David & Goliath: How Canada is Fighting Back Against Chinese Dominance in the Exploding Graphite Space
Vancouver, B.C. (PRWEB) October 30, 2013 -- A global race is happening, led by electric vehicles. Li ion batteries used in hybrid electric vehicles (“HEV”), plug in electric vehicles (“PEV”) and all other electric vehicles are making a surge as the US has set a national target of one million EVs on the road domestically by 2015.
Problem is, will the world be able to provide the materials necessary to meet this goal? While the demand for lithium carbonate for these batteries is growing, the bigger demands will be coming on graphite. Six times the graphite is required compared to lithium in each battery.
Analysts at Canaccord estimated that incremental lithium carbonate demand from Li ion batteries will reach 286,000 tonnes by 2020. Now multiply that by six, and you’ll get a better idea of the graphite needed.
Currently most of the world’s graphite supply comes from China. However, a pullback on exports from the country, and a steady decline in the number of Chinese graphite mines has put the world on notice that the graphite is going to need to come from elsewhere.
In response to China’s slowly waning global graphite mining dominance, Canada has swiftly responded in an effort to pick up the slack. With geological conditions and an optimistic business environment within which to conduct mining operations has arisen. Canada is getting ready to take over in providing local high-grade graphite to the world.
Last year at this time, Ontario-based Zenyatta Ventures was hovering around the $0.30-$0.40 mark. Once it discovered its geological “freak of nature,” prospect with ultra-high purity graphite, ZEN rapidly gained ten-bagger status to a high of $5 earlier this year.
At this stage, there are now a variety of contenders jostling to be Canada’s next graphite producer. The most recent to produce was privately-held TIMCAL from its Lac des Iles graphite mine in Quebec. The mine suspended operations in August 2013, but continues to process materials for its customers.
With seven well-situated graphite prospects in its portfolio, graphite explorer Caribou King Resources is also well-poised to make significant new discoveries and en-route to production.
The company’s portfolio of highly prospective graphite projects include:
Mulloy and Nezen [Ontario] that are close to and adjoin the Zenyatta’s Albany graphite project; Calumet in Quebec that is contiguous to the Canada Carbon Miller hydrothermal lump-vein graphite project;
TAC [Quebec] with historic drilling including 9.86% Cgf over 46.75 meters;
Lac Vert [Quebec] with graphite intersections in three historic drill holes;
Buckingham [Quebec] that is located 750 meters west of the historic Walker Graphite Mine, and hosts a historic graphite vein system;
St.Aime property [Quebec] that is contiguous with the Timcal Graphite Mine, previously Canada’s only producing graphite mine.
Caribou is advancing each of these projects through multiple active exploration programs now underway. The company’s flagship is its Mulloy property, strategically positioned only 10km to the west of Zenyatta’s Albany project. Results over the last month have been very favorable, including the identification of a broad, northwest trending corridor of seven EM conductors.
The findings showed parallels of the regional aeromagnetic trend for over 1.6 kilometres, remaining open in all directions.
“We are definitely encouraged by these results from Mulloy,” said Mike England, CEO and Director of Caribou King.
“Our recent fieldwork established a broad corridor with multiple conductors that align with the orientation of underlying regional magnetics, and our historic drillhole with substantial graphite intersections lies within this corridor. This is a very active and exciting time for us.”
Two days after announcing the findings of the seven conductors, the company boldly acquired more acreage. By adding three more claim blocks to the southwest, Caribou increased its property by 50% to 5,693 hectares, which now includes the southwest end of the 1.6 km corridor.
Caribou also recently announced the discovery of graphitic marble or sulphidic blocks on their 100%-owned Calumet Graphite prospect that’s contiguous to Canada Carbon’s Miller hydrothermal lump-vein graphite mine.
"The graphitic marble block discovered at Calumet shows the high potential of the area,” said Calumet Project Geologist Steven Lauzier.
“(It) also reveals that more graphite mineralization can be present in the immediate area, probably due to a similar mineralization process as the Miller graphite hydrothermal system. The sulphidic block indicates that hydrothermal processes may have happened in the area."
To the non-technical, it’s been said that mining graphitic marble is much like mining a bathtub, in that it has lesser risk of leaching issues, and is thus easier for permitting and meeting environmental standards.
Acquired in mid-August, Caribou’s Mulloy graphite property is near Zenyatta and, comes with the historic work done by Shell in the 1970s. Located only 10kms to the west of Zenyatta’s Albany East graphite deposit, Mulloy represents an area with significant non 43-101 compliant graphite values.
“As far as that whole area is concerned, we’re one of the only companies that have historically proven graphite on the property that aren’t just area plays,” says England. “We’re also one of the fastest moving companies in terms of getting actual work done on the property.”
In the near future, Caribou King will be working on its geophysics and drilling priority graphite targets at the Mulloy. Caribou has access to 6 drill rigs, and have already started the permitting process on Mulloy. Once the targets are identified, the news cycle for Caribou will further contribute to the buzz surrounding Canada’s graphite space, which continues to heat up.
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A fee has been paid for the production and distribution of this Report. This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. No information in this article should be construed as individualized investment advice. A licensed financial advisor should be consulted prior to making any investment decision. Financial Press makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of the author’s only and are subject to change without notice. Financial Press assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this article and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, we assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information, provided within this article.
Mike England, Caribou King Resources, http://caribouking.com, +1 604-683-3995, [email protected]
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