Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011
Baobab Resources has added more than 100 million tonnes to the JORC compliant resource at its iron ore project in the Tete region of Mozambique. It rises to 267 million tonnes from 160 million tonnes following the completion of resource estimates on the Ruoni North and Chitongue Grande.
This is phenomenal progress for a company which started 2011 with a JORC resource of 48 million tonnes and puts it tantalizingly close to its 300 million tonne target which it hopes to achieve by the year-end.
Mr Ben James Managing director said "Ten months into the year and the global inventory is now sitting at more than a quarter of a billion tonnes with the high grade Ruoni South resource still to come in and Tenge beginning to flex its muscle.
He said that "This would not have been accomplished without the unswerving dedication of our technical team in Mozambique. The scoping study is progressing at pace and is assessing development routes that will capitalize on the project's unique proximity to abundant coal and water resources and some of the lowest tariff hydro-power in Africa.”
He added that "Importantly these are the critical complementary resources for establishing a fully integrated iron and steel industry."
The Tete project splits into two distinct parts the Singore area and directly to the north of this, the Massamba Group. Massamba can then be split into a number of target areas Chitongue Grande, Chimbala, the Tenge-Ruoni prospect and finally the rather blandly named South Zone.
Ruoni North inferred resource is 93 million tonnes with a head grade of 35% iron ore (Fe) and an indicative concentrate grade of 58% Fe, 0.8% vanadium oxide and 13% titanium dioxide. Chitongue Grande’s inferred resource base increased from 48 million tonnes to 61 million with a head grade of 25% Fe and an average concentrate grade of 64%.
Baobab said drilling at Ruoni South, meanwhile has defined broad packages of mineralization delivering some of the best quality concentrate grades in the Massamba Group. These included a consistently high grade of vanadium. Independent consultant Coffey Mining is on schedule to deliver a resource estimate by the end of November.
The company revealed that the high mass recoveries recorded at the Ruoni North deposit means that it will yield more than double the concentrate per tonne of ore processed than its South Zone or Chitongue Grande counterparts. Drilling is progressing steadily at Tenge, outlining substantial zones of strong mineralization. First analytical results are expected during December.
Finally the group reiterated that the compilation of a scoping study on the project is at an advanced stage with preliminary results expected in the latter half of November. The plan in the next three-and-a-half to four years is to create an operation that will initially export magnetite and an increasingly more profitable ilmenite concentrate. It will then move into the production of pig iron using well established rotary hearth furnace technology successfully employed in South Africa and New Zealand.
The capital costs of such a project are substantial, at anywhere between USD 500 million to USD 750 million but off-set by the staggering revenue potential of pig iron, magnetite and ilmenite concentrate production. When compared to some of the iron ore projects planned for West Africa that requires a huge investment in infrastructure, Baobab Tete project looks much more affordable.
(sourced from Proactiveinvestors)
Baobab Resources has added more than 100 million tonnes to the JORC compliant resource at its iron ore project in the Tete region of Mozambique. It rises to 267 million tonnes from 160 million tonnes following the completion of resource estimates on the Ruoni North and Chitongue Grande.
This is phenomenal progress for a company which started 2011 with a JORC resource of 48 million tonnes and puts it tantalizingly close to its 300 million tonne target which it hopes to achieve by the year-end.
Mr Ben James Managing director said "Ten months into the year and the global inventory is now sitting at more than a quarter of a billion tonnes with the high grade Ruoni South resource still to come in and Tenge beginning to flex its muscle.
He said that "This would not have been accomplished without the unswerving dedication of our technical team in Mozambique. The scoping study is progressing at pace and is assessing development routes that will capitalize on the project's unique proximity to abundant coal and water resources and some of the lowest tariff hydro-power in Africa.”
He added that "Importantly these are the critical complementary resources for establishing a fully integrated iron and steel industry."
The Tete project splits into two distinct parts the Singore area and directly to the north of this, the Massamba Group. Massamba can then be split into a number of target areas Chitongue Grande, Chimbala, the Tenge-Ruoni prospect and finally the rather blandly named South Zone.
Ruoni North inferred resource is 93 million tonnes with a head grade of 35% iron ore (Fe) and an indicative concentrate grade of 58% Fe, 0.8% vanadium oxide and 13% titanium dioxide. Chitongue Grande’s inferred resource base increased from 48 million tonnes to 61 million with a head grade of 25% Fe and an average concentrate grade of 64%.
Baobab said drilling at Ruoni South, meanwhile has defined broad packages of mineralization delivering some of the best quality concentrate grades in the Massamba Group. These included a consistently high grade of vanadium. Independent consultant Coffey Mining is on schedule to deliver a resource estimate by the end of November.
The company revealed that the high mass recoveries recorded at the Ruoni North deposit means that it will yield more than double the concentrate per tonne of ore processed than its South Zone or Chitongue Grande counterparts. Drilling is progressing steadily at Tenge, outlining substantial zones of strong mineralization. First analytical results are expected during December.
Finally the group reiterated that the compilation of a scoping study on the project is at an advanced stage with preliminary results expected in the latter half of November. The plan in the next three-and-a-half to four years is to create an operation that will initially export magnetite and an increasingly more profitable ilmenite concentrate. It will then move into the production of pig iron using well established rotary hearth furnace technology successfully employed in South Africa and New Zealand.
The capital costs of such a project are substantial, at anywhere between USD 500 million to USD 750 million but off-set by the staggering revenue potential of pig iron, magnetite and ilmenite concentrate production. When compared to some of the iron ore projects planned for West Africa that requires a huge investment in infrastructure, Baobab Tete project looks much more affordable.
(sourced from Proactiveinvestors)
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