site the capital costs will also be relatively low in
comparison to most graphite peers.
In 3Q 2024 Blencowe introduced a Joint Venture
concept with experienced downstream graphite processing partners to
ultimately produce upgraded 99.95% SPG in Uganda. This
strategy has several key advantages plus substantial cost savings
which will assist deliver a world class project once DFS is
completed.