Darling Range Resources Increase to 243.7Mt
Perth, May 28, 2013 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Bauxite Resources Limited (
ASX:BAU) ("BRL" or "the Company") is pleased to announce a resource upgrade for the Felicitas bauxite deposit in the Darling Range Western Australia.
The Felicitas resource is contained within the Company's Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures ("BAJV") with Yankuang Resources Ltd (Yankuang).
The resource is situated on a small number of large private landholdings located approximately 60km north east of Perth, and 10km from the town of Wundowie. The resource is less than 5 km from existing rail infrastructure providing a direct link to Fremantle/Kwinana Port being approximately 120 km away.
Table 1: Total Felicitas Deposit Resource Classification
--------------------------------------------------------JORC Quantity Al2O3% Al2O3% SiO2% Al2O3(avail) (Mt) total available reactive) SiO2(react) --------------------------------------------------------Measured 35.3 39.0 30.5 1.3 23.5Indicated 65.3 39.8 30.4 1.8 16.9Inferred 47.3 39.2 29.6 2.6 11.4--------------------------------------------------------Total 147.9 39.4 30.1 1.9 15.8--------------------------------------------------------* Note - All grades are unbeneficiated
The BAJV has identified well in excess of 90 million tonnes of refinery grade bauxite at Felicitas, a critical milestone for the joint venture for the undertaking of a bankable feasibility study into the viability of an alumina refinery in Western Australia.
The costs of the feasibility study, when undertaken will be borne 90% by Yankuang, with BRL funding the remaining 10% BRL. Subject to the feasibility study results, BRL and Yankuang will design and build a refinery, with BRL funding 9% of construction costs and receiving 30% of the alumina end product.
Mr Peter Canterbury, Bauxite Resources new Chief Executive Officer, commented on the resource upgrade: "The Company's recent upgrades have now created a very large localised bauxite resource similar to the other bauxite deposits used to supply Alcoa's and BHP Billiton's Western Australian refineries, the largest Alumina producing region in the world. The very high alumina to reactive silica content and the ability to process this gibbsitic bauxite at low refining temperatures make it very efficient bauxite to refine and is why Darling Range alumina refineries are in the lowest quartile cost producers in the world"
"We believe the resources are now of a sufficient size, quality and location that they can support the development of increased alumina refining capacity in Western Australia as well as the development of plans for shipping of bauxite out through existing rail and port facilities."
Resource Location & Logistics
The current Felicitas resource area extends across approximately 4,200Ha (42km2) of large private landholdings, 10km north of Wundowie and 60km north northeast of Perth (Figure 1 in link below).
The deposit is situated on a small number of large private landholdings readily accessible by road that have been cleared for farming and grazing, with the northern boundary of the resource within 5km of existing rail infrastructure and being approximately 120 kilometres by rail to the Kwinana port .
Resource Details
The previous BAJV resource stood at 127.5Mt, following an initial resource announcement in June 2012, and an upgrade in early May 2013 based on new specific gravity measurements, and an additional 729 drill holes. The current BAJV resource increase of 20.4Mt has resulted from the inclusion of an additional 1,421 drill holes, completed on a nominal 80m x 80m grid pattern. The Felicitas BAJV resource now extends over a strike length of 16.5km. Mineralisation remains open to the south; with the potential for the resource to be further increased with samples from approximately 940 holes awaiting analysis.
Close spaced drilling (at 5m spacing) conducted at two locations across the deposit and twinned drill holes has verified the continuity of mineralisation. This, combined with the use of a bulk density determined from the deposit, has enabled a substantial portion of the resource to be classified as Measured Mineral Resource
The Felicitas deposit comprises a bauxite horizon up to 16m thickness that is typically covered by 0.5m to 2m of loose overburden. The resource model was completed by RungePincockMinarco (RPM), based on data from 6,947 vertical holes drilled for 47,610 metres on a nominal 80 x 80m drill pattern. The available alumina and reactive silica results quoted are unbeneficiated, and based on low temperature caustic digest analysis (143°C), to simulate extraction by the Bayer process. Drilling will continue to define the extent of mineralisation, with a further upgrade expected during the latter half of 2013.
The BAJV Felicitas resource now includes 100Mt in the measured and indicated category, considered to be a positive step in the advancement of the Joint Venture.
The BAJV Felicitas resource upgrade adds to the global resource base that BRL and its joint venture partners have defined within the Darling Range of Western Australia. Table 2 in link below provides a summary of the total bauxite resources and the bauxite resources that are attributable to the company in its own right or 100% and those resources it hold with its other JV partner HD Mining which is required to fund 100% of the exploration costs up to BFS and decision to mine .
To view all figures and tables, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-BAU-637008.pdf
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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