On a day when
Focus Graphite Inc. (
TSX: T.FMS,
Stock Forum) was announcing details of an offtake agreement with a Chinese industrial conglomerate, another Canadian junior was gearing up for exploration on a graphite property in northern Ontario.
In November,
Xmet Inc. (
TSX: V.XME,
Stock Forum) leapt onto investor radar screens with the announcement that it had acquired a package of claims – dubbed the Blackflake project -- adjacent to the north of
Zenyatta Ventures Ltd’s (
TSX: V.ZEN,
Stock Forum) Albany project about 60 kilometres north of Hearst.
News of the deal lifted Xmet shares from around 1 cent all the way to 19 cents in January. After slipping 8% Thursday to 12 cents, Xmet has a market cap of $8.6 million, based on 72.1 million shares outstanding.
Sources familiar with the situation say they expect Xmet to be drilling within a month.
In a November release, Xmet said it has acquired two blocks of claims, totaling 70 claim units, including a staked 100% ownership in 46 claim units contiguous to Zenyatta’s northwest boundary, and an optioned 100% ownership stake interest in 24 claim units tied onto the northwestern portion of the Albany project.
Zenyatta’s tremendous success in the region demonstrates the high potential of the area for world class graphite deposits,’’ explained Xmet Chairman and CEO Alexander Stewart at the time.
He was referring to the fact that Zenyatta shares jumped to $5 in July, 2013, before slipping back to $2.69 this week.
Stewart went on to say that the graphite discovered in the area appears to have highly desirable characteristics, such as low resistivity and thus an enhanced ability to transmit an electrical current. It’s highly crystalline structure also aids thermal and electrical conductivity, he added.
“These characteristics are comparable to commercial grade synthetic graphite, which attracts significant prices from many growing markets for products such as electronics, lithium-ion and other batteries, capacitators, sensors and catalysts.’’
In an update last month, Xmet said surveys have outlined electromagnetic bedrock targets. With ground permits now in place, the company is getting closer to drilling, it said.
Metal Creek Resources Corp. (
TSX: V.MEK,
Stock Forum), the vendor of the 24 claim unit block, will hold a 1% net smelter royalty interest from all ore production from the 24-claim unit block. Under an agreement Xmet can back back half of the NSR interest for $500,000 and the final half for $1 million at any time.
Meanwhile, Focus Graphite said an agreement binds the Chinese industrial conglomerate to a minimum purchase of 20,000 tonnes per year of future production from its Lac Knife property 27 kilometres southwest of Fermont, Quebec.
Focus Graphite shares rose 1.6% to 62 cents Thursday.