Aim-listed Blencowe Resources has reported further exceptional high-grade purification results from testwork undertaken in association with Alkeemia – a specialist graphite processing organisation based in Porto Marghera, northern Italy – for the company’s Orom-Cross graphite project, in northern Uganda.

The company says this is the first Orom-Cross purification testwork conducted within the EU and represents a bridge into that significant market moving forward.

Initial results show that all Orom-Cross concentrates tested were successfully upgraded using Alkeemia's proprietary process to achieve 99.99% carbon content, exceeding the 99.95% purity typically required for lithium-ion battery applications.

Blencowe says this level of purity enables the company to target higher-value, strategically important end-markets including niche defence and nuclear and specialist industrial applications where product quality, traceability and supply security are critical.

The company explains that the Alkeemia process provides a Western, non-Chinese, purification route, using a simpler, less toxic and more cost-effective methodology than the conventional acid-based processes widely used in China. 

Blencowe says this further aligns Orom-Cross with growing European and US policy objectives to establish secure independent and sustainable critical mineral supply chains.

Orom-Cross has previously achieved 99.99% purity through testwork conducted by American Energy Technology (AETC), a US-based technical graphite specialist, using AETC’s proprietary thermal process, which differs from the chemical-based approach  employed by Alkeemia. 

Blencowe says the AETC relationship has since evolved to introduce Blencowe to a range of valuable niche offtake opportunities, including testing with US Department of Defence and the EU’s Safeloop initiative.

Blencowe says it believes engagement with Alkeemia has the potential to develop in a similar manner, providing a gateway to European downstream markets. 

With AETC and Alkeemia using different purification methodologies, the company says it is also broadening its downstream optionality across multiple high-purity processing routes.

Further, the company notes that it and Alkeemia have identified areas of mutual technical and commercial interest and are continuing discussions regarding potential future collaboration.

Blencowe says the ability to deliver ultrahigh-purity graphite products through a Europe-based purification route adds further upside potential to the definitive feasibility study economics by expanding access to higher-margin, supply-constrained end-markets.

Moreover, engagement with specialist European processors such as Alkeemia also provides valuable technical validation and supports broader dialogue with a wider range of downstream customers and strategic end-users, particularly within Europe.

"These purification results are a significant milestone for Orom-Cross and, once again, demonstrate that our graphite can achieve the very highest purity levels required for specialist applications, including defence, nuclear and strategic energy uses where quality and supply security are critical,” says Blencowe executive chairperson Cameron Pearce.

He adds that it also opens the potential for a valuable new partnership to develop.

He expresses that achieving 99.99% carbon content through a non-Chinese, Europe-based purification route materially enhances the strategic value of Orom-Cross, noting that it positions the project not only as a large-scale, low-cost graphite development, but also as a credible contributor to Western critical mineral supply chains.

“Importantly, this work adds further upside potential to the economics outlined in our definitive feasibility study by broadening access to higher-margin, supply-constrained markets.

“Combined with the scale we continue to demonstrate through drilling, this reinforces Orom-Cross as a long-life, strategically-relevant asset as we advance funding and offtake discussions,” says Pearce.