...if we want an upper hand in mining it.

Playing defensive in waiting for the other party to come up with a solid project is not an option.

The ROF mining companies know it and hopefully they will come up with a concerted agreement including the FN which will be the speediest way to go.

Here is the competion :

Getting to grips with graphite — OnPage Media hosts a Toronto conference for investors May 2

Greg Klein, Resource Clips Apr 26, 2012 – 10:23 AM ET | Last Updated: Apr 27, 2012 10:46 AM ET

Vancouver was a resounding success, and Toronto will be bigger. OnPage Media’s May 2 Graphite Express-Conference at Toronto’s Sheraton Centre presents an ideal opportunity to cut through the hype and to gain firsthand, accurate information about this upcoming sector. The event takes just three hours and registration is free.

“Investors and brokers are signing for this conference because graphite companies are doing well in this tough market,” says OnPage Media principal Robert Bick. “We will be introducing 15 graphite companies to the Toronto market. The 12 presenting companies will each give a four-minute talk, and attendees will be able to meet with each of the CEOs one on one.

“It’s a unique event and an ideal opportunity to learn from two of the world’s foremost authorities on graphite — keynote speakers Chris Berry and Simon Moores.”

Based in New York and a sought-after speaker in North America and Europe, Berry is co-author of Morning Notes and founder of House Mountain Partners, which studies the interplay of emerging and developed economies, the commodities market and junior resource stocks. At Vancouver’s February 23 conference, he presented a clear, compelling analysis of how emerging graphite needs will be affected by resource nationalism. “I thought the Vancouver show was a real success,” he says. “I hope the Toronto conference will educate investors about what to look for in a graphite junior.

“I’ll certainly be talking about graphite supply and demand,” he adds. “But the real centrepiece of my theme will be the single most important thing an investor needs to know about investing in a graphite junior.”

Moores is an international authority who has spent six years writing on graphite and other strategic commodities for the London-headquartered journal Industrial Minerals. “The nature of our work at IM gives us a truly global perspective and allows us to see a picture most people don’t get to see,” he declares. “I’ll be talking about key factors of supply, demand and external issues that are making graphite do what it’s doing today, both in the industry and on the stock market. I’ve highlighted a few main areas that are the sole reasons for the way the industry’s performing, and I think that’ll spark some discussion.”

Canadian juniors form the vanguard of this exploration rush, and graphite is a commodity especially well suited to them. Although Canucks explore the world for other commodities, they don’t necessarily look far afield for graphite. The Grenville geological sub-province, which begins in southeast Ontario and cuts a broad swath through central Quebec to the Labrador coast, is an especially carbon-rich region. Other graphite finds are being pursued from Nova Scotia to British Columbia. Following the principle of “closeology,” exploration has been especially busy in the vicinity of North America’s only two operating flake-graphite mines, one in southeast BC and the other in west Quebec.

Targets are easier to find thanks to historic geological reports that were shelved and mines that were shut down when prices were low. Graphite is also highly conductive, making a strong impression on the electromagnetic surveys that are among the earliest stages of mineral exploration. Followup work might find the stuff readily apparent in outcrops, rocks or trenches. Economic deposits are usually close to surface, allowing relatively shallow drilling and simple open-pit mining. Metallurgy is reasonably straightforward. The economics can be further enhanced by the possibility of offtake deals or a strategic alliance before mining begins.

Apart from the usual considerations in evaluating a company, graphite presents three crucial factors: the type of graphite, its grade and the size of the deposit. There’s some interplay between the three. Higher grade might make a smaller deposit economical, while larger flake might justify a lower grade.

Graphite comes in four types. Amorphous graphite is a powdery material at the bottom of the price scale but essential to steelmaking. Other uses include such auto parts as clutches and brake linings.

Flake graphite is more expensive, its value rising with the size of the flakes. This is the type most actively pursued and associated with current and next-generation energy technologies: lithium-ion batteries, vanadium redox batteries, pebble-bed nuclear reactors, solar panels and fuel cells. Flake is also used to produce graphene, a seemingly wondrous graphite derivative that might revolutionize fields ranging from digital devices to biotechnology.

