December 2016 Quarterly Activities Report
Sydney, Jan 27, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Ltd (
ASX:ABX) is pleased to provide the Company's Quarterly Activities Report for three months ended 31 December, 2016.
PRINCIPAL POINTS
Corporate
The available cash for the current group is $1.75 million. ABx has lines of credit for working capital as and when required. No capital raisings are planned in the foreseeable future. ABx has 122,500 tonnes of stocks ready for sale (see page 3 in the link below).
Operations
Sales continuing - more sales being pursued
Physical dispatches of sales in the December quarter were delayed by the two current customers until Summer. Modest tonnage, profitable sales of fertiliser-grade bauxite are happening at the time of writing and will continue throughout 2017.
The planned cement-grade sale is delayed by mechanical modifications needed at the customer's plant. ABx will seek to sell the current blended product stockpile to another customer and assemble a new product stockpile to the customer's specification again when a delivery date is set. ABx already has sufficient processed bauxite to supply a further 2 large shipments.
Thus far, ABx has dispatched 5 sales to 2 repeat customers and is in negotiation with more than 6 possible customers for long-term contracts to underpin development of a 2nd mine.
Emerging cement and fertiliser market opportunities
Until global economic growth and demand for metallurgical bauxite picks up, ABx will mainly sell its bauxite into cement and fertiliser markets at prices higher than could be achieved in the oversupplied metallurgical bauxite market (see market summary in the link below).
The clean chemistry of ABx's bauxite has allowed ABx to sell cement-grade bauxite which:
1. Consistently increases the late strength of concrete;
2. Is quartz & salt-free for exceptional corrosion-resistance; and
3. Eliminates stoppages & pressure problems in kilns, lowers kiln temperatures & reduces emissions.
As cement makers convert from coal to gas-fired production, demand increases for cement-grade bauxite to add aluminium oxide and lesser iron oxide that would have been provided by the coal.
USA infrastructure construction is increasing cement demand. ABx's US cement-maker customers need to maximise cement production by eliminating stoppages & increasing late strength of the cement. ABx's cement-grade bauxite does both. US meetings are planned in March.
Cement-Grade Resource Tonnages Expanded Significantly
ABx's recent 5-fold increase in the resource tonnages at its Fingal Rail Project1 shows that ABx can enter into long-term contracts with major cement-grade customers, subject to satisfactory contract terms which are currently being negotiated specifically to suit the Fingal Rail suite of bauxite products.
TasTech Technology Is Yielding Results
During the quarter, ABx expanded the scope of TasTech technology that separates ABx's bauxite into metallurgical, cement and fertiliser-grade bauxite products at low cost. This research discovered two technologies that can produce pure bauxite and other very high-value products. Testwork is continuing with the objective to commence TasTech production in the 2017/18 Summer period and to prove-up the recently discovered value-adding steps.
To view the full report, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/R1E6K0T0
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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