The Pajala project in Northern Sweden

Comparable grade to the highest grade graphite projects globally

Pajala consists of three contiguous 15-year licences covering 52 km2: Lehtosölkä Deposit: 1.75Mt with 9.6% C, Liviövaara Main: >0.5Mt with 23% C and the Lehtosölkä 2. Note these are historic non-compliant estimates and do not conform to a modern resource reporting code. The focus is graphite, the largest input battery raw material by volume and therefore crucial to the EV value chain.

Work has indicated that high grade graphite e.g. 4.7m grading 39.8% is present at Liviovaara.  This hole has two others nearby that show continuity but are likely to have a folded nature.  N-Liv-03 had 8.4m grading 29% C.  These values are in line with Talga Group’s Vittangi project that claims highest grade graphite in the world (19.4Mt grading 24% C).

The copper, iron-oxide, gold and cobalt mineralisation encountered in the drilling is interesting with some broad intervals of low-grade copper that suggest there is potential for a larger IOCG system at Liviövaara. There is little in the way of outcrop but the graphite horizon identified from drilling extends over 300m.

Pajala Copper Potential

Copper potential with significant historic intersections.

Anglo American undertook drilling of nine holes targeting copper in IOCG systems in 2000-2001.

A review of the logs and assays by EGT has revealed new potential for copper at Liviövaara and suggests that the exploration was abandoned following a refocusing of efforts by AngloAmerican on Nickel exploration in the Lapland greenstone belt of Finland which resulted in the discovery of the Sakatti deposit in Finland.

Alteration is widespread across all drillholes and includes regionally common scapolite alteration (sodic), potassic alteration along with chlorite, hematite, albite, silica and magnetite skarns in carbonate rich intervals containing variable magnetite, actinolite, diopside and disseminated sulphides. The final hole, 01LIV009, intersected 10.78m grading 0.38% Cu associated with a structure. As far as the Company is aware, the work and these results were not followed up or investigated further. The target is structurally hosted copper mineralisation typical of IOCG systems in North Sweden.

Historic intersections from the nine historic drill holes include:

00LIV001

  • From 27.55m:  0.6m @ 2.5 % Cu, 0.23 g/t Au
  • From 115.30m:  5.45m @ 1.23 % Cu, 221 ppm Co

00LIV003

  • From 116.65m: 28.55m @ 0.195% Cu, 158 ppm Co
  • Including from 117.85m: 19.2m @ 0.23% Cu, 161 ppm Co

00LIV004

  • From 40.15m: 8.29m @ 0.27 % Cu, 169 ppm Co
  • From 57.65m: 8.19m @ 0.2% Cu, 146 ppm Co
  • From 123.02m: 12.98m @ 0.26% Cu, 136 ppm Co
  • From 154.26m: 2.84m @ 0.42% Cu, 375 ppm Co

01LIV008

  • From 155.90m: 0.29m @ 1.06% Cu, 216 ppm Co, 430 ppb Au

01LIV009

  • From 23.7m: 10.78m @ 0.38% Cu, 195 ppm Co
  • Including 1.5m @ 0.69 % Cu from 23.7m and 0.8m @ 1.77 % Cu from 26.2m
  • From 51.96m: 12.39m @ 0.37% Cu, 288 ppm Co
  • From 239.3m: 4.15m @ 0.36% Cu, 210 ppm Co

Key Project Takeaways

Project focus is high grade graphite and copper, critical to the green economy transition

Europe needs a local and reliable supply to feed its rapidly expanding EV battery production

The natural graphite has various flake sizes with some tests reporting 50% grains >0.2mm (200 microns) which would be considered medium to large flakes

Copper demand is increasing and finding new copper exploration projects with proven mineralisation in drill core and untested upside potential is difficult

Excellent location and favourable infrastructure with abundant renewable energy and 21km from Kaunisavaara iron ore mine

Specific ESG Points:

The Pajala graphite deposits are smaller in scale compared to other deposits in the region including the Kaunisavaara iron ore mine and the Talga Resources deposit

The graphite is high-grade and offers the potential for a low-impact, small footprint, operation. The Board recognises the passage of reindeer through the area and will openly communicate its plans with the Sami stakeholders in tandem with local consultancy, Geovista AB

There are no immediate adjacent nature reserves within the Liviovaara permit area where the graphite and copper targets are located. Exploration within the larger Pajala permit area will take into consideration the nature designations in the wider area and work plans will be discussed with relevant stakeholders