Release date- 24082015 - MRL Corporation (ASX: MRF) is pleased to advise that a research report on the Company has been released by Far East Capital. The report follows a recent trip to the Company's high grade Sri Lankan projects by Far East Capital's Chairman, Warwick Grigor.
The research report can be viewed on the Company's website at www.mrltd.com.au. About MRL Corporation Ltd (ASX: MRF) MRL is aiming to develop an underground mining operation to extract high-grade, crystalline vein graphite, which is unique to Sri Lanka.
The Company holds exclusive rights to exploration licenses covering approximately 6,300 hectares in area, with historical workings located within nearly all license grids.
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About Graphite: Natural graphite occurs in three forms: amorphous graphite, flake graphite and the most rare and highest quality form being crystalline vein graphite. Sri Lanka is famed for being the only commercial producer of crystalline vein graphite (lump or Ceylon graphite), the highest quality of naturally occurring material in the world.
The quality of vein graphite produced in the country has a purity level in excess of 90\% TGC (Carbon as graphite) which means little upgrading and processing is required to make a high quality saleable product. Vein (crystalline) graphite is the purest form of graphite with TGC grades typically >90\%, with some grade as high as 99.5\% TGC.
Mining vein graphite may be considered analogous to highgrade gold vein mining, requiring considerably less capital expenditure when compared to largescale open pit mining. That is, development, mining equipment and processing plants will be of a significantly smaller scale. Operating unit costs will also be lower than those for typical largescale open pit mining.
Nature of vein graphite Sri Lankan graphite deposition model is best described from the 'bottom up':
Tension fractures formed in the metamorphic sediments, caused by the folding of the sediments, creating 'conduits' for the hydrothermal deposition of high quality vein graphite. Historically, mining of these veins has found the veins generally increase in thickness and grade quality with increasing depth.
Graphite veins generally dip steeply at -70-degree to near vertical, enabling 'narrow vein' extraction mining techniques similar to those used on narrow vein, high-grade gold deposits. The method commonly used is an overhead retreat stoping technique where the high-grade vein graphite is mined and hauled to surface without contamination.
The graphite selvages, in contact with the surrounding waste, is hauled to surface and stockpiled for upgrading. The balance of the waste is used to fill the floor of the stope. Due to the nature of the vein graphite, it is anticipated vein widths of 25cm, using narrow vein mining techniques can be economically extracted from underground operations.
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MRF Price at posting:
5.9¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
