Zenyatta Ventures drills 128 meters of 5.5% carbon graphite at Albany Graphite Deposit

Zenyatta Ventures Ltd. (TSX.V: ZEN) reported additional assay results Wednesday from recent drilling completed at its 100% owned Albany Graphite Project in northern Ontario.

The drill results come a month after Zenyatta announced it has retained RPA Inc. to prepare a maiden National Instrument (NI) 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the project, which is expected to be released during the fourth quarter of this year.

Highlighted drill results from Wednesday’s news release included 128 meters of 5.5% carbon graphite in drill hole 20 as well as 150.6 meters of 4.8% carbon graphite in hole 24. Both intercepts began approximately 61 meters below surface.

“These latest results on the East Pipe continue to demonstrate the excellent vertical continuity and exceptional size potential of the graphite deposit, said Zenyatta President and CEO Aubrey Eveleigh. “Graphite intersections appear to be correlating extremely well with the shape of the ground geophysical conductors. Drilling to date on the West Pipe is also showing significant widths of graphitic breccia with great continuity.”

The company noted that drill holes 25-33 have been completed and are currently being assayed by ALS Minerals in Vancouver. Results are expected in late August. To date over 20,000 meters of core drilling have been completed at Albany along with preliminary metallurgical work that showed recoveries of more than 99%.

Zenyatta was one of the top performing stocks on the TSX Venture in 2012, gaining 445% for the year. So far in 2013 the stock has continued its impressive move higher, up another 419% thus far. Shares closed Wednesday’s market session at $4.10 each.

What makes Zenyatta’s Albany Project so coveted is its rarity. Only two similar deposits have been discovered worldwide to date - the Borrowdale deposit that occurs in Europe and the Bogala Graphite Mine in Sri Lanka, which is currently operated by a subsidiary of Germany’s AMG Mining AG.

Because of the rare magmatic hydrothermal breccia makeup of these deposits, they represent less than 1% of annual natural graphite production worldwide, yet their price per tonne can be more than four times higher than flake or amorphous powder graphite because of the high purities.

Zenyatta initially completed a $10 million IPO in late 2010 with help from Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (TSX: CLF), the company’s largest shareholder, who also supplied Zenyatta with the original earn-in option agreement to acquire an 80% interest in the Albany Project. In late 2012 Zenyatta acquire Cliff’s remaining interest in exchange for 1.25 million shares and a 0.75% Net Smelter Royalty (NSR).

The excitement of the Albany Project has also led to a minor rush by other juniors to acquire adjacent or nearby properties in hopes of making similar discoveries. Recent announcements of neighboring land acquisitions have come from MPH Ventures Corp. (TSX.V: MPS) Caribou King Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: CKR), Samaranta Mining Corp. (TSX.V: SAX), Ashburton Ventures Inc. (TSX.V: ABR), Weststar Resources Corp. (TSX.V: WER), Cavan Ventures Inc. (TSX.V: CVN) and TAD Mineral Exploration Inc. (TSX.V: TJ).

Shares of Zenyatta are traded on Venture under the ticker symbol ZEN. The company has 55 million shares outstanding and holds a market cap of $225 as of Wednesday’s close. A recent warrant exercise that totaled $12.6 million further capitalized the company to continue advancing the Albany Project through the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) stage, which is expected to commence during the fourth quarter of this year.