Graphite has been found as disseminations in marble, in sulphide-bearing paragneiss, in pods and veins on the Property. In known occurrences, graphite can be alone or in association with other minerals, including pyroxene, scapolite, titanite, zircon and wollastonite (Spence 1920). Through trenching, Canada Carbon has identified many examples of graphite mineralization associated with marble and detritical rock sequences. Numerous variations of the graphite mineralization are observed within the Project area. Graphite primarily occurs in well crystallized euhedral flakes.

The Project represents an example of a granulite-hosted, high temperature graphite deposit, which could be paralleled to the Sierra de Aracena metamorphic belt described by Rodas et al. (2000), where the same type of graphite occurrences are found: I) stratiform graphite associated with gneiss and quartzite interbedded with calc-silicate series; II) disseminated graphite; III) graphite associated with anatectic tonalities and their restitic enclaves and IV) graphite veins. Graphite in all types of occurrences shows high crystallinity as revealed by the x-ray diffraction (XRD) study and thermal properties (Rodas et al. 2000).

Tetra Tech prepared an open pit mining study for the Project based on a target annual production of 1,500 t of refined graphite and 150,000 t of marble blocks. Canada Carbon provided Tetra Tech with a signed letter of intent with a potential mining contractor for mining graphite material, crushing to finer than 20 mm, and hauling to the mill and handling waste rock. Canada Carbon also provided rental rates for the leased supporting and ancillary mining equipment to be utilized for both the graphite and marble pits.

The graphite pit will be mined using conventional truck/loader open pit mining. The production cycle will include drilling, blasting, loading, and hauling, and will be performed by a mining contractor.

Marble will be cut into blocks using chain saws. First a horizontal bottom section, with a length of 20 m and a depth of 2.25 m, will be cut. Second, a back vertical section, with a length of 20 m will be cut at a depth of 2.25 m. Wood blocks will be used to prevent the marble blocks from falling. Vertical cross sections will be cut at approximately 2-m intervals to produce 2.25 m by 2.25 m by 2 m marble blocks. The marble blocks will then be separated and pushed down over a prepared cushion layer of crushed rocks using hydraulic block pushers. A fork loader will be used to load the marble blocks into a flatbed truck for off-site transportation.

The proposed graphite concentrator at the mine site will be conventional and will process graphite mineralization at a nominal rate of 200 t/d with an equipment availability of 88% (365 d/a). The concentrator is planned to expand to a nominal throughput of approximately 499 t/d in the late stages of the mine life. The concentrator will use conventional flotation technology to produce three graphite concentrates, each with a different particle size. The concentrates will be hauled to a thermal upgrading plant located at the Asbury site for further upgrading to the final graphite product containing higher than 99.99% graphitic carbon. The designed annual production rate of the highpurity graphite product is 1,500 t/a.

The process flowsheet developed for the Miller graphite mineralization consists of conventional multi-stages of grinding and flotation processes. The processing plant will produce three different particle size graphite flotation concentrates containing approximately 95% graphitic carbon. The processing plant is estimated to produce approximately 1,650 t/a of flotation concentrate from the mill feeds, grading from 0.5 to 2.6% graphitic carbon. The estimated graphite recoveries reporting to the flotation concentrates range from 85 to 88%. The processing plant will consist of:
* crushing plant by a mining contractor;
* crushed materials storage and re-handling system;
* a surge bin with a live capacity of 200 t on surface;
* a primary grinding circuit integrated with flash flotation;
* bulk rougher flotation and scavenger flotation concentrate regrinding;
* bulk cleaner flotation followed by cleaner concentrate classification;
* cleaner concentrate polishing regrinding;
* refloating of the reground concentrates;
* concentrate dewatering;
* flotation tailings dewatering and dry stacking.

The final flotation concentrate will be dewatered, bagged, and trucked to the thermal upgrading plant for further upgrading at the Asbury site, located at approximately 150 km northwest of the Miller site.