Vein graphite is the rarest, most expensive type of natural graphite and is characterized by particles in the form of flakes, needles or lumps. As for synthetic graphite, it lacks some of the qualities of flake and costs more.

Graphite is not, however, sold on an open market. The concentrate is often tailor-made for specific customers. That can mean, for example, that a graphite producer finds a customer whose manufacturing needs best suit the flake size, purity and other qualities that this particular miner can extract and process.

To offer readers a head start, a brief outline of each presenting and exhibiting company at Graphite Express is provided below. The May 2 conference will give investors the chance to hear representatives firsthand, meet them individually and also learn from two world-renowned authorities. Click here for more information and free registration.

Presenting Companies

Lomiko Metals’ (TSXV:LMR) 1,600-hectare Quatre Milles Graphite Property 175 kilometres northwest of Montreal saw extensive historic exploration by Graphicor Resources in 1989 including prospecting, mapping, geophysics and a 26-hole, 1,625-metre drill program. Non-43-101 results include 8.07% C over 28.6 metres, 8.07% over 8.7 metres, 5.88% over 11.2 metres, 8.6% over 7.6 metres, 5.99% over 10.3 metres, 5.72% over 8.1 metres, 4.64% over 9.6 metres and 4.63% over 7.2 metres. The property’s geological features consist of intercalated biotite gneiss, biotite feldspar gneiss, marble, quartzite and calc-silicate lithologies.

Last year’s exploration on Lomiko’s 5,407-hectare Vines Lake Property found a 122-hectare zinc anomaly. The project lies in BC’s Cassiar Gold Camp and the Liard Mining District and has year-round paved road access via Highway 37N. Lomiko also holds a 1,900-hectare property in the Chilean Salt Lake known as Salar de Aguas Calientes which contains surface brines known to contain lithium, sulfate and potash.

Read an interview with Lomiko Metals CEO Paul Gill.

Focus Metals’ (TSXV:FMS) Lac Knife Project in northeast Quebec has “the highest-grade graphite deposit in the world,” according to President/CEO Gary Economo. The company plans to finish its PEA in 2Q this year and, on completing permitting, begin open-pit mine construction. “We won’t need a feasibility study because we’ll have offtake agreements, and we have our financing already pretty well defined,” Economo explains. Metallurgical tests announced April 11 show the deposit holds 46.1% large flake (+48 mesh to +100 mesh) and 39% medium flake (+150 mesh to +200 mesh) with an overall global recovery test rate of 85.9%. Focus projects mine production of 20,000 tonnes per annum grading 95% C in late 2013, rising to 23,000 tpa grading 99.9% in 2014.

Focus has a 40% interest in Grafoid Inc, a company dedicated to producing graphene using ore from Lac Knife. Focus also holds a 50% interest in the Kwyjibo Polymetallic Property in northeast Quebec.

Read an interview with Focus President/CEO Gary Economo.

Read a feature story about Focus Metals.

Standard Graphite’s (TSXV:SGH) April 24 acquisition of the Mousseau East Deposit in west Quebec gives the project flagship status. A 1992 non-43-101 resource estimate showed 598,480 tonnes grading 8.29% carbon proven, 219,450 tonnes grading 8.13% probable and 288,760 tonnes grading 7.85% possible. The new property marks the Standard’s transition “from being an exploration company into the developmental stage,” says President/CEO Chris Bogart. Prior to drilling, the company will further analyze the historic data. Bogart emphasizes, however, that the company intends to expand the historic resource.

Standard has 12 or more other properties in the Grenville subprovince. Last week, the company finished a 3,310-line-kilometre airborne electromagnetic survey over its Ontario and Quebec properties. Standard’s team includes experienced graphite personnel in Geologist Antoine Fournier and Senior VP Business Development Benoit Gascon, former President of Stratmin Graphite when it owned the Lac-des-Îles Graphite Mine.

Read a feature story about Standard Graphite.

