Australian Bauxite Limited (ASX:ABZ) Quarterly Report For The Period Ended 30 June 2010
Sydney, Aug 2, 2010 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABZ) is pleased to announce its quarterly report for the period ended 30 June 2010.
CORPORATE
Register snapshot
On 30th June 2010, ABx had 85,617,337 ordinary shares on issue and 10,200,000 options.
Cash at hand
At the end of the June quarter, ABx had available cash of A$4.6 million.
Trading summary
During the June quarter the total market trade value was A$1.15 million, with 240 trades (average value per trade was A$4,801). 3.34 million shares were traded - the VWAP for the June quarter was 36.46 cents.
Commercial negotiations to commence
ABx will be conducting its first commercial negotiations with potential customers and/or partners for a few of its 29 bauxite projects commencing in September 2010.
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of ABx was held on 28 May 2010. All resolutions put to the meeting were passed. The Chairman's address to the meeting is reproduced at Appendix "A".
Finalisation of Convertible Note
Subsequent to the end of the June quarter, directors advised that the 23 December 2012 Convertible Note has been fully satisfied.
Negotiations commenced in April with the Note Holder, Hudson Resources Limited (Hudson) (ASX:HRS) to redeem the Note.
Payment of A$783,934, representing the Cash
Component (including Interest) of the Note was paid in April with the Outstanding Sum was redeemed for 5,617,337 Shares in July.
Hudson voluntarily entered into a Restriction
Agreement, whereby the Shares are restricted and held in escrow until 23 December 2011.
The Note's redemption at this time has saved the Company further interest accruing.
EXPLORATION
Review of Environmental Factors
Inverell and Pindaroi (NSW) - a Review of Environmental Factors was submitted to the Department of Industry and Investment and approval obtained to drill a further 780 holes over the next 3 years.
Windellama (NSW) - a Review of Environmental Factors has also been submitted and is under consideration.
Work program & schedule
Drilling commenced on 12 April 2010. After 3 months of drilling as at rig shutdown on Thursday 15 July, a total of approximately 430 holes totalling approximately 4,250 metres of air-core sampling had been completed.
This was a few weeks ahead of our 1,000 hole target by 3 December 2010 (4.5 months) due to:
1. drill rig speed and simplicity;
2. few delays due to weather and rig maintenance; and
3. no land access delays.
The program objective is to first identify the bauxite layer and better define its boundary. Then, additional holes are drilled to test for the consistency of the bauxite.
Landholder support has been positive in all areas.
Samples from all drilling completed in the June quarter have been submitted to ALS Chemex in Brisbane for analysis.
Results to date have been satisfactory, in line with expectations and in some places, better than expected.
Drilling Summary
INVERELL EL 6997
20km NW of Inverell NSW
162 holes completed; Average bauxite thickness 4.8 metres; maximum thickness 9.4 metres
Total drilling completed at Inverell in 2009 and 2010 is 280 drill-holes totalling 3,400 metres averaging 4.8 to 5.4 metres of bauxite thickness.
The thickest bauxite intercept in the 2010 drill campaign has been 9.4 metres - a similar result to the 9.5 metres maximum thickness encountered in the 2009 drill campaign at the southern end of the tenement.
Results at Inverell are confirming that the main deposits have the shape and high degree of consistency that was originally interpreted for these deposits. Barring any unexpected surprises in the assay results, which are still awaited, the Inverell deposits are relatively consistent and very extensive.
Inverell is now moving into a resource estimation stage, the Inverell deposits are relatively consistent and very extensive. A major resource drilling program is considered the likely next step for this substantial bauxite resource area.
PINDAROI EL 7268
7km NE of Inverell EL 6997 NSW
18 holes completed; Average bauxite thickness 5.5 metres; maximum thickness 12 metres
The thickest bauxite intercept of 12 metres is quite remarkable and the fact that this is the same maximum thickness that was estimated from detailed mapping is considered encouraging.
Pindaroi has potential for large tonnage deposits.
