Total Bauxite Resources Increased By 53% to 51.2 Million Tonnes
Perth, Nov 2, 2011 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Perth-based bauxite explorer and developer, Bauxite Resources Ltd (
ASX:BAU) is pleased to announce a maiden bauxite resource at its Cardea 3 deposit within its northern Darling Range tenement area approximately 20km north west of Toodyay, WA. This maiden resource is contained within both the Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures ("BAJV") area with Yankuang Resources Ltd ("Yankuang") where the Company holds a 30% beneficial interest in bauxite rights and the Shandong Joint Venture area with Shandong #1 Bureau of Geology & Minerals Exploration ("Shandong") where Shandong can earn up to 60% of bauxite rights upon completion of certain milestones.
BRL currently holds an interest in indicated and inferred bauxite resources of over 51 million tonnes in its northern Darling Range tenements with substantial drilling results yet to be modelled.
Importantly, the new Cardea 3 deposit shows the same characteristics as all of the Darling Range resources. It is a shallow deposit with the dominant mineral being gibbsite. This means that if mined, mining costs would be relatively low and the bauxite produced would require a low temperature and relatively low cost refining process
The Company has now defined a robust JORC compliant geological resource within its Northern Darling Range tenements and intends to continue to build upon this base. It is anticipated that further resource updates will be announced over the next 3-4 months as the Company continues to model the results of completed drilling programs as assay results become available.
Cardea 3 Deposit Details
A Mineral Resource estimate for the Cardea 3 Bauxite Deposit was completed during October 2011 by Bauxite Alumina Joint Venture personnel. The deposit is located approximately 100km northeast of Perth, Western Australia in the North Darling Ranges region approximately 20km north west of Toodyay. The Cardea 3 resource is a maiden resource and as such is in addition to previous announced resource.
The North Darling Range Project is located on the western edge of the Yilgarn Craton. The project area is dominated by Achaean granite and granite gneiss (commonly laterised) with minor units of metasediment, meta-volcanics and Proterozoic dolerite dykes. The Cardea 3 mineralisation is present at shallow depths within gently undulating laterite profiles that consist of un-mineralised gravel overlying hardcap and bauxite zones. These are underlain by transitional and clay zones. The bauxite zone is characterised by gibbsite and varies from 1m to 8m in thickness.
The Cardea 3 resource extends over two granted exploration tenements E70/3160 and E70/3432. Tenement E70/3160 is subject to a joint venture between BRL and Shandong No.1 Bureau of Geology and Minerals Exploration whilst tenement E70/3432 is within a joint venture between BRL and Yankuang Resources Ltd. The resource lies on private farmland and has been defined by completion of 738 vacuum drill holes. The total resource has a lateral extent of approximately 3.8km N-S and 3.6km E-W with mineralisation extending from surface to a maximum depth of 10m. Drill hole spacing is on a regular 80m by 80m spacing.
The area covering the Cardea 3 resource was originally known as Cardea 3 and Pomona. Recent exploration drilling has confirmed that the bauxite mineralisation is contiguous as a single geological resource. The company has therefore renamed the two resource areas as Cardea 3.
The Mineral Resource estimate for the Cardea 3 deposit is summarised in Table 2.
Further examination of all known bauxite resources using various cut off grades is planned as part of a larger program aimed at determining the potential economic value of each deposit as either refinery feed or direct export product.
to view the complete Bauxite Resources announcement including Tables and Figures, please click on the link below:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/7VU2KDFF
About Bauxite Resources Limited
Bauxite Resources (ASX:BAU) (OTCMKTS:BXRDF) was established with a substantial tenement holding in Western Australia to develop new bauxite supply for the global alumina/aluminium industry. The Company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in October 2007.
The Darling Range in the south-west of Western Australia (WA) is the world's largest bauxite mining and alumina refining region producing around 20% of the world's alumina. This area has mined bauxite and refined alumina since the 1960s. These industries are leaders in sustainable resource development and represent the fifth largest sector of WA's resource industry.
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