Zimtu Capital Corp (TSXV:ZC) is an investment company focused on private, micro- and small-cap resource companies. As a business incubator, it creates partnerships with prospectors and geologists who stake properties that are marketed to the junior exploration sector. The company can then provide capital to the juniors as well as managerial, financial, marketing and technical services. While helping companies move from private to public, Zimtu gives its investors “access to that very early stage of junior exploration,” says President/Director Dave Hodge. “And in that very early stage there is tremendous upside and tremendous potential. Essentially, it gives the public access to that very early stage that normally they wouldn’t have access to: pre-IPO in a risk-reduced manner because Zimtu is there to help back up the new company.”

Zimtu’s core holdings include companies involved in potash, base metals, precious metals, rare earths and other commodities. But Zimtu was well ahead of the trend in locating and marketing graphite properties to juniors.

Read an interview with Zimtu President/Director Dave Hodge.

Amseco Exploration (TSXV:ALE) has added extensive graphite claims to its gold portfolio. In February, the company announced a 50-50 joint venture on 10,110 hectares in north Quebec. The Tetepisca Properties and the Southern Properties are 215 kilometres and 120 kilometres respectively from the deep-sea port of Baie-Comeau. In March, Amseco picked up a 100% interest in another 25,362 hectares in the vicinity of Tetepisca. The properties have already had airborne surveys and graphite outcrops have been identified. President/Director Jean Desmarais says a three-month exploration program will likely begin in May with another airborne survey, field work and shallow drilling.

Amseco also holds extensive gold projects. This month, it begins a 1,500-metre drill program on the Cookie Monster Project, a 50-50 JV in Quebec’s Chapais-Chibougameau region. The 1,456-hectare property borders TomaGold’s TSXV:LOT Monster Lake Project, which announced April 11 an intersection of 237.6 grams per tonne gold over 5.7 metres. Amseco is the largest claimholder in Quebec’s Barry Urban Mining Camp and holds other gold properties as well.

Graphite finds on Energizer Resources’ (TSX:EGZ) Green Giant Property in Madagascar prompted the company to defer, for the time being, one of the world’s largest known vanadium deposits. The company says it has identified 17 graphite zones with a cumulative strike length of 320 kilometres. “There’s no other company and no other place we know of that has a graphite discovery of this magnitude,” says VP Business Development Brent Nykoliation. The project includes the company’s 75% interest in the Joint Venture Property that surrounds Energizer’s wholly owned GG Property on three sides. The company hopes to release a graphite resource estimate this summer, a PEA in the fall and feasibility by yearend.

Metallurgical results released March 26 showed purities over 90% and jumbo flake sizes of +50 mesh. Energizer also has a strategic alliance with DRA Mineral Products, Africa’s largest mine development company. Madagascar is ideally situated for important world markets, Nykoliation says.

Read feature stories about Energizer Resources’ vanadium deposit and its graphite deposit.

First Graphite’s (TSXV:FGR) flagship is its recently acquired Henry Project in north-central Saskatchewan, about eight kilometres from Noble Bay Mining’s Deep Bay Graphite Project and 20 kilometres from Strike Graphite’s Deep Bay East. Historic drilling sank 20 holes on the 22,853-hectare property, finding 30 metres of graphite content, says VP Corporate Development Andrew Mugridge. “They were looking for base metals, and the 20 holes were picked to actually avoid graphite at all costs.” With a $1.4-million private placement announced April 10, the company plans a VTEM survey, sampling, mapping and metallurgical work prior to drilling, which First Graphite hopes to begin mid-3Q 2012.

The company’s 1,045-hectare Mt Heimdahl Property sits about eight kilometres from the beneficiation plant for Eagle Graphite’s southeast BC mine. Mt Heimdahl has “multiple layers of lenses [with non-43-101 grades] that are up to 8% large-flake disseminated graphite,” Mugridge says. First Graphite’s 300-hectare Montpellier Property is located near Quebec’s Lac-des-Îles Graphite Mine. Montpellier grab samples showed grades ranging from 0.82% to 14.4%.

Read a feature story about First Graphite.