Results at Pindaroi have exceeded expectations - 12 metres of bauxite is uncommonly thick and the resource tonnage potential is high. However, because this was the first drill testing of Pindaroi, it is too early to predict the future developments at Pindaroi and the next likely step is second-pass infill drilling to assess continuity of thickness and grades.
BINJOUR EPM 18014
170km SW of Bundaberg QLD
57 holes completed; Average bauxite thickness 5.3 metres; maximum thickness 13 metres
A first-pass reconnaissance drilling program of 57 holes totalling 1,142 metres has been completed at Binjour Plateau and a flat-lying, relatively consistent bauxite horizon has been discovered, averaging 4.2 to 5.3 metres thick, with a maximum thickness of 13 metres. This set of results exceeded the company's expectations for bauxite thickness but grade information is still awaited from the laboratory.
A second-pass drilling program is underway so that a second plateau with bauxite can be tested and to do some infill drilling so that continuity of thickness and grades can be assessed for both areas.
Bauxite at Binjour is extensive and the prospect is proving to be encouraging, thus justifying additional drilling.
Binjour has the potential to be a project worthy of early development.
HAMPTON EPM 17790
20km N of Toowoomba QLD
125 holes completed; Average bauxite thickness 5.6 metres; maximum thickness 13 metres
The Geham deposit is a relatively consistent bauxite layer whilst Pechey deposit has two layers. Laboratory results are awaited from this large program and assessments will commence in August.
Results at Pechey and Geham in the Hampton EPM tenement area in southern Queensland have confirmed that Pechey deposit and Geham deposits combined may contain a large tonnage of bauxite.
However, early drilling results from the newly discovered "Steam Engine" bauxite deposit in the Haden EPM tenement area confirm that this area has abundant bauxite potential.
HADEN EPM 17830
40km N of Toowoomba QLD
Drilling underway; Bauxite thickness 3 to 5 metres; maximum thickness 10 metres
A new deposit colloquially called "Steam Engine" has recently been discovered near Haden, 15kms to the northwest of the Pechey-Geham deposits at Hampton. The new deposit averages 3 to 5 metres thick and up to 10 metres in places - still being drilled.
Land Access
This major bauxite drilling program is proceeding without interruption and with a 100% approval by landholders of the drill site rehabilitation work done by the ABx field crew. Landholder support has been positive in all areas, which has been gratefully acknowledged by ABx in local media, including the company statement that; "We pride ourselves in our dealings with landowners and we will become good corporate citizens in any region we work in."
Because ABx is not limited to one or two project areas it is able to avoid land access risks such as native title, local landholder resistance or environmental legislation.
Tenements offered
NSW Application ELA 3774 at Penrose has been granted as EL 7546; the large Merriwa ELA 3626 and ELA 3740 have now been formally offered to ABx 2.
New applications
Applications for extensions to the Binjour Plateau in QLD (ELA 18722) and Trundle (ELA 4024) and Wingello (EL4038) in NSW have been lodged.
Tenement Status
Tenements are 100% in good standing.
For the complete Australian Bauxite Limited quarterly report please refer to the following link:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/63461-ASX-ABZ-600289.pdf
About Australian Bauxite Ltd
Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) has its first bauxite mine in Tasmania & controls the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. ABx's 11 bauxite tenements in Queensland, New South Wales & Tasmania totalling 662 km2 are all 100% owned, unencumbered & free of third-party royalties. ABx's bauxite is gibbsite trihydrate (THA) bauxite that can be processed into alumina at low temperature.
ABx has committed a large proportion of its expenditure into Research and Development to find ways to capitalise on the main strengths of its bauxite type which is very clean, free of all deleterious elements and partitioned into layers, nodules, particles and grains of different qualities that can be separated into different product streams using physical, chemical and geophysical methods.
ABx has declared large Mineral Resources in northern NSW, southern NSW, Binjour in central QLD & in northern Tasmania.
ABx's first mine commenced at Bald Hill near Campbell Town, Tasmania in December 2014 - the first new Australian bauxite mine for more than 35 years.
ABx aspires to identify large bauxite resources in the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province and has created significant bauxite development projects in 3 states, Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania. Its bauxite deposits are favourably located for direct shipping of bauxite to both local and export customers.
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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