Kibaran continues run on spectacular drilling

Shares in Kibaran Resources have continued their stellar run in July, jumping by nearly 20 per cent this morning after the company announced more spectacular drilling results at its Mehange graphite project in Tanzania.

Kibaran's stock started the month trading around 15 cents, but the shares rose to 25 cents on July 7 after it released results of its metallurgical test work, which showed an extremely high purity of graphite at the Mehange project's Epanko deposit.

The test work showed that the graphite contained in the deposit is suitable for the production of spherical graphite, which is used to create lithium-ion batteries, a high-growth industry.

Trading in Kibaran shares went into overdrive July 14 to 16 following an update to market, with more than 51 million securities changing hands and the stock rising to around 33 cents. 

Following today's announcement of further spectacular results, Kibaran shares had risen 18 per cent to 54.5 cents by 12:40WST.

Kibaran said the Mahenge drilling results today were the best it had seen to date, with cores intersecting 28 metres at 13.8 per cent graphite, which included 18 metres at 17 per cent graphite and 22 metres at 12.3 per cent graphite, which included 12 metres at 15.5 per cent graphite.

“These latest results confirm the quality of Epanko graphite and position Kibaran well in terms of what graphite traders outside of Chine consider fundamental prerequisites for commercially viable mining operations,” Kibaran executive director Andrew Spinks said in a statement to the ASX.

Earlier in the month, Kibaran raised $3.1 million to continue exploration at Mahenge, and was in negotiations for graphite rights at the Merelani mine with its joint venture partner, the State Mining Company of Tanzania.