Galaxy Capital’s (TSXV:GXY) 4,200-hectare Sun Graphite Project in Quebec has non-43-101 accounts describing “outcrops of a metasediment, a sequence which is 20 metres wide containing 10% graphite, as well as 20-centimetre veins of massive graphite. So there’s a lot of graphite on the property, in an area where you would expect it to be high purity and coarse flake,” says President/CEO Chris Healey. On completion of a $2.1-million private placement, the company will be financed for prospecting, mapping, sampling and ground geophysics. Summer plans include a 3,000-metre drill program of about 40 shallow holes. If warranted, a 7,500-metre winter program will follow, leading to a PEA in spring 2013. Some 40 kilometres east of Ottawa, Galaxy> holds the 1,324-hectare Buckingham Property, site of two small historic mines.

Healey’s 40-year geological background includes 1980s experience on the Deep Bay Graphite Project in Saskatchewan, now held by Noble Bay Mining. Galaxy>’s consultants include geologist Jean-Sébastien Lavallée, another experienced graphite hand.

Read a feature story about Galaxy Capital.

With the closing of a $6.4-million private placement last month, Graphite One Resources (TSXV:GPH) plans an ambitious program leading to an autumn 2013 PEA on its Graphite Creek Project in Alaska. Based on historic work as well as 2011 field and lab work, the company believes the property hosts potential for more than 200 million tonnes grading between 5% and 10% C. Graphite One has an airborne survey planned for spring, to be followed by prospecting, mapping and drilling in the summer. Spring 2013 is scheduled for a resource estimate, along with metallurgical tests.

The company has an option to earn 100% of the 3,108-hectare property, which is on privately held land 65 kilometres from Nome, a deep-sea port with proximity to Asian markets. It’s three kilometres from an airstrip and 20 kilometres from roads. Graphite Creek is the only active graphite project in the US.

Northern Graphite (TSXV:NGC) hopes to begin open-pit mining at its Bissett Creek Graphite Project by the end of 2013. A bankable feasibility for the east Ontario project is scheduled for late May, along with a mine closure plan. Metallurgical results released April 23 showed that 19.1% of its concentrate produced +32 mesh flake size grading 98.1% carbon; 33% of concentrate +50 mesh, 97% C; 23.3% of concentrate +80 mesh; 95.1% C, 5.2% of concentrate +100 mesh, 94% C; 10.5% of concentrate +200 mesh, 92.7% C.

A September 2011 resource update shows 25.98 million tonnes grading 1.81% C for 470,300 tonnes graphite indicated, and 55.04 million tonnes grading 1.57% C for 864,100 tonnes graphite inferred using a 0.99% cutoff. Apart from the advanced stage of its project, Northern emphasizes its flake size, high purity, low strip ratio, scalability and nearby infrastructure.

Read an interview with Northern Graphite CEO Gregory Bowes.

With three graphite properties in two of the world’s top mining jurisdictions, Strike Graphite (TSXV:SRK) hopes to file a resource by 4Q 2012. The company has two northeast Saskatchewan projects, Simon Lake and Deep Bay East, as well as Wagon in west Quebec. This week, Strike begins drilling the 11,800-hectare Simon Lake. The program will sink 10 holes totalling 2,500 to 3,500 metres along two conductors, one 5.5 kilometres long, the other 25 kilometres. The 5,500-hectare Deep Bay East has non-43-101 historic results of 8.58% C over 35.1 metres, 8.97% over 13.1 metres and 9.06% over 10.7 metres. Both Saskatchewan properties have roads and the ability to access power.

The company’s 3,000-hectare Wagon Property is 15 kilometres from the Lac-des-Îles Graphite Mine. Wagon’s historic outcrop samples have returned non-43-101 results ranging from 0.57% to 18.13% C. Strike also has an option to earn up to a 75% interest in the 1,600-hectare Satterly Lake Property in northwest Ontario.

Read a feature story about Strike Graphite.

Early indications suggest to Zenyatta Ventures (TSXV:ZEN) President/CEO Aubrey Eveleigh that the company’s 121,000-hectare Albany Project in north Ontario may host an especially large deposit containing vein graphite, the rarest and most expensive type of natural graphite. “It’s a hydrothermal graphite deposit unlike what anybody is promoting in North America right now. There is one in Sri Lanka that’s similar to it, and that’s a vein-type graphite.”

