Preliminary Economic Assessment Preliminary Economic Assessment
The company completed a PEA in February 2011 demonstrating a positive economic cash-flow for the Bissett Creek deposit. In the PEA, 75% of the mineral resource estimate was in the indicated category and 25% from the inferred category. The inferred category is still lacking the drill density to be upgraded to M&I but due to the flat and continuous nature of the deposit, we accept the usage of the inferred resources for the PEA. On that basis, it can be easily assumed that the Bissett Creek deposit could sustain production for more than 40 years, even at a rate above 2,500 tonnes per day. Additionally, the deposit is still open along strike which allows for easy lateral expansion and further scaling up if demand justified. Under these conditions, the deposit could one day become one of the largest graphite mines in the world.
The PEA uses a conservative 1,700 $/t average selling price and does not include any added value products such as SFG or graphene. The average selling price was based on a flake distribution of 30:40:30 in +35, -35 to +48 and -48 respectively.