Quarterly Report
Sydney, Oct 28, 2019 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Ltd (
ASX:ABX) has its first bauxite mine in Tasmania & holds the core of the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. ABx's 12 bauxite tenements in Queensland, New South Wales & Tasmania totalled 719 km2 & were selected for (1) good quality bauxite; (2) near infrastructure connected to export ports; & (3) free of socio-environmental constraints.
All tenements are 100% owned, unencumbered & free of third-party royalties. ABx's discovery rate is increasing as knowledge, technology & expertise grows. The Company's bauxite is gibbsite trihydrate (THA) bauxite that can be processed into alumina at low temperature and is becoming increasingly in shortest supply.
Corporate
- Group available cash at the end of the quarter was $1.45 million and currently is about $1.37 million
Sales & Operations
- 32,477 tonnes of cement-grade bauxite was loaded and shipped from Bell Bay in early June. Sales of fertilisergrade bauxite from Bald Hill are on-going to plan, despite drought conditions
- Rehabilitation reforming of the mined out areas completed to ABx's high standards. Seeding awaits rain
- Bulk-sampling at the Binjour bauxite project in QLD confirmed grades and upgrading tests were successful
ALCORE Project
- Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx)'s wholly-owned subsidiary, ALCORE Limited has been trialling the chemical refining of ABx bauxite and its components into Aluminium Fluoride (AlF3) which is a high-priced ingredient in aluminium smelters.
- ALCORE's results have exceeded expectations and a production strategy is now firming-up o ALCORE has proven it can:
a. Make Aluminium Fluoride (AlF3) from aluminium oxides and hydrates (gibbsite), which is the principal component of bauxite and from several other aluminium-rich materials (see New Discoveries below)
b. Extract valuable silicon oxides by adjusting the reagent mix and processing conditions
c. Make Corethane gas substitute by reducing ash content in coal from 28% to less than 4%, thus making a cleaner substitute for more expensive metallurgical coal & coke for smelting. Corethane is also ideally suited for use as a sulphur-free bunker fuel for shipping under new strict emissions laws
- New discovery: during this research, ALCORE discovered that its process can do a lot more than expected, including making AlF3 from aluminium-rich and fluorine-bearing waste materials from aluminium smelters world-wide so as to introduce 100% recycling into the aluminium smelting industry
- Several potential AlF3 customers and supportive major companies in the aluminium industry have visited the ALCORE Research Centre and observed the production of AlF3
- ALCORE's task list includes:
a. Prove that ALCORE can make AlF3 with the appropriate crystal size & density to suit each customer
b. Make ultra-pure AlF3 that can be used in special batteries, including lithium-ion batteries
c. Determine the optimum reaction conditions for the complete extraction of iron oxides
d. Recycling acids recovered from the production of the co-products
- AIF3 is an essential electrolyte ingredient in aluminium smelters. Global demand for AlF3 increases as aluminium smelter production increases and the use of AlF3 in lithium ion batteries increases
- Ore Reserves: ABx has stockpiled and sampled ALCORE refinery-grade bauxite at Bald Hill mine in Tasmania and an initial ore-reserve estimation of some of these large refinery-grade stockpiles is in progress
- The potential availability of aluminium-rich and fluorine-bearing waste materials from aluminium smelters world-wide is reportedly very large and discussions about contracts for this material have commenced
- The ALCORE business plan targets long-established, broad industrial markets with many potential buyers
- Initial production modules will be the simplest possible, producing the core products for industrial markets and later production modules will become more sophisticated so as to produce a full suite of products
- ALCORE processes are relatively low-risk because they operate at ambient temperatures and pressures
- ALCORE will be the first Australian supplier of AlF3 to the Australasian Aluminium Smelters and for export
- Location of first plant at Bell Bay, Tasmania: ALCORE is investigating industrial sites at Bell Bay in northern Tasmania for the first production plant
- Discussions continue with governments and supportive major companies in the aluminium industry
To view the Quarterly Report, please visit:
https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/1VY84BR5
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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