Bauxite Discovery at New Portside Production Centre
Sydney, May 28, 2015 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABX) has started its first bauxite mine in Tasmania and holds the core of the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. ABx's 37 bauxite tenements in Queensland, New South Wales & Tasmania exceed 5,000 km2 and were rigorously selected for (1) good quality bauxite; (2) near infrastructure connected to export ports; & (3) free of socio-environmental constraints. All tenements are 100% owned, unencumbered & free of third-party royalties.
ABx's discovery rate is increasing as knowledge, technology & expertise grows.
The Company's bauxite is high quality gibbsite tri-hydrate (THA) bauxite & can be processed into alumina at low temperature - the type in short supply globally.
Bauxite Discovery at New Portside Production Centre
- Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) has received high grade assays from drill hole samples into the PR-18 bauxite deposit located north of Launceston and close to the Bell Bay export port, northern Tasmania.
- Results are mainly high-grade, direct shipping bauxite (DSO)
- ABx considers this Portside area to be the most likely third Bauxite Production Centre. ABx's business plan is to produce from 3 production centres so as to maximise blending to produce consistent products
- ABx's first two production centres are (1) the Campbell Town production centre which includes ABx's operating mine at Bald Hill and (2) the DL-130 Production Centre west of Launceston - see Figure 1 in link below.
- Initial bauxite resources for the Campbell Town production centre total 3.5 million tonnes.
- ABx's total bauxite resources for all regions total 119 million tonnes, of which 9.2 million tonnes are in Tasmania.
- The drilling program for the DL-130 area has concluded for 2015 and revised resource estimation will be conducted over coming months
- Once all assays from the new PR-18 discovery are received and interpreted, additional drilling of several other known targets within the Portside Production Centre area will be undertaken as a matter of some urgency and in Spring, important base line environmental studies will be conducted to confirm the initial assessment that there are no socio-environmental barriers to development.
Australian Bauxite CEO Ian Levy said; "This discovery is a result of ABx's proprietary exploration technology and efficient drilling by the ABx exploration team.
Bauxite potential in this area was downgraded by early explorers because surface samples were low grade. ABx encountered similar surface results but the ABx exploration technology showed that good bauxite should exist in this area.
So ABx drilled 68 reconnaissance drill holes and the 18th hole discovered this excellent bauxite in an ideal location."
Three Tasmanian production centres taking shape
- ABx's business plan is to produce bauxite from 3 production centres to achieve a consistent product specification. Portside is the most likely 3rd production centre.
- Bell Bay is the largest export port in Tasmania and is the bulk export for bauxite.
- All highways, rail and port infrastructures have sufficient spare capacity for the planned bauxite exports.
Bauxite Drill Results
Sixty-eight (68) reverse circulation drill holes, holes PR001 to PR068 were drilled in the Portside area during March-April. A total of 715 metres were drilled, and 63 metres were in bauxite.
See Figure 2 in link below for drill hole distribution and locations.
Based on inspection, the bauxite layer occurs beneath an overlying layer of unconsolidated sediments ranging up to 12 metres thick in places which has concealed the majority of this bauxite deposit.
The bauxite formation is a flat-lying layer ranging in thickness from 2 to 4 metres.
After careful logging of the drill samples, 171 metres of samples have been sent to the ALS Laboratory in Brisbane. Results are pending.
Initial results received: To confirm that good quality bauxite had in fact been discovered, nine (9) representative samples of the bauxite were collected and dispatched to the ALS Laboratory for prompt assaying. The results from these 9 samples are shown in Table 1 in link below.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/80053-ASX-ABZ-20150528.pdf
About ABx Group Limited
ABx Group Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) started as a bauxite miner in Tasmania in 2014 & controls the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. In 2020 to 2023, ABx also discovered Australia’s only true ionic adsorption clay Rare Earth Elements resource at Deep Leads in pine plantations 40km west of Launceston with a JORC-compliant resource of 89 million tonnes from only 29% of the mineralised outline, averaging 844 ppm total rare earth oxides that is the most enriched in the critically important rare earths, Dy and Tb, of any Australian REE deposit.
ABx has also developed a proprietary technology to produce fluorine chemicals from an aluminium smelter waste product and return the fluorine back into the smelters, thus reducing reliance on imported aluminium fluoride.
ABx has committed a large proportion of its expenditure into Research and Development and has found ways to capitalise on the main strengths of its bauxite type which is very clean, free of all deleterious elements and can be separated into different product streams using physical, chemical and geophysical methods. It has produced and marketed specialist bauxite products for the manufacturers of fertiliser, cement with high late strength for major infrastructure such as bridges and is in the advanced stages of approvals for production of metallurgical bauxite from its Binjour Bauxite deposit with JORC-compliant resources of 37 million tonnes of bauxite, in a joint development with a Chinese-focussed Australian trading company Good Importing International.
ABx is also preparing to produce fertiliser grade and cement grade bauxite from its DL130 bauxite quarry in northern Tasmania, 40km west of Launceston. This quarry is sited in the middle of the large Deep Leads REE deposit and may one day be a site for heap leaching of the REE using a low-cost, benign leachate with the same acidity as apple juice or tea.
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land, strives to leave land and environment better than we find it. We only operate where welcomed.
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