Results announced January 19 from one hole show eight separate breccia zones including 4.6% C over 9.9 metres, 4.2% over 67.5 metres, 3.3% over 7.9 metres, 2.5% over 48.2 metres, 3% over 26.4 metres, 4.2% over 5.5 metres, 2.1% over 7.5 metres and 3% over 16 metres. A mineralogical study found graphite ranging from fine (-270 mesh) to coarse (+40 mesh). About 4,000 metres of additional drilling is planned. Zenyatta has an 80% earn-in option with Cliffs Natural Resources CLF, which holds 11.8% of Zenyatta’s shares.

Read a feature story about Zenyatta Ventures.

Exhibiting Companies

Big North Graphite’s (TSXV:NRT) 2,009-hectare Grand Lac du Nord Graphite Property saw field work in 2000 and 2001 by SOQUEM Inc, which identified visual occurrences of graphite while looking for sillimanite. Big North plans to begin exploration by compiling historic data, which will be followed by surface work, trenching and diamond drilling. The property is 140 kilometres from the deep-sea port of Sept-Îles and is accessible by paved and logging roads.

Big North entered the graphite space with its March acquisition of the Griffith and Brougham properties in southeast Ontario. The 6,500-hectare properties cover tracts of graphite-prospective Grenville-age geology, but graphite exploration hasn’t taken place using modern technology. Brougham has historic reports of two graphite occurrences to the southeast. Griffith covers a large area of favourable geology, with the historic Little-Bryan and Beidelman-Lyall graphite occurrences to the west and south and a marble quarry with reported graphite to the east. The region has well-established infrastructure.

Read an interview with Big North President/CEO Spiro Kletas.

Soldi Ventures (TSXV:SOV) has begun geophysical surveys, mapping and prospecting on its 1,180-hectare Cameron Graphite Property in west Quebec. Metallurgical tests from a bulk sample in 1965 produced concentrate as high as 97.4% C with a 90.15% recovery. Flake-size distribution showed 65.09% +48 mesh in one test and 52.39% +48 mesh in another. The project is just off Highway 105, 125 kilometres north of Ottawa. Preliminary work has also begun on Soldi’s 930-hectare Lochaber Graphite Property in west Quebec. Historic work found a strong, wide conductor and visual occurrences of graphite. Lochaber is 32 kilometres from Ottawa, near a highway and in an historic graphite-mining district.

Soldi has been releasing assays from its Golden Bullet Gold Project in central Newfoundland. Highlights include results of 1.27 g/t gold over 33.5 metres (including 1.98 g/t over 17.2 metres) and 7.22 g/t over 5.4 metres (including 12.03 g/t over 3.2 metres).

Uragold Bay Resources (TSXV:UBR) further diversified its gold-uranium portfolio with last month’s acquisition of two Quebec graphite properties. The Asbury Mine operated seasonally as a graphite open pit from 1980 to 1989. Drilling in 1985 found the bottom of the pit open at depth. Graphite zones to the north and south show further potential, the company states. Historic non-43-101 metallurgical tests showed a recovery of 85% with 50% of concentrate producing +80-mesh large flakes with an average grade of 90% C, 25% of concentrate producing medium flakes with an average grade of 80% and 25% of concentrate producing fine flake with an average grade of 80%. The Canadian Graphite Property has a non-compliant 1918 estimate of 168,000 tons grading 6.15% C.

Uragold’s other projects include the Beauce Placer Property, site of Canada’s first gold rush in the 1850s, the McDonald Gold Project, the Moe River Gold Project and the Uskawanis Uranium Project, all in the mining-friendly province of Quebec.

Disclaimer: Lomiko Metals Inc, Focus Metals Inc, Standard Graphite Corp, Zimtu Capital Corp, Amseco Exploration Ltd, Energizer Resources Inc, First Graphite Corp, Galaxy Capital Corp, Graphite One Resources Inc, Northern Graphite Corp, Strike Graphite Corp, Zenyatta Ventures Inc, Big North Graphite Corp, Soldi Ventures Inc and Uragold Bay Resources Inc are clients of OnPage Media, and the principals of OnPage Media may hold shares in those companies.