Since listing on the Australian Stock Exchange this month, battery and key mineral exploration company iTech Minerals (ASX: ITM) has begun exploration for its South Australian assets.

The company continues to work in the advanced Ethiopia and Caralue Bluff kaolin and rare earth element (REE) exploration areas along the remote Eyre Peninsula. In Ethiopia, the high-purity kaolin is determined at intervals of 4m to 24m, where the total iron content of the kaolin is less than 1 % Oxide.

The discovery of historical samples with abnormal cerium values ​​prompted the company to begin investigating the potential of iron-absorbing clay mineralization.

iTech has submitted 35 samples for additional REE analysis and plans to resample the remaining 41 boreholes in Ethiopia next month.

This will include the most anomalous hole, which has more than 30m of 330 ppm cerium in the weathered profile.

In the Bendigo kaolin mining area, iTech has obtained the new mining right of Nackara Arc over 106 square kilometers in the Franklin project area.

The exploration target of this exploration area is based on historical drilling of up to 91 million tons of halloysite-kaolinite, with alumina content of less than 45 microns and alumina content of 30% to 36%.

Recent surveying and historical results indicate that the new surface cover reveals shallow kaolin granite and may extend the exploration target to the north.

A total of 25 samples were collected from historical boreholes and submitted to kaolin and REE testing work.

iTech said the results will guide upcoming drilling plans in the area.

In the Campoona lithium iron graphite project, iTech has the opportunity to supply spherical graphite and graphene to the growing battery technology market.

The mineral resources of the advanced project are 8.55Mt, and the total amount of graphite carbon is 9%.

It includes a mining lease granted and two multi-purpose leases for processing and water supply infrastructure.

iTech is cooperating with ANZAPLAN, a German industrial and battery material expert, to process environmentally friendly (hydrofluoric acid-free) flake graphite beneficiation and spheroidization for lithium-ion battery negative electrodes.

The company has been collecting raw ore samples from Campoona for shipment to Germany, and has been developing proposals to update the scope of the study.

iTech stated that its kaolin and rare earth element drilling program on the Eyre Peninsula is progressing well.

This work will be managed by the newly appointed exploration manager Wade Bollenhagen, who has worked for more than a decade at Archer Materials (ASX: AXE), a technology-focused company.

Entry notices have been sent to landowners in Ethiopia and Caralue Bluff to prepare for drilling after the end of the harvest season.

It also issued notices to the landowners in Bendigo and Franklin, and once approved, drilling in these areas will begin.