Australian Bauxite Limited (ASX:ABZ) Taralga Bauxite Resource Doubles to 12 Million Tonnes
Sydney, Dec 6, 2010 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABZ) has 32 bauxite tenements in eastern Australia covering more than 7,500 km2 and is near to completing first-pass exploratory drilling of all project areas during calendar year 2010 - 6 months ahead of schedule.
ABx has commenced commercial discussions with potential partners and/or offtake customers for a few of its 30 project areas including Taralga EL 7357 located near Goulburn, southern NSW. ABx is announcing the latest resources identified at Taralga from the follow-up drilling in October that assessed the general potential for easily mined bauxite zones of Direct Shipping Ore ("DSO") grades. Taralga is located near a major railway line leading directly to Port Kembla export terminal.
A more extensive resource drilling program is to commence this month - weather permitting. A Review of Environmental Factors has been completed, thus clearing the way for a more extensive testing program.
NEW BAUXITE STYLE DISCOVERED
Taralga contains a quartz-bearing bauxite, much of which has not been sent for laboratory analysis because it was considered unlikely to be saleable bauxite. However, the results from this material received to date show that there are potentially large tonnages of this material at Taralga.
This quartz-rich, low reactive-silica bauxite has strong similarities with the world-famous bauxite deposits in the Darling Ranges south of Perth Western Australia which is the world's largest bauxite-alumina production province, producing the world's lowest-cost alumina because the aluminium ore mineral is exclusively gibbsite which can be processed at low temperatures and pressures.
RESOURCE ESTIMATE METHOD
Drilling on a random pattern governed by site availability was done predominantly in the northeastern parts of EL 7357 where bauxite plateaus were obvious and some in the southwestern parts of EL 7357 where unexpectedly thick, good quality bauxite has been recently discovered.
During August 2010, 98 holes were drilled totalling 710 metres and during September-October, a further 112 holes were drilled totalling 985 metres. Drill samples were collected at 1 metre intervals from the aircore drillholes and analysed at ALS Laboratories in Brisbane including trihydrate (THA) available alumina (Avl Al2O3) and reactive silica (SiO2 Rx) measurements. Leach conditions to measure available Avl Al2O3 and reactive SiO2 Rx were 1g leached in 10ml of 90gpl NaOH at 143 degrees C for 30 minutes
Estimation was done by a polygonal modelling using maximum extrapolations of 50 metres for Indicated Resources category and 100 metres for Inferred Resources. Bauxite density was conservatively assumed at 1.8 dry tonnes per cubic metre in-situ.
For the complete ABx announcement including resources tables and figures, please refer to the following link:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/64361-ASX-ABZ-616259.pdf
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.
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