Triton Minerals intercepts massive 220m of graphite, Balama North
Triton Minerals' (ASX:TON)
potential of the Nicanda Hill prospect at the Balama North project
continues to rapidly expand with the completion of each drill hole with a
220 metre intersection in a single hole upping the ante.
The Nicanda Hill prospect could potentially host between 480Mt and 800Mt of graphite carbon mineralisation.
The
latest reverse circulation results intercepted 220 metres of graphite
mineralisation from surface, and remained open at depth.
Based on surface mapping and drilling the mineralised zone is likely to continue for some depth beyond the 220 metres.
Importantly - Triton said that graphite mineralisation is visually similar to previous Nicanda Hill diamond drilling.
Balama North is located along strike to Syrah Resources’ (ASX:SYR)
massive Balama East Deposit, which is acknowledged as the largest known
graphite deposit in the world. Construction at Balama East is expected
to start once the wet season ends about April 2014.
Brad Boyle, managing director, commented: “The highly anticipated and prospective Nicanda Hill prospect continues
to improve on the encouraging results already obtained late in 2013.
"This
is an impressive beginning to the current drilling program, with
significant visual identification of graphite mineralisation in all
drill holes completed to date.
"The intersection of 220 metres of
graphite mineralization in a single drill hole with the true extent of
the mineralisation yet to be fully tested is a very exciting outcome for
the Company.
"Triton believes these results are just a precursor
to the true untapped potential of this very large world class graphite
project and is yet to be fully demonstrated and realised.”
The
horizontal width of the graphite mineralization zone is approximately
750 metres wide, with excellent correlation of drilling results with the
VTEM survey data anomaly,
Next exploration steps
Triton
has designed a combined reverse circulation and diamond drill program
over the Nicanda Hill, Charmers and Black Hills prospects that will be
undertaken during 2014.
The program will be used to confirm parts of the estimated Exploration Targets.
It
is anticipated that this drilling will provide the necessary data to
estimate a Mineral Resource for parts of these three prospects before
early 2015.
Analysis
Should the
drilling program confirm the continuity of the graphite mineralisation
throughout the prospect, then Nicanda Hill has the potential to be a
number of times larger than the Cobra Plains deposit.
Cobra Plains already hosts an Inferred Resource of 103 million tonnes, the fourth largest in the world.
This
truly puts Triton and Balama North on a global graphite scale, which
interestingly exploration appears to have yet to fully define just how
large the project is to date.
The next key price catalysts for
Triton are results from the current diamond drilling program testing the
full depth of the mineralisation zone, which are expected by the end of
June 2014.
A JORC Resource for Nicanda Hill is anticipated by
early 2015. There is a massive exploration target of 730Mt to 1,200Mt
for Nicanda Hill, Charmers and Black Hills prospects. Based on today's
results, the exploration target may begin to look conservative if
drilling results continue to be this positive.
