LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Alba Mineral Resources won a five-year extension to its Amitsoq graphite licence in Greenland, the company said on Thursday.
The mineral exploration and development company currently holds 90% ownership of the licence, with an option for 100% ownership, for which the standard expenditure commitment has been reduced to zero by the government of Greenland.

George Frangeskides, executive chairman of Alba Mineral Resources, said: "We are grateful to the government of Greenland for the continuing strong support they give to those of us operating in the mining sector in Greenland. The latest demonstration of that support, in recognition of a view that global conditions for mining exploration remain sub-optimal, is the government's decision to apply a moratorium on exploration expenditure commitments."

Two stage metallurgical testwork of samples from the Amitsoq site has confirmed the potential for production of a marketable grade concentrate of graphite from the site.

As part of the testwork Flotation at differing grind sizes showed that the graphite was recoverable at a grind below 500 microns at "extremely high recoveries" with a maximum of 97.4% recovery at a relatively coarse 150 micron grind.

"The grant of a further five year licence term is a major development and reward for the significant work we have put into the project over the past few years. Aside from Amitsoq, we now have a strong portfolio of exploration assets in Greenland and we look forward to announcing our plans for this coming field season soon," said Frangeskides.

The AIM traded company also holds interests in the Thule Black Sands, Melville Bay Iron Ore and Inglefield Land projects in Greenland as well as oil and gas projects in UK, a base metals project in Ireland and a uranium project in Mauritania.

As of 1114 GMT, Alba Mineral Resources' shares were up 4.17% at 0.37p.

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