London-listed Blencowe Resources has received a fourth tranche of funding worth $500 000 from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), which is the US government’s private sector lending arm.

The latest payment, which adds to drawdowns worth $3.5-million to date, is supporting the company’s definitive feasibility study (DFS) work on the Orom-Cross graphite project, in Uganda.

Blencowe signed the technical assistance grant agreement with the DFC in September 2023 for a total value of $5-million.

A further $1.5-million remains undrawn pending future commitments, with the company also using its own funds raised towards the DFS.

Orom-Cross is one of the few preproduction resource projects worldwide that has received a US government grant.

Blencowe continues to consider all means possible to add value at Orom-Cross, using the project's unique characteristics to appeal to graphite industry leaders. 

Orom-Cross is becoming well known in graphite markets as one of the lowest operating cost producers worldwide that can also be brought into production for a much lower capital cost than most of its peers, says chairperson Cameron Pearce.

He adds that the high quality of the project’s end products has attracted a host of interested parties for offtake discussions, and the company is working through a rigorous final bulk sample testing process to become qualified before signing offtake agreements.  

“The DFC involvement in the project provides Orom-Cross with top tier international funding party credibility, as well as actual cash towards the completion of the DFS.  This unique collaboration is another key differentiating factor for the company,” Pearce concludes.