Perth, Oct 6, 2008 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Gunson Resources' (ASX:GUN) Managing Director and the General Manager of the Coburn Zircon Project spent the latter half of September in China, visiting CTIEC and other potential investors and offtake customers for the Coburn Project.
Prior to this trip, Gunson engaged The Balloch Group (TBG), headed by former Canadian Ambassador to China, Howard Balloch, to assist in its dealings in China. TBG has over 60 staff, with offices in 4 Chinese cities, as well as in New York and Hong Kong. It was ranked among the top 5 China-based boutique investment banks in terms of services for mergers and acquisitions and private placements in 2007. Major Canadian investment bank CIBC World Markets has a close working relationship with TBG and together they were involved in more than forty listings or follow-on offerings of Chinese companies on North American stock exchanges over the past few years.
CTIEC were advised by Gunson that the price of their "turnkey" engineering proposal for the construction and commissioning of the Project, received on 1st August, 2008, was too high. A proposal by CTIEC's Executive Chairman to resolve the pricing issue was discussed and agreed and it was noted by both parties that the current global economic downturn had created opportunities for capital cost reductions that did not exist earlier this year.
As a result, CTIEC has taken responsibility for reviewing the "core" zircon production facilities, such as the wet concentrator plant (WCP) and Ilmenite Plant at the mine, as well as the mineral separation plant (MSP) in China. Gunson is reviewing the costing of the mine infrastructure, including the road, village, water supply and communications. This review is to be completed by late October and the companies agreed to meet again in mid November to decide on implementation of the Project.
Demand for zircon in China and elsewhere remains strong and of particular significance in this regard is the observation in September 2008 by mineral marketing consultants TZMI that global zircon supply is "very tight". This shortage of supply is likely to continue beyond this year due to the run down nature of many mines and a significant reduction in Indonesian supply. In the meantime, titanium dioxide mineral prices have also increased appreciably in 2008 and further increases are predicted for 2009.
Strong interest was shown in the Project by Chinese companies introduced by TBG and further meetings with them and others will be held when Gunson representatives return to China in mid November.
ATTRIBUTION
The information in this report that relates to exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves is based on information compiled by Mr D N Harley, who is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Harley has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves'. Mr Harley consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
About Strandline Resources Limited
Strandline Resources is an Australian Stock Exchange listed company (ASX:STA) (OTCMKTS:STQNF) is a Tanzanian-focused mineral sands developer positioned within the world’s major zircon and titanium producing corridor in South East Africa. Strandline has a dominant mineral sands position with a series of 100% owned projects spread along 350km of the Tanzanian coastline.
Strandline’s strategy is to develop and operate quality, low cost, expandable mining assets with market differentiation. Leveraging off the exploration success of 2016, the Company’s focus is to continue its aggressive exploration and development strategy to progress economically attractive projects based on high unit value titanium and zircon products.
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