New Bauxite Resource at Athena Project and Partner Resource Now at 380 Million Tonnes
Perth, April 3, 2014 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Bauxite Resources Limited (
ASX:BAU)("BRL" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that a maiden resource estimate has been completed on the Company's new Athena project, eastern Darling Range, Western Australia (Figure 1 in link below).
The resource is located on private landholdings, approximately 120km south east of Perth.
Athena is contained within the Company's joint venture with HD Mining & Investments Pty Ltd, (HDM) the wholly owned subsidiary of Shandong Bureau No.1 Institute for Prospecting of Geology & Minerals (Shandong). The resources now under the HDM JV currently stands at 74.3Mt. Under the terms of the HDM joint venture farm in HD Mining funds 100% of all exploration and feasibility studies and can earn up to 60% of bauxite rights upon completion of certain milestones including completion of a BFS leading to a decision to mine.
Table 1: Total Athena Deposit Resource Classification (All grades are unbeneficiated)
---------------------------------------------------------------------Classification Tonnes Al2O3 SiO2 Al2O3 SiO2 Fe2O3 TiO2 LOI (available (reactive (total) (total) @148C) Mt @148C) % % % % % % %---------------------------------------------------------------------Total 22.7 33.3 2.7 42.3 17.3 17.4 2.3 19.3---------------------------------------------------------------------* Note - Numbers rounded to the first significant figure.---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Athena bauxite resource:
- Is situated on a small number of private landholdings on exploration licences E70/3180 and E70/3890
- Displays bauxite thickness up to 13m (average 3m)
- Displays very good alumina grades
Peter Canterbury, BRL CEO commented on the resource "This is a fantastic result for BRL and HD Mining, following on from the recently announced Dionysus resource (ASX announcement 24/03/14). We are particularly encouraged by the higher grades we are seeing. Athena is located immediately to the east of BHP Billiton's Western Australia's State Agreement which supplies the Worsley Alumina Refinery, so we are exploring in a proven bauxite region."
"The HDM JV is now looking to access additional highly prospective properties surrounding the existing resource and as such we believe there is potential to significantly expand this resource through drilling on these additional properties in the exploration licence area.
Combined with the Ceres Resource we now have the beginning of a significant resource base close to existing bauxite mining activities and also relatively close to existing rail infrastructure."
Resource Details
Drilling was completed on nominal 320m x 160m, 320m x 320m or 160m x 160m spaced grid patterns. The Athena resource consists of 3 deposits, located on private landholdings, each approximately 10km apart. The Athena1 deposit is comprised of six mineralised lodes which have been interpreted across a strike length of 4km. The most extensive mineralised lode is approximately 1.2km wide. The Athena2 deposit is comprised of three mineralised lodes, with each lode a width of approximately 500m. The Athena3 deposit is comprised of three mineralised lodes across a strike length of 2.4km, the largest being 600m in width. The geological setting is laterite over a predominantly granitic basement. Mineralisation comprises flat lying pods formed by the weathering of the basement rocks. The deposit is similar in style to many other bauxite deposits in the Darling Range. The resource comprises a bauxite horizon up to 13m thickness (average 3m) that is typically covered by 0.5 to 1m of loose overburden. The current resource estimate, completed by RungePincockMinarco (RPM), was based on drilling from 215 vacuum holes completed for 1,347m (Figure 2 in link below), of which 108 holes for 347m was within the resource wireframe.
All holes were drilled vertically, with intersected thicknesses considered as true thickness, given the relatively flat lying nature of mineralisation. The available alumina and reactive silica quoted are based on low temperature (148deg) caustic digestion (BOMB) and analysis by ICP-OES using 1.0 +/- 0.04g samples. Total alumina and total silica are based on Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) analysis, with approximately 10% of samples validated by X Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (XRF).
Wireframes for the resource study were generated using cross sectional interpretations based on mineralised envelopes constructed using down hole geochemistry and associated lithological logging. Ordinary Kriging (OK) was used to estimate the resource. Full details are attached below. The resource is likely to be mined by conventional open cut mining methods. No assumptions have been made regarding metallurgy other than the material could be refined using the industry recognised Bayer processing method.
To view diagrams and charts, please visit:
http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-BAU-673084.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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