Blencowe posts results for the six months to March 2025, updates on progress at Orom-Cross

Blencowe Resources (BRES) Follow | BRES booked a loss of £185,000 for the six months to March 2025, considerably lower than the £726,000 loss recorded for the corresponding period a year earlier.

The company closed out the period with just under £1 million in cash, although it subsequently raised more than £1 million, including nearly £100,000 through a retail offer.

During the period Blencowe was focused on progressing the definitive feasibility study for its Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda.

Work was undertaken in three key areas: (1) bulk sample testing and pre-qualification for offtake agreements, (2) further drilling at Orom-Cross and (3) infrastructure work at site, and other local requirements such as the updated environmental and social impact study. 

The necessity of getting end products qualified with end users as the means to deliver offtake agreements added time, cost and complexity to the DFS.  

Nevertheless, with the support of the Ugandan Government, Blencowe mined and shipped 600 tonnes of Orom-Cross ore to pilot testing facilities in China where extensive testing was done at both concentrate and purified stages, to ensure the end products carry the chemical characteristics the buyers are seeking.  

All results to date have been positive. Samples continue to be sent to many potential offtakers all over the world, for both large and small flake products. 

A 7,000 metre drilling program was initiated as part of the latter stages of the DFS, and this had three key objectives. Firstly, to infill previous drilling to convert substantial tonnes of resources to reserves, to increase the mineable volumes and extend the life of mine. Secondly, to provide geotechnical information for mine planning and pit designs, and thirdly to step out and drill new targets identified at both Northern Syncline and the exciting new Beehive deposit.  

Core is now being sent to accredited labs in Tanzania for assaying. Thereafter this information will feed into a revised JORC resource report. 

Considerable work has also taken place in-country to plan all necessary infrastructure to ensure Orom-Cross can move into production, including roads, power, water, communications, and camp facilities.  As part of the latest drilling program the first permanent camp has been erected at Orom-Cross. 

Graphite specialist technical firm CPC Engineering have been working on plant design and will ultimately sign off on the entire DFS once all parts are concluded.

In addition, Blencowe has been working through its proposed strategy to incorporate a downstream processing facility to produce uncoated spheronised purified graphite (USPG) in-country, which adds significant advantages and value to the overall project.  

One of the most experienced SPG producers in the world has expressed their desire to build and operate this facility in Uganda under a joint venture arrangement , and Blencowe is working through this structure and strategy to ensure this gets incorporated into the overall DFS.  

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Blencowe is hoping for a significant increase to the existing 25 million tonne JORC resource for Orom-Cross once the results of the drilling become known. Work on this resource will likely be completed by the third quarter of 2025, and the results fed into the DFS thereafter. Meanwhile, the company remains well positioned, with offtakes falling into place and the DFC a potential major financial backer. The graphite market is tough, but Orom-Cross looks to be high quality enough to withstand that pressure.