Binjour mining lease application will proceed. Binjour Project is fully-funded
Binjour Mining Lease Application to Proceed
Sydney, Dec 16, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Ltd's (
ASX:ABX) (A7B:FRA) Board of Directors has approved the lodgement of a mining lease application and related project strategy for ABx's flagship Binjour Bauxite Project located 115kms southwest of Bundaberg export port, central Queensland.
Key Points:
- ABx Directors and a Director of Rawmin Mining of India reviewed project plans, financial assessments, bauxite market developments and risk-factors over 3 days
- A Mining Lease Application will be lodged in early 2020, commencing with prelodgement discussions with government departments as soon as practicable
- Binjour project is fully-funded by ABx's marketing partner, Rawmin Mining of India
- Both ABx and Rawmin intend to sell 0.5 to 1.5 million tonnes per year of gibbsite-rich trihydrate (THA) bauxite grading 44% to 45% Al2O3 and 5% SiO2 which is ideal for refining into alumina by low-temperature Bayer-process refineries
- Binjour bauxite resources total 37 million tonnes - see Resources Statement. Initial production for the first 10 to 15 years will focus on high-grade zones that require little processing - see Figure 2*
- A tripartite sales MoU exists between ABx, Rawmin and Chinese aluminium producer Tianshan which needs large supplies of the Binjour-type of bauxite, starting end 2020
- ABx also has an MoU with the Port of Bundaberg to investigate the opportunity to export bauxite in bulk tonnages through the Port of Bundaberg
- Research in 2020 will study extraction of very high grade bauxite from "detrital bauxite" rubble that has shed off the Binjour Plateau to create additional high-value products
ABx considers Binjour Project to be the best source of gibbsiterich bauxite in Queensland (QLD). Unlike other QLD bauxites, Binjour bauxite is ideal for low-temperature alumina refineries being high grade, low silica & carbon-free.
Planning for 9 years
Since discovery in 2010, ABx has worked with landholders, local & state government, port authorities, operator & logistics contractors, market specialists and customers to develop an optimum strategy for the Binjour Project. The plan is to produce high-quality metallurgical-grade bauxite exported in large bulk carrier ships from the Port of Bundaberg. The plan also leaves the land better than we find it.
Project fully-funded by Rawmin Mining
ABx's marketing partner, Rawmin Mining of India has agreed to fund all pre-production and working capital costs for the Binjour Bauxite Project and will be entitled to a 50% joint venture interest in the project. ABx will be the project operator.
Indian mining decline leaves additional room for Binjour
ABx notes that due to regulatory constraints and global competition, the mining industry in India is experiencing negative growth and faces an uncertain future. Bauxite production in India has fallen from 28 million tonnes in 2015-16 to almost 19 million tonnes in 2018-19 and exports of bauxite has declined from 9 million tonnes in 2015-16 to only 0.1 million tonnes in 2018-19. The imposition of a 15% export duty additional to already high royalty rates is considered the main cause of this sudden collapse in Indian bauxite exports.
Barring a change of regulations in India, it is possible that Binjour bauxite can be sold into the large and expanding bauxite refining and aluminium production industry.
Port of Bundaberg
ABx has a Memorandum of Understanding agreement ("MoU") with the Port of Bundaberg to investigate a designated potential stockpile site and consider its potential for:
1. Stockpiling bauxite at the "MoU Block" - see location shown in Figure 3* on next page
2. Blending the bauxite to the contracted specification, and
3. To compensate for high road haulage costs, ABx seeks to load large Cape Size ships (150,000 tonnes cargo) at deep-water anchorage within Port Limits of Bundaberg Port.
ABx favours the use of Bundaberg Port because it lies well south of the Great Barrier Reef Park and is sand-bottomed from the point of loading through to international shipping lanes. ABx has worked collegiately with Bundaberg Port management and with all stakeholders in the Wide Bay-Burnett Region since 2010-11 when the discovery of the Binjour Bauxite deposit was made.
ABx favours the use of the MoU block at Bundaberg Port because trucks will not need to pass through the Port village community and keeps the bauxite well away from inhabited areas.
*To view tables and figures, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/EK87N1KP
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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