Armadale Capital Plc Drilling Commences at the Mahenge Liandu Graphite Project, Tanzania

 
TIDMACP 
 
 

Armadale Capital Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: ACP / Sector: Investment Company

23 September 2016

Armadale Capital Plc ('Armadale' or the 'Company')

Drilling Commences at the Mahenge Liandu Graphite Project, Tanzania

Armadale, the AIM quoted investment company focused on natural resource projects, is delighted to announce that reverse circulation ('RC') drilling has commenced at its high-grade Mahenge Liandu Graphite Project in Tanzania ('Mahenge Liandu').

Summary:

 
 
    -- RC drilling has now commenced over a 2km strike length within the 

Mahenge Liandu project area

 
    -- Approximately 1,400m of drilling is planned - targeting graphite 

schist mineralisation

 
    -- Mineralisation confirmed by drilling, geological mapping and rock chip 

sampling at the southern extent of 2km strike - previous drilling

returned 60m @ 10.7% TGC

 
    -- Results are expected in Q4 2016 and will support the development of an 

initial JORC compliant resource in the near future

 
    -- Photographs of the drilling rigs and pads will be available to view on 

the Company's website in the coming days

William Frewen, Chairman of Armadale said:

"The commencement of RC drilling at the Mahenge Liandu graphite project in Tanzania is an important milestone to cross having acquired the Project just two months ago. Having identified high grade target areas through initial explorative work, our focus is now on defining a JORC compliant resource, with this drill campaign central to this. Timing wise, it could not be better for a nascent natural graphite explorer. Surging global demand for electric vehicles and power storage utilities are directly driving lithium-ion battery manufacturers to increase output at an accelerating rate. In turn, this dynamic creates excellent future opportunities for Armadale Capital and added incentives to expedite progress of the Mahenge Liandu graphite project."

Further Information on Mahenge Liandu

The Mahenge Liandu project is located in the Ulanga District in south east Tanzania, approximately 300km south west of Morogoro and 10km from the town Mahenge.

High grade graphite mineralisation of up to 33.8% Total Graphite Carbon ('TGC') has been demonstrated through analysis of rock-chip samples taken from Mahenge Liandu in June 2016. Previous drilling has confirmed high-grade mineralisation from the surface, with results including 60m @ 10.7% TGC including 24m @ 12.9% TGC and 5m @ 21.5% TGC. The samples were taken from graphite schist outcrops over 1.5km of strike that was mapped by the previous owner surrounding the initial discovery holes.

The area is highly prospective for graphite with Mahenge Liandu located immediately to the east of Kibaran's Epanko project. In July 2015, Kibaran completed a bankable feasibility study, with the following key findings:

 
 
    -- Proven and probable ore reserves of 10.9mt at 8.6% TGC; 
 
    -- Annual EBITDA of US$33.6m for 15 years; 
 
    -- Sales price US$1,466/t of concentrate, opex FOB Dar es Salaam $570/t; 

and

 
    -- Metallurgical results: 85.7% of distribution greater than 106 micron, 

carbon concentrate of 96.3% TGC.

Black Rock Mining's (`Black Rock' and ASX:BKT) Mahenge project is situated 1km north-west of Armadale's Mahenge Liandu project. It has a global resource of 131mt at 7.9% TGC (including 38mt at 10.2% TGC or 16.6mt at 11.1% TGC). Furthermore, Black Rock has delineated circa 80% of its resources in eight months, demonstrating the opportunity to add significant value to the Mahenge Liandu project in a short time frame. On 22 March 2016, Black Rock announced the results of an independent scoping study with:

 
 
    -- 52,000 tpa graphite concentrate mining operation (25-year mine life); 
 
    -- at cash costs of US$458/t; and 
 
    -- a sales price of US$1,236/t (FOB Dar es Salaam). 
 

Competent Person statement

The information in this announcement that relates to exploration results is based on information compiled by Mr Matt Bull, a competent person, who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Bull has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a competent person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Bull consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

The information communicated in this announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

**ENDS**

 
Enquiries: 
Armadale Capital Plc                        [phone] 
Charles Zorab, Company Secretary 
Nomad and broker: finnCap Ltd               [phone] 
Christopher Raggett / Simon Hicks 
Joint Broker: Beaufort Securities Limited   [phone] 
Jon Belliss 
Press Relations: St Brides Partners Ltd     [phone] 
Charlotte Page / Susie Geliher 
 
 

Notes

Armadale Capital Plc is focused on investing in and developing a portfolio of investments, targeting the natural resources and/or infrastructure sectors in Africa. The company, led by a team with operational experience and a strong track record in Africa, has a strategy of identifying high growth businesses where it can take an active role in their advancement.

The Company owns the Mahenge Liandu graphite project in south-east Tanzania. The project is located in a highly prospective region with proven coarse flake, high grade graphite resources - ASX listed Kibaran and Black Rock have both identified and are developing significant proven and valuable graphite projects immediately adjacent to Mahenge Liandu. A mineralised trend about 1.6km in strike length and up to 500m wide has been identified at the project, which remains open at depth. Armadale geologists have mapped and sampled the graphite schist, with results from seven previous samples ranging from 12.8% - 24.0% TGC. Exploration drilling completed at the project in December 2015 has further confirmed the mineral potential of the license area, with results including 10mt at 6.54% TGC, 24mt at 12.9% TGC and 5mt at 21.5% TGC. Armadale is targeting a maiden resource estimation in late 2016.

In addition, Armadale is developing of the Mpokoto Gold project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in which it owns an 80% interest. Mpokoto has a current Total Mineral Resource of 678,000oz gold ('Au') from 14.58mt @ 1.45g/t Au at a cut-off grade of 0.5g/t. The results of a feasibility study for Mpokoto demonstrated a pre-tax net present value of US$43m based upon a discount rate of 5% and a gold price of US$1,250/oz. The project is subject to four mining licenses which are valid for an initial term of 30 years from 30 September 2014.

Armadale has a portfolio other quoted investments.

More information can be found on the website www.armadalecapitalplc.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160922006117/en/

 
This information is provided by Business Wire 
 
 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2016 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)