Black Smoker Ventures acquires BC graphite project next to Eagle Graphite mine

Black Smoker Ventures (CNSX:BSM) said Wednesday that it has acquired five contiguous mineral tenures covering around 2,464 hectares in the Omineca mining division in British Columbia.
Black Smoker's easterly claim boundary lies only three kilometres west of the Black Crystal graphite quarry operated by private company Eagle Graphite Corp - one of only a few producing graphite mines in North America, and the only natural flake graphite mine in British Columbia.
The claims are accessible by forestry roads and a high-tension power line passes, the company said, approximately five kilometers southwest of the property.
The purchase agreement was inked with Jevin Werbes, under which the company will pay Werbes $10,000 for the claims, as well as 500,000 common shares of Black Smoker.
Black Smoker said in a statement that it is planning mapping and sampling for the summer, followed by a drill target selection program for this field season, to start just after the snow melts on the property.
"We are extremely excited to be an early mover in an emerging graphite camp with current production in close proximity to our project area," said president and CEO Carson Seabolt.
"We are fortunate to add this asset to our property portfolio and will initiate exploration as soon as possible."
Eagle Graphite is a private Canadian corporation with production facilities located 46 kilometres northwest of the City of Nelson in southeastern British Columbia, Canada.
Re-opened in 2007, Eagle Graphite produces high carbon flake graphite for the worldwide market.
Black Smoker is focused on the exploration of its Fox Lake property in Manitoba, Canada.  A total of around 12 million tonnes grading 1.82% copper and 1.78% zinc was produced from the Fox Mine in the years 1970 to 1985.
In early April, the company saw its shares surge as it announced plans to start drilling at Fox Lake. The Fox Mine has never been explored below a 1,200 metre depth and Black Smoker said it had completed the first modern deep penetrating geophysical survey on the property resulting in the identification of multiple targets to be tested in the first quarter of 2012.
The  initial 1,600-metre program started this month, and is expected to be completed over a 45-day period.