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Mason Graphite CFO buys up company shares
28th Oct 2013, 2:00 pm by Deborah Bacal
It is not hard to see why management is stocking up on shares, with Mason progressing at an unbelievable pace. The company recently provided investors with an update on its project, saying it plans to complete a number of steps that would de-risk the asset even further in the upcoming months. Mason Graphite's () management is showing support for its company, which has recently draw attention from some high profile media figures, including interviews from Jim Rogers and Larry King. Executive vice president and CFO, Luc Veilleux, recently acquired 55,000 shares of the graphite developer in the public market, for a total of $25,250.
It is not hard to see why management is stocking up on shares, with Mason progressing at an unbelievable pace. The company recently provided investors with an update on its project, saying it plans to complete a number of steps that would de-risk the asset even further in the upcoming months, such as the start of a feasibility study and piloting program.
The company has come a long way since acquiring the Quebec project in April of last year, completing 26,500 metres of drilling since that time, and providing an NI 43-101 compliant resource and preliminary economic assessment for the property.
Mason even last month unveiled some outstanding preliminary results testing the purity of graphite from its flagship Lac Guéret project, opening up the size of its potential customer base to applications that require extremely high purity levels. According to a company statement released in late September, Mason announced purities of 99.9% graphitic carbon from preliminary tests using a conventional hydrometallurgical process concentrated at SGS Canada in Ontario, improving on results seen in the preliminary economic assessment study of the project. Further larger-scale testing, from which results will be included in the upcoming feasibility study, are underway.
The company's goal is to advance the project with the aim of becoming a graphite producer as quickly as possible. It anticipates wrapping up the feasibility study by the final quarter of next year.
First up though, Mason is expecting to release an updated resource estimate for the project by November this year, with additional drilling from 146 holes since the last resource report was released in July 2012. All the data from the 2012 drilling campaign has now been obtained, with 3D modeling of the mineralization currently underway.
At the moment, Mason's project, which is located near the city of Baie-Comeau with a road running straight up to the deposit and all other services nearby, has 0.3 million tonnes of resources at 24.4% graphitic carbon (Cg) in the measured category, and 7.3 million tonnes grading 20.2% Cg in the indicated category. The project’s estimated average grade is 27.4% for the first 22 years of mine life, according to preliminary economic results released in April.
The company is also planning to initiate a permitting process for the project by filing an environmental baseline study, with the pilot plant phase expected to start next year.