Sarytogan Graphite (ASX: SGA) will use results from an aeromagnetic survey and a soil sampling program at its Bainazar play in Kazakhstan to further ramp up its search for copper porphyry mineralisation at the site, after it recently also started a 20-tonne trial mining program at its nearby graphite project.
Conducted at 100m intervals, the aeromagnetic survey completed 3348 line kilometres across the Bainazar site and the data is now being processed for geological interpretation. To complement the survey, Sarytogan’s geological team also collected 3700 soil samples.
The company has already received 2500 assays back from the batch of soil samples that were tested through low-detection, multi-spectral scanning analysis and a fire-assay for gold to gather all the data needed for picking up copper porphyry pathfinder elements. Together with the aeromagnetic results, the findings will be used to guide management’s next exploration steps.
Kazakhstan is an established mining jurisdiction with excellent prospectivity for copper porphyry mineralisation. Sarytogan’s in-country exploration team have had a busy summer progressing the Bainazar Copper Exploration Project and continuing to scour the country for further copper exploration opportunities. The data from the aero-magnetic survey and soil sampling is flowing in and I am personally excited to visit the anomalies emerging on the ground next week during my trip to Kazakhstan.
Sarytogan Graphite Managing Director Sean Gregory
Since acquiring an exploration license for its graphite project in 2018, 500km south-east of Kazakhstan’s capital Astana, Sarytogan has built up its resource to 229 million tonnes grading 29 per cent total graphitic content (TGC). It also recently delivered a successful prefeasibility study (PFS) outlining a 60-year mine life that will produce 50,000 tonnes per annum for a capital expenditure of $95 million.
By using the cash flow for the initial staged production, the company may eventually push for three additional stages of development for an extra $433 million in capital expenditure, which could ultimately drive the project’s net present value (NPV) to as high as $787 million.
During its time in Kazakhstan, Sarytogan has also spent considerable time and effort building a team with local expertise of geological and regulatory matters in country. Although the main focus for that team has been the graphite, the geologists have also seen significant potential for untapped copper porphyry mineralisation.
Geologically, the region sits within the massive Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) that spans as far as the Urals in the west to Mongolia in the East and is home to several multi-million-tonne copper porphyry deposits.
As part of its broader strategy to build a portfolio of between two and four copper exploration projects, the company has recently also secured a second exploration license targeting copper, with more details to follow once official approval has been received. By leveraging the expertise of its local team, Sarytogan hopes to push the projects forward quickly and identify drill-ready exploration targets.
With management busy looking for funding partners and the company’s graphite currently being tested for suitability by potential offtake partners, Sarytogan is now moving into a new stage of development as it pushes forward on diversifying its interests with an increased focus on copper exploration.
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