Lac Tétépisca

Focus Graphite’s 100%-owned Lac Tétépisca Graphite Project comprises two contiguous properties, Lac Tétépisca and Lac Tétépisca Nord, located in the Southwest Manicouagan reservoir area of the Côte-Nord region of Québec, 234 km north-northwest of the city of Baie-Comeau, an industrial city located where the Manicouagan River intersects the north shore of St. Lawrence River. Together, the two properties form a block of 115 CDC claims (total area: 6,198.27 ha).

The Lac Tétépisca project is accessible year-round by way of a network secondary gravel roads that extend north from Highway 389, 10 km to the south of the Manic 5 hydroelectric power station.

The property is part of the former Lac Guéret-Nord property of SOQUEM Inc. and Quinto Technology Inc.  Focus purchased 100% of the mineral rights in the Lac Tétépisca project in August 2011, and map-staked the Lac Tétépisca Nord property in 2012.  Focus also discovered the Manicouagan-Ouest Graphitic Corridor in 2012.

An airborne Mag-TDEM geophysical survey of the property was subsequently conducted. The final report on the survey, received in May 2013, identified two important electromagnetic conductors, one over the area of the Manicouagan-Ouest corridor, and another anomaly in the southern part of the property. This work was followed by a comprehensive exploration program in July 2013.

In October 20, 2014, Focus announced the results of the 2013 trenching program at the Lac Tétépisca graphite project, namely that significant widths of graphitic mineralization ranging from 95 to 110 meters in thickness were intersected in a new zone. Four fences of holes were spaced 200 metres apart, covering a 600-metre strike length of this new zone in a drill program designed to test surface mineralization found in trenches down to a vertical depth of approximately 100 metres.

Preliminary metallurgical characterization of a 10kg composite sample achieved a carbon content averaging 94.7% total carbon (“Ct”) for all flake above 200 mesh, including 97.7% Ct for plus 80 mesh flake — a quality that is critical to the lithium-ion battery market. The concentrate was produced by only a three-stage cleaner flotation test. This suggests that the impurities are loosely attached to the surface and perimeter of the flakes and are not embedded within the graphite mineral layers of individual flakes, similar to what has been shown at Lac Knife. The concentrate grades could be further improved through secondary polishing and cleaning, as was shown to be the case with the Lac Knife concentrate.

Focus initiated a 2019-2020 infill core drilling program at Lac Tétépisca, which yielded encouraging results. Now that all the results from the drilling program have been compiled, they will form the basis of Focus’ maiden mineral resource estimate for the Lac Tétépisca project. The resource estimate is being prepared by DRA Americas Inc. and is expected to be completed in 2021.

The graphite-bearing outcrops within the Manicouagan-Ouest graphitic corridor are composed of fine to medium grained quartz-feldspar-biotite schists, with local occurrences of garnet and kyanite. Fine to coarse graphite flakes and associated sulphides compose 10% to 20% of the rocks, and up to 50% in strongly mineralized zones.

Preliminary metallurgical characterization of a 10kg composite sample achieved a carbon content averaging 94.7% total carbon (Ct) for all flake above 200 mesh, including 97.7% Ct for plus 80 mesh flake — a quality that is critical to the lithium-ion battery market. The concentrate was produced by only a three-stage cleaner flotation test. This suggests that the impurities are loosely attached to the surface and perimeter of the flakes and are not embedded within the graphite mineral layers of individual flakes, similar to what has been shown at Lac Knife. The concentrate grades could be further improved through secondary polishing and cleaning as was shown to be the case with the Lac Knife concentrate.

In October 2014, Focus announced the results of the Company’s 2013 trenching program at the Lac Tétépisca graphite property, namely that significant widths of graphitic mineralization ranging from 95 to 110 meters in thickness were intersected in a new zone. Four fences of holes were spaced 200 metres apart, covering a 600-metre strike length of this new zone in a drill program designed to test surface mineralization found in trenches down to a vertical depth of approximately 100 metres.

The Manicouagan-Ouest graphitic corridor was discovered by Focus in 2012 and then exposed and channel sampled in two trenches in the fall of 2013. Assays up to 88.5 m @ 12.82 % graphitic carbon (“Cg”) and 84 m @ 11 % Cg were obtained.

