Announcement • Aug 03
Focus Graphite Reports Additional Significant Graphitic Carbon Intercepts from 2022 Deep Definition Drilling Program At Lac Tetepisca, Quebec, Including 91.26 M Grading 13.25% Cg in Hole Lt-22-22-129
Focus Graphite Inc. report the results from an additional twelve (12) holes from the Company's 2022 exploration and definition drilling program at its 100%-owned Lac Tétépisca graphite project, located southwest of the Manicouagan Reservoir in the Côte-Nord administrative region of Québec, on the Nitassinan of the Pessamit Innu. Between March 3 and November 17, 2022, Focus completed 14,900.5 metres of core drilling from 74 holes, including 6,640.2 metres of definition drilling from 27 deep holes along strike of its Manicouagan Ouest Graphitic Corridor ("MOGC") graphite deposit. The results reported are for: Five (5) deep definition holes drilled on five (5) sections at a 50-metre spacing over a 200-metre strike length section of the MOGC deposit's north end, between Lines 4+00S and 5+50S (Table 1); two (2) deep definition holes collared at the same location on Line 10+50S at the south end of the deposit, but with different azimuths; and five (5) exploration holes drilled on two almost north trending sections at the east end of the Southwest MOGC target. To date, the Company has received graphitic carbon (Cg) assay results for 21 out of the 27 deep definition holes drilled on the MOGC deposit in 2022, along the results for the first five (5) exploration holes drilled on the Southwest MOGC target. Analytical results for deep definition drillholes LT-22-174 to 179 are pending. The five (5) exploration holes drilled at the northern end of the Southwest MOGC target whose results are also reported, all intersected significant graphitic mineralization with the best intercept recorded in hole LT-22-141 drilled on Section L0+00S, with 20.29 metres grading 9.71% Cg (from 189.00 metres to 211.00 metres), including 11.07 metres grading 14.76% Cg (from 199.00 metres to 211.00 metres). The graphitic zones so far intersected at the Southwest MOCG target are thinner than those in the MOGC deposit and are not located at the same stratigraphic levels. Detail structural 3-D modelling in underway to connect these two segments of the deposit. Drill core sample preparation for the remaining six (6) deep definition holes from the 2022 deep definition drilling program is ongoing at IOS Services Géoscientifiques Inc. (IOS) laboratory facilities in Saguenay, Québec, but sample expeditions to ACTLABS and COREM for geochemical analyses have been delayed until Focus secures additional funding to continue the and complete the drill core analytical program. The 2022 core drilling program at the Lac Tétépisca project was designed and operated by IOS Services Géoscientifiques Inc. ("IOS") of Saguenay, Québec, under the supervision of Table Jamésienne de Concertation Minière ("TJCM") of Chibougamau, Québec, acting as an independent technical adviser to the Company. Drilling was performed by Forage G4 of Val-d'Or, Québec using a single drill rig. Drilling commenced on March 3, 2022, and ended on November 17, 2022. The drilling program consisted of systematic definition drilling along strike of the Company's MOGG deposit together with exploration drilling at the nearby West Limb and Southwest MOGC geophysical (MAG-TDEM) targets. A total of 74 holes were completed, from LT-22-107 to LT-22-179 (total: 14,900.5 metres), including 27 deep holes drilled over almost 1.0 km strike length on the MOGC deposit (total: 6,640.2 metres); 29 exploration holes drilled on the West Limb target (total: 5,421.6 metres), and 18 exploration holes drilled on the Southwest MOGC target (total: 2,838.8 metres). Drilling completed on the MOGC deposit includes seven (7) 300 m-length vertical HQ-diameter holes, 19 high angled holes drilled to a vertical depth of 200 metres, plus a short hole drilled at moderate angle (LT-22-173A). Starting in March 2022, drill core boxes for each hole were packaged by sequential numbers onto pallets in the field by IOS personnel and then shipped by truck every two weeks to IOS's facilities in Saguenay where they are currently archived. Sampling has been conducted with a diamond saw, with NQ-diameter core from the Southwest MOGC and West Limb targets being halved, while all HQ-diameter core from the MOGC deposit was quartered. Sample preparation work consisting of crushing and grinding began last September and is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. A total of 152 pulverized splits were sent to COREM, an ISO/IEC 17025:2005 certified facility located in Québec City, for graphitic carbon (code LSA-M-B10) and total sulphur (code LSA-M-B41) analysis using LECO induction furnace with infrared spectrometry until last February, and another 569 pulverized splits were to Activation Laboratories in Ancaster, Ontario (ISO/IEC 17025:2005 with CAN-P-1579) for graphitic carbon (code 5D - C Graphitic) and total sulphur analysis (code 4F - S) using an Electra induction furnace with infrared spectroscopy. Historic results indicate excellent interlaboratory comparable results. A subset of 10% of samples was analyzed for 35 trace element analysis using ICP-OES and ICP-MS after an aqua-regia digestion at Activation Laboratories (Code 1E2 - Aqua Regia). Holes concerned by the present news release, include 721 graphitic carbon analyses. The analytical quality control program for the Lac Tétépisca project has been implemented by an IOS-certified chemist and is identical to the one used for previous drill programs at Lac Tétépisca and at the Company's Lac Knife project. Under the QA/QC program, the current set of analyses included 53 duplicates of the core samples plus 10 other duplicates from holes LT-22-173 and LT-22-173A that are pending, or about 9% of the samples, which were analyzed either by COREM for graphitic carbon duplicated analyses (code LSA-M-B10), total sulphur (code 4F - S), total carbon (code LSA-M-B45), organic carbon (code LSA-M-B58) and inorganic carbon (code LSA-M-B11) or Actlabs for graphitic carbon (code 5D - C Graphitic) and total sulphur analysis (code 4F - S). A total of 122 reference materials (about 17%) were inserted in the sample sequences, either certified or internal reference material samples (CDN-GR1, CMRI12, Oreas-723, OREAS-724, OREAS-725, CGL-004, NCS-DC-60119, NCS-DC-60120, NCS-DC-60121), duplicates (quarter-split core or grinding duplicates), and preparation and analyses blanks.