Tripartite MOU with Tianshan Aluminium, Binjour QLD
Sydney, April 2, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Emerging bauxite producer, Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABX) (ABx, ASX Code ABX) considers its Binjour Project located 115kms southwest of Bundaberg Port (see Figure 1 in link below) to be the best source of gibbsite-trihydrate (THA) bauxite in Queensland that is suitable for low-temperature alumina refineries and sweetener circuits in some high-temperature refineries.
- ABx, Rawmin & Tianshan Aluminium have executed an MoU for the sale of 0.5 to 1.5 million tonnes per year of bauxite from Binjour Project, Queensland
- Trial mining site has been selected for Binjour Project
- Contractors for Trial Mining have been selected
Since discovering Binjour in 2011-12, ABx has expanded the size of the resources and worked with landholders, local government, state government, port authorities and logistics companies to develop a viable strategy for developing the Binjour Bauxite Project. Significant progress has been made with logistical solutions to deliver bauxite onto large bulk carrier ships at the Port of Bundaberg.
Subject to satisfactory results from the planned trial mining and processing testwork at Binjour, ABx and its marketing partner, Rawmin Mining and Industries Pvt. Ltd (Rawmin) are planning to commit to project development in late 2019, commencing with a mining lease application.
Memorandum of Understanding Terms
A delegation from Tianshan Aluminium Co.Ltd (Tianshan) reviewed the Binjour project and held meetings with government and port authorities in August 2018. Negotiations progressed with a Memorandum of Understanding now finalised for the delivery of bauxite from ABx's bauxite mines in Australia and from Rawmin's bauxite mines in India to Tianshan's new low temperature refinery in southern China, which is nearing completion. The planned combined tonnage commences at 0.5 million tonnes, growing to more than 1.0 million tonnes.
Seasonal Complementation
Binjour project will be at maximum production during the Queensland Dry Season from April to November. ABx's bauxite mines in Tasmania achieve optimum production in Summer from December to May. Rawmin's bauxite mines in north-western India achieve maximum production in the Indian dry season from November to May but are restricted by the Monsoon months June to September each year.
Coordinated production and shipments from all 3 sets of mines will achieve a reliable year-round delivery to the customer of bauxite at a consistent specification.
All bauxite is gibbsite-rich trihydrate (THA) bauxite with very low content of the monohydrate alumina minerals boehmite and diaspore which require high temperature refining. These bauxite specifications in Table 1 (see link below) are ideally suited for low-temperature alumina refineries.
Bauxite Pricing
Sales will be done at market prices prevailing at the time of sale, based on a mutually acceptable price index.
Port Agreement
An MoU Agreement for access to the preferred stockpile site at the Port of Bundaberg is well advanced.
Engineering studies are in progress regarding the port stockpile, handling and shipping to ensure the port can handle the planned tonnages of bauxite from the Binjour Project without impacting negatively on any other port user.
The port MoU is expected to be concluded during April-May.
TRIAL MINING SITE SELECTED
Senior staff from ABx have recently held discussions with private landholders about access to a site where the Binjour bauxite layer occurs at surface and contains a spectrum of medium-grade bauxite grades that are suitable for conducting trial mining to assess:
1. Mineability - hardness, density in-situ, moisture, size distribution
2. Optimum method for grade control to identify and discard clay-rich layers
3. Screening performance, yield, size distribution, grade upgradeability
4. Handling characteristics, angle of repose, stockpile density
5. Trucking performance
6. Rehabilitation characteristics, regeneration rates, soil nature
Variability of grades and thicknesses of bauxite will be assessed for resource estimation purposes.
Discussions with local mining and screening contractors have succeeded in assembling the suite of equipment needed to carry out the required trial mining, grade control and screening performance testwork. ABx recruits employees locally and to work with local contractors as much as practicable.
The paramount company policy is that:
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land, strives to leave land and environment better than we find it.
We only operate where welcomed.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/401TRQ47
About ABx Group Limited
ABx Group Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) started as a bauxite miner in Tasmania in 2014 & controls the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. In 2020 to 2023, ABx also discovered Australia’s only true ionic adsorption clay Rare Earth Elements resource at Deep Leads in pine plantations 40km west of Launceston with a JORC-compliant resource of 89 million tonnes from only 29% of the mineralised outline, averaging 844 ppm total rare earth oxides that is the most enriched in the critically important rare earths, Dy and Tb, of any Australian REE deposit.
ABx has also developed a proprietary technology to produce fluorine chemicals from an aluminium smelter waste product and return the fluorine back into the smelters, thus reducing reliance on imported aluminium fluoride.
ABx has committed a large proportion of its expenditure into Research and Development and has found ways to capitalise on the main strengths of its bauxite type which is very clean, free of all deleterious elements and can be separated into different product streams using physical, chemical and geophysical methods. It has produced and marketed specialist bauxite products for the manufacturers of fertiliser, cement with high late strength for major infrastructure such as bridges and is in the advanced stages of approvals for production of metallurgical bauxite from its Binjour Bauxite deposit with JORC-compliant resources of 37 million tonnes of bauxite, in a joint development with a Chinese-focussed Australian trading company Good Importing International.
ABx is also preparing to produce fertiliser grade and cement grade bauxite from its DL130 bauxite quarry in northern Tasmania, 40km west of Launceston. This quarry is sited in the middle of the large Deep Leads REE deposit and may one day be a site for heap leaching of the REE using a low-cost, benign leachate with the same acidity as apple juice or tea.
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land, strives to leave land and environment better than we find it. We only operate where welcomed.
| ||
|
