E-Power Resources drills 5.15 metres over 23.97% Cg at the Tetepisca Graphite Property, North Shore Region, Québec
E-Power Resources Inc. [CSE-EPR] reported results of the drilling and exploration program completed on the Tetepisca Graphite Property, Quebec, during the summer and fall of 2023.
Highlights: Grass roots discovery on the Captain Cosmos claims including an intersection of 23.97% Cg from surface to a depth of 5.15 metres ending in mineralization.
High grade graphite mineralization intersected over an 850 metres strike length at the Graphi-Centre target includes 17.85% Cg over an intersection length of 3.80 metres.
A wide zone of graphite mineralization intersected at the 1078 target including 2.66% Cg over an intersection length of 20.5 metres.
James Cross, President and CEO, commented: “We are pleased with the 2023 exploration results and progress of the Tetepisca Project. The results at Captain Cosmos represent a high-grade exploration discovery which we will be pursuing in the 2024 exploration season. The drill results confirm resource potential over an 850-metre strike length at the Graphi-Centre target and over a 400-metre strike length at the 1078 target. The results also confirm that very significant strike lengths of untested conductivity anomalies remain at both Graphi-Centre and 1078. We are busy planning the 2024 field season. We will be following up on these results and drilling targets to move towards resource tonnage delineation and we will be taking bulk samples from known high grade surface showings to establish flake size distribution and graphite concentrate quality for battery applications.”
During summer and fall 2023, E-Power completed an exploration program consisting of 2650.5 metres in 18 diamond drill holes (NQ diameter core) and surface exploration which included beep mat prospecting and drilling a total of 19.35 metres in 6 holes (BQ diameter core) using a man-portable drill. A total of 672 metres of core (650 samples) was analyzed for Carbon concentrations (per cent Carbon as graphite or “% Cg”). The exploration was completed primarily at four target areas previously prioritized by the Company including the Graphi-Centre, 1078, and Southern targets, and the Captain Cosmos group of claims. All holes drilled intersected graphite mineralization. Thirty percent of the samples returned Cg values above 1%.
Graphi-Centre Target: Graphi Centre is a top priority target on the Tetepisca property. The pattern of conductivity is interpreted as a folded graphitic unit from which the Company has defined 3 drill targets; the northern limb, the hinge, and the southern limb zones. Only the northern limb was drill tested during the 2023 drilling campaign. Significant intercepts from the Graphi-Centre drilling are summarized in table 1. Results which include 17.85% Cg over and intersection length of 3.80 metres, 9.57% Cg over an intersection length of 3.70 metres, and 17.80% Cg over an intersection length of 0.50 metres occur over a strike length of approximately 850m along the north limb zone. The man portable drilling returned 13.16% Cg over 1.00 metre, 6.00% Cg over 3.90 m, and 5.84 Cg over 2.55 m along the 850 m strike length. Following up on the mineralized trend as well as drilling the hinge and southern limb zones at Graphi-Centre is a priority resource delineation target for the 2024 exploration season.
Captain Cosmos is an earlier stage exploration target on the Tetepisca property which has been prioritized based on favourable response to historical airborne conductivity surveys. Work on the Captain Cosmos target included beep mat prospecting to locate the airborne conductivity anomaly followed by excavation of overburden to expose bedrock, and prospect drilling with the man-portable drill. Three short, relatively closely spaced, holes were completed for a total of 11.9 metres. Results of the Cg analyses range from 23.97% Cg to 16.93% Cg. Further evaluation, including drilling, of the conductive trends on the Captain Cosmos target claims as well as trenching and bulk sampling are planned for the 2024 field program.
Four holes were competed at the 1078 target. All four holes intersected lower grade Cg mineralization over relatively long intersection lengths which include 1.87% Cg over 54.3 m in hole TTP-23-004 (which includes 2.66% Cg over 20.50 m), 2.27% Cg over 17.90 m in TTP23-005, 1.13% Cg over 36.8 m in hole TTP23-006, and 2.01% Cg over 20.75 m in TTP23-007. All holes contained narrower high grade intercepts including 25.3% Cg over 0.5 m in TTP23-004 and 15.70% Cg over 1.6 m in TTP23-006. The four holes drilled at the 1078 target confirm mineralization over a 400 m strike length of the airborne conductor. The total length of the conductive trend on the 1078 block of claims is approximately 4.25 km which will be evaluated for resource potential during the 2024 exploration season.
A total of 7 holes were drilled at the Southern target. Initially 3 holes were completed on the western side of the Southern target and subsequently 4 holes were completed on the eastern side. The southern target was prioritized based on conductivity signature as well historical drilling and trenching on adjacent property claims to the east. Graphite was intersected in all holes drilled in the Southern target however with few exceptions were narrow and low grade. No further work is planned for the Southern target at this time.
The Tetepisca Property is located approximately 220 km north of the town and deep water port of Baie-Comeau in the North Shore Region of Québec. The property is accessed by paved Provincial Highway 389 to the Manic 5 hydro-electric dam and then by a well developed network of logging roads. Baie-Comeau is the planned location of a 200,000 tonne/year battery anode material producer. The property consists of 230 claims covering approximately 12,620 hectares within the emerging Tetepisca Graphite District (TGD), an active exploration and development district with measured and indicated resources in excess of 100 Mt averaging 14% Cg. E-Power holds the largest number of claims in the TGD. The Tetepisca Property provides an excellent opportunity to host very significant graphite resources in a tier-one jurisdiction providing for environmentally and socially responsible development and production.
E-Power Resources is currently advancing two projects; the Tetepisca property, located in the North Shore region of the Province and the Turgeon property located in the Abitibi region adjacent to the Ontario border. The company’s priority target is flake graphite on the Tetepsica Property. The Turgeon property is located in the prolific Abitibi gold and base metal mining district and the company is evaluating Turgeon primarily for its copper-zinc and gold potential.