• Infill drilling program commenced to consolidate Burke and Mt Dromedary Graphite Deposits
• Drilling aims to provide data for a combined high-grade graphite mineral resource estimate
• Lithium Energy holds 4.42Mt of high-grade natural graphite across three deposits in Queensland

Lithium Energy Limited (ASX:LEL) has commenced an infill resource development drilling program at its Burke Graphite Project in Queensland. The primary objective of the drilling is to consolidate the two separate high-grade JORC mineral resources associated with the adjacent Burke and Mt Dromedary Graphite Deposits into a combined JORC graphite mineral resource. The drilling will also seek to provide further samples and data for metallurgical and geotechnical planning. Lithium Energy currently holds a world-class combined 4.42Mt inventory of high-grade natural graphite across three graphite deposits in Queensland, with potential for resource expansion. The +14% TGC average grades of the adjacent Burke and Mt Dromedary Deposits (3.14Mt of contained graphite) are significantly higher than most global peers. The drilling program will comprise 30 reverse circulation (RC) and 6 diamond core holes for a total of ~3,900 metres. The drilling will focus on areas between the existing Burke and Mt Dromedary Deposits. The recent announcement of new Chinese export controls on graphite battery anode material (BAM) highlights the need for graphite projects such as Burke to be developed as alternative suppliers of BAM to global markets. Lithium Energy is evaluating the development of a vertically integrated BAM business utilizing high-grade graphite from its consolidated graphite deposits as feedstock material to a BAM manufacturing facility in Queensland.

Lithium Energy is evaluating the development of a vertically integrated battery anode material (BAM) business utilizing high-grade graphite from its consolidated graphite deposits as feedstock material to a BAM manufacturing facility in Queensland. The BAM Facility is expected to mechanically shape and spheronize the graphite flakes followed by chemical purification to form spherical purified graphite (SPG) and coated spherical purified graphite (CSPG), which are high quality BAM products to be sold for use in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries or battery energy storage solutions.