Here's some historic info on Tanzanian graphite, at Merelani. It indicates that graphite with a PURITY of 97-98% exists.
I am sure as more MET work is done, more info will be released. The MET announcement the other day was not comprehensive and imo the announcement was made to confirm the massive flake size and ability to recover high percentages, and also the ability to refine the recovery process.
"Merelani.
The Usagaran gneisses, which host tanzanite mineralisation at Merelani, southeast of Arusha, also contain up to 20% graphite. More importantly, the graphite is coarse-grained, mostly of more than 1-mm flake size with several percent in sizes up to several millimetres. The rock is sufficiently weathered to allow liberation of coarse graphite-rich excessive combination. The graphite graphite-rich section is 10-20 m thick. SAMAX, a London-based company, has carried out a feasibility study on part of the Merelani tanzanite deposit for production of graphite and tanzanite from gneiss layers, which are stratigraphically only a few tens of metres, a part.
Production of graphite began in 1995 and 6,679 tonnes of graphite were produced in its first full year of production in 1996. Production was then suspended and the mine changed ownership from SAMAX to AFGEM of South Africa, which is currently mining tanzanite. Sufficient reserves were initially identifies for 40 years operation at a mining rate of 15,000t/years of high-grade flake graphite of 97%-98% purity.
Gneisses similar to those at Merelani are exposed over a large region, and considerable scope exists for discovery of additional coarse-grained graphite in the area, which is relatively near highway and the Moshi-Tanga railway line."
http://www.seabgems.com/Graphite.html
KNL Price at posting:
46.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
