BlackEarth makes key appointments to graphite project

BlackEarth Minerals has beefed up its technical and management resources ahead of maiden drill program to establish a JORC resource at its flagship project in Madagascar.

The graphite explorer has appointed OMNI GEOX to conduct its exploration program in Madagascar. The company is headed by geologist Peter Langworthy, who has worked in Madagascar for more than six years and has previous experience with BlackEarth’s Maniry and Ianapera projects.

Maniry is the company’s most advanced asset and will be the focus of a 10,800-metre drill program beginning next month.

Previous exploration defined 34 large-scale zones of prominently outcropping graphite mineralisation over an area of 6.5km x 2.5km. Diamond drilling retuned multiple, high-grade graphite hits within 50 metres of the surface, including 14 metres at 11.3% total graphitic carbon.

The drill program is designed to provide enough data to define a JORC resource by the middle of the year, with a scoping study targeted for within 12 months of listing.

BlackEarth also announced the appointment of Annick Manfrino as Manager, Geology. A graduate of the French National School of Geology, Ms Manfrino has more than 30 years of experience and has managed a large number of technical reviews and resource estimations on significant projects worldwide for the likes of Vale, Xstrata and Fortescue Metals Group.

Managing Director, Tom Revy, said: “We welcome both OMNI GEOX and Ms Manfrino to the team. These two appointments are seen as critical towards delivering against our short-term goal of defining a quality JORC resource by mid-2018 and ultimately our longer-term ambitions of becoming a low-cost producer of quality graphite.”

BlackEarth is the newest graphite explorer on the ASX, listing this week after a successful IPO that raised $5.45 million. The company holds a portfolio of high quality graphite spun out of Lithium Australia, which retains an 18% stake.