Jangada upbeat on progress at investee Blencowe

(Sharecast News) - Natural resources developer Jangada Mines highlighted significant advancements made by Blencowe Resources, in which it holds a 10% stake, on Monday. The AIM-traded firm said Blencowe had successfully completed a crucial step in its commercial scale testing of graphite production at its Orom-Cross project.

It said Blencowe had completed the conversion of 600 tonnes of raw material into 30 tonnes of high-quality graphite concentrate.

The bulk sample conversion was conducted by Jilin New Technology Graphite - a leading graphite processing company in China.

It said the results confirmed the attractive qualities of the Orom-Cross graphite, maintaining the high standards observed in previous smaller scale tests.

With 30 tonnes of 96% graphite concentrate now available, Blencowe had a substantial quantity of both large and small flake graphite products for further testing.

That was crucial for potential offtake agreements with prospective buyers.

A final stage of testing would be conducted by leading spheronised purified graphite (SPG) producer, Qindao Taida Carbon.

Taida would process 20 tonnes of small flake concentrate into 10 tonnes of 99.95% uncoated SPG over the next month, marking the final step in the qualification process for the graphite.

Blencowe was currently in discussions with several tier-one partners regarding potential offtake agreements.

The successful bulk sample testing and ongoing qualification process were pivotal steps towards such agreements.

Additionally, the completion of the latest stage of test work met a key milestone, making Blencowe eligible for the next tranche of grant funding from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

"Blencowe Resources' successful conversion of 600 tonnes of raw material into 30 tonnes of high-quality graphite concentrate marks a significant milestone in its ongoing efforts to advance towards final qualification," said Jangada's executive chairman Brian McMaster.

"This achievement, facilitated by the expertise of Jilin New Technology Graphite, reinforces the world-class potential of the Orom-Cross graphite project and takes Blencowe one step closer to a definitive feasibility study.

"Our confidence in Blencowe as a leader in the graphite market remains strong and we look forward to updating the market as they deliver Orom-Cross and create value for all stakeholders."

At 0801 BST, shares in Jangada Mines were down 7.14% at 1.3p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.