In June 2021, Focus announced results from its 2019-2020 infill core drilling program, which exceeded expectations and brings the Lac Tétépisca Graphite Project into the mineral resource estimation stage, which has been initiated with DRA Americas Inc.

For more details on the results from the 2019-2020 drill program, click here.

In February 2022, Focus reported its maiden mineral resource estimate for its Lac Tétépisca Graphite Project. The results, which were prepared by DRA Global Limited, have exceeded expectations and suggest the deposit has the potential to become one of the largest sources of high-quality flake graphite in North America.

For more details on the maiden mineral resource estimate, click here.

In March 2022, Focus announced the start of a first phase of exploration drilling at Lac Tétépisca. This drilling program is designed to explore for satellite deposits within a radius of five kilometers. This drilling will test two high priority targets and will confirm if they have significant graphite mineralization potential.

For more details on the phase 1 exploration drilling, click here.

In April 2022, Focus announced the filing on SEDAR of a technical report on Maiden Resource Estimated for its MOGC graphite deposit at Lac Tétépisca. The NI 43-101 Technical Report was prepared by DRA Global Limited and authored by an independent Qualified Person.

For more details on the technical report on the maiden resource estimate, click here.

In June 2022, Focus announced that it has been awarded $350,000 grant from the Québec Government. The funding will be used to conduct a series of mineralogical, metallurgical, and geoenvironmental tests to develop a geometallurgical model of its MOGC graphite deposit at Lac Tétépisca.

For more details on the $350,000 grant, click here.

In August 2023, Focus Graphite released the assay results of another 12 holes from the Company’s 2022 exploration and definition drilling program. The top intercepts included 91.26 m grading 13.25% Cg in hole LT-22-129, 94.06 m grading 10.45% in hole LT-22-126 and 67.50 m grading 13.50% in hole LT-22-128.

These results validate the presence of consistent and significant graphitic mineralization extending vertically down to 200 metres from the surface and following the deposit’s strike direction over a total distance of 950 metres. This achievement marks a significant advancement towards revising the mineral resource estimate for the Lac Tétépisca project.

For more details on these results click here.

The mineral resource estimate (MRE) for the Lac Tétépisca deposit was prepared by DRA Global Limited’s Montréal, Québec office and includes a pit-constrained Indicated resource for the Manicouagan-Ouest Graphitic Corridor (“MOGC”) at the Lac Tétépisca project of 59.3 Mt tonnes (“Mt”) grading 10.61% Graphitic Carbon1 (“Cg”) for an estimated content of 6.3 Mt of natural flake graphite (in-situ), and an Inferred resource of 14.9 Mt grading 11.06% Cg1 for an estimated content of 1.6 Mt of natural flake graphite (in-situ) (Tables 1, 2).

The results suggest the deposit has the potential to become one of the largest sources of high-quality flake graphite in North America.

¹A cut-off grade of 3.9% Cg was applied to all estimates.

Mineral Resources

Table 1: Mineral Resources (at 3.9% Cg Cut-Off) – MOGC, Lac Tétépisca Project.

Table 2: Sensitivity Analysis.

Plan and longitudinal views of the conceptual 2D pit shell with mineral resource blocks for the MOGC graphite deposit are available on the Company’s website at Focus Graphite Reports Major Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate at Lac Tétépisca, Québec – Focus Graphite.

Resource Estimation Summary and Parameters

The maiden mineral resource estimate (“MRE”) for the Lac Tétépisca project is based on 106 inclined diamond drill holes performed between 2014 and 2020 on the Manicouagan-Ouest Graphitic Corridor (“MOGC”) graphite prospect, for a total of 16,467 metres. Focus discovered the MOGC prospect in July 2012 while conducting reconnaissance geological mapping, prospecting, and outcrop sampling on the Property. The MOGC is defined by a linear kilometre-long ground geophysical Magnetic (MAG) – Electromagnetic (EM) anomaly that trends N035o. Drilling was conducted in a 1.4 km long segment of the MOGC, along fences up to 300-metres long, with fences oriented N305o and spaced 100 metres, 50 metres or 25 metres apart.