PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Recent drilling has converted nearly 62% of the high-grade Shimba mineral resource, at the Chilalo graphite project, in Tanzania, into the indicated category.
Owner IMX Resources reported on Tuesday that the Shimba deposit was now estimated to host a high-grade resource of some 9.2-million tonnes, grading 10.7% graphitic carbon, for 984 100 t of contained graphite, an increase of some 24% on the previous estimate.
The high-grade resource forms part of a total indicated and inferred resource estimate of 25.1-million tonnes at Shimba, which includes a low-grade inferred resource of 15.9-million tonnes, grading 3.3% graphitic carbon, for 523 000 t of contained graphite.
“The conversion of 62% of the Shimba resources to the indicated category is an important milestone for the Chilalo project, confirming the robust nature of the deposit and further derisking development, ahead of our prefeasibility study in November,” said IMX CEO Phil Hoskins.
“The higher-grade indicated resource strengthens our belief that Chilalo can become a low-cost flake graphite producer. The quality of the Shimba deposit, highlighted by this upgraded resource and recently announced improvements in flake size distribution, further demonstrates that Chilalo has the characteristics of a world-class graphite project.”
Hoskins said that, while IMX did not believe resource size was important and that the Shimba resource could be sufficient to underpin the proposed scale of development at Chilalo, the 24% increase in contained graphite was a welcome benefit to the revised resource estimate.