Bauxite Shipment Finalised
Sydney, May 8, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABX) (ABx, ASX Code ABX) had produced and loaded 32,477 tonnes of bauxite onto the customer's ship at Bell Bay Port which is in the upper range of the contracted tonnage target of 30,000 to 33,000 of cement-grade bauxite. Grades are better than contract, as is usual for ABx.
- ABx sale tonnage of 32,477 tonnes measured by independent draught survey
- Additional orders of fertiliser-grade received earlier than expectation
- Favourable foreign exchange rate is encouraging for negotiations for next shipments
- ABx could benefit from larger-sized bulk-carrier ships from northern Tasmania
Production of additional bauxite-products continued at the Bald Hill Bauxite Project until late April.
More orders of fertiliser-grade bauxite have been received, which confirms that ABx bauxite has clean chemistry, ideal for acid-processing to produce high quality fertiliser increasingly in demand. ABx's ALCORE bauxite refining technology also exploits this ideal acid-processing performance.
Falling A$-US$ exchange rates increases ABx's bauxite competitiveness - see market summary Appendix(see link below).
Shipping is priced in US$ dollars and is increasingly important for Tasmanian exporters. ABx needs to use the largest possible ships from northern Tasmanian ports and notes that proposals to increase the maximum ship-size at Burnie Port to 75,000 tonnes in the near-term are being investigated.
Load-rate: 14,760 tonnes per day. Better than contract. QUBE Ports stevedores excelled.
Mine and screen production rates achieved by the ABx mine team and Hazell Bros contractors were above target due to improvements and innovations introduced during this operation.
Trucking delivered 33,000 tonnes to the port stockpile at Bell Bay weeks before ship arrival. Trucking was done by Dave Wagner & Son Pty Ltd which has a proven record of handling the ABx bauxite efficiently and with care shown for the public, the product and the customer, ABx.
ABx was please to work with TasPorts to secure a permanent stockpile location at Bell Bay Port.
Additional product stockpiles have been achieved, including fertiliser-grade bauxite, cement-grade bauxite and sizeable stockpiles of ALCORE refinery-grade bauxite. A sample of several tonnes of this refinery-grade bauxite will be supplied to the ALCORE Research Centre in Berkeley Vale, Central Coast NSW for refining into Aluminium Fluoride for potential customers to evaluate.
ABx has accumulated a significant quantity of ALCORE refinery-grade bauxite and is conducting an ore reserve estimation of that material.
Bald Hill Bauxite Project in Tasmania has the potential to accumulate several year's supply of ALCORE refinery-grade bauxite at marginal cost, should ALCORE Limited require it for a production-plant in Bell Bay, Tasmania.
Rehabilition has been carried out over the past months in accordance with ABx standard practice of reforming the land surface in readiness for pasture seeding in the right seasonal period.
ABx shares the concerns of local landholders about drought conditions that have affected Tasmania during recent times. ABx hopes it can still carry out seeding in the next few weeks, rain permitting.
Seasonal Complementation With Binjour Bauxite Project, QLD
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 months from November to May. ABx's marketing partner, Rawmin of India has bauxite mines in north-western India that are restricted by the Monsoon months June to September each year.
This bauxite mining and screening operation at Bald Hill in Tasmania has confirmed that 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.
To view tables and figures, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/COL62P6J
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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