GreenRoc Mining plc has progressed work with further interest from its potential off-take partner and the start of several studies for the Amitsoq graphite project in South Greenland.
TESTWORK
The unnamed potential off-take partner has requested sample material, comprising graphite concentrate, purified graphite concentrate and spherical graphite, to conduct its own verification testwork.
Meanwhile other testwork on GreenRoc’s 700kg bulk sample of graphite ore collected in September 2022 is nearing the final stages of processing in Germany.
Once completed, the process will provide graphite concentrate for GreenRoc’s further testwork and to have material ready for analysis by potential customers and to understand the best options for processing the ore.
The concentrate material is expected to be available this autumn.
STUDIES
Progress continues on the environment impact assessment and social impact assessment studies which are due to complete during 2024 before GreenRoc applies for an exploitation permit.
SRL Consulting’s preliminary economic assessment (PEA), expected this autumn, will assess future graphite mining operations at Amitsoq based on an annual 400,000t ore for the production of 80,000t graphite concentrate.
The PEA will also be used in the next round of discussions with potential project and offtake partners.
Earlier in July, GreenRoc’s chief executive officer Stefan Bernstein oversaw a bathymetric survey at a location within the Amitsoq project area to evaluate possible sites for a future tailings storage facility.
The Geological Survey of Greenland and Denmark (GEUS) conducted a detailed study of the graphite ore from Amitsoq based on samples from the upper graphite layer (UGL) and lower graphite layer (LGL).
GreenRoc said that the study showed uniformity of the UGL and LGL orebodies being “similar mineral assemblages with distinct graphite crystals disseminated throughout the ore”.
The company believes that the findings, coupled with the consistent graphite grades across both orebodies, suggested that processing the ore during production would be easily optimised.
GreenRoc has also supported a master’s thesis at the University of Bologna in Italy, on the origins of Amitsoq graphite ore.