Quarterly Activities Report
Perth, April 27, 2012 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABZ) quarterly activities statement is dated 27th April 2012 and is for the three months ending 31st March 2012.
PRINCIPAL POINTS
Corporate
- Mr Ken Boundy was appointed alternate director for Mr Vincent Tan
- Cash in hand at the end of the March 2012 quarter was $ 2.5 million
- Pre-feasibility study nearing completion
Exploration
- Discovery of the company's thickest highgrade bauxite intersection - possibly one of the thickest bauxite intersections in Australia. Most Australian bauxite deposits are less than 4 metres thick(5)
- 33 metre thick high grade bauxite discovered at Taralga6 March Quarter Exploration Summary
- During the March quarter exploration focused on completing the Goulburn Bauxite Pre-feasibility study
- Drilling continued at Binjour in Queensland where a new zone of high-grade bauxite occurring at surface and up to 10 metres thick was discovered
- Ground reconnaissance recommenced at Tasmania in anticipation of recommencing drilling
Goulburn Bauxite Project Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS)
The PFS continues on schedule and to budget and joint venture partners are reviewing the data. The PFS will soon be released.
Tenement status
Tenements are 100% in good standing.
Taralga NSW
33 metres Thick High Grade Bauxite Discovered at Taralga, NSW(6)
During the March quarter ABx discovered the company's thickest high-grade bauxite intersection- possibly one of the thickest bauxite intersections in Australia. Most Australian bauxite deposits are less than 4 metres thick.
- 33 metres of continuous high-grade bauxite intersected in hole TG626 beneath 1 metre of clay near Mt Rae, Taralga NSW
- Hole TG626 ended in high grade direct shipping bauxite - deposit is still open at depth
- Nearby holes also encountered thick bauxite and ended in high-grade bauxite
Resource Estimation Update
Areas of thick, good quality bauxite continued to be discovered across the Taralga - Mt Rae Areas. An upgrade to the resource estimate for Taralga will be completed following completion of the Pre Feasibility Study (PFS).
Current bauxite resources at Taralga total 25 million tonnes (see Resource Statement page 3).
Main Production is DSO Bauxite (see Glossary)
Metallurgical Results Encouraging
Metallurgical tests on large samples have been completed as part of the Pre Feasibility Study, with METS Engineers of Perth coordinating and summarising testwork done by AMDEL and Nagrom Laboratories.
More than half of the bauxite resources are gibbsite-rich, low silica bauxite, ideal for direct shipping bauxite "DSO" without significant handling. The remainder contains 20% to 30% nodules or "pisoliths" of a black, dense glassy material, which is a fused alumina and trace magnetic iron oxides. Well-known bauxite mineralogist, Professor Eggleton of the Australian National University coined the term "PDM" for these pisoliths, which he found in other bauxites. PDM stands for "poorly diffracting material" when subjected to Xray diffraction.
Metallurgical tests confirmed that after PDM is easily removed by gravity, the remaining bauxite is goodquality DSO bauxite.
This means that overall, DSO will represent approximately 75% to 85% of total tonnes produced from the Goulburn Bauxite Project. The recovered PDM emery material may be sold at good prices for industrial uses.
Port Kembla Opportunities
The range and capacity of opportunities for efficient port handling at Port Kembla have been encouraging.
Negotiations will continue for several months to assess the best way to tranship bauxite onto large bulk carrying vessels for export.
Market Developments
Imports of bauxite into China have achieved consecutive all-time monthly records reaching 5.26 million tonnes in March. The quantity of bauxite imported into China for the March Quarter exceeded 13 million tonnes, which is 50% higher than the previous year. The seaborne trade of bauxite into China's huge bauxite refining industry has risen from almost zero in 2005 to more than 50 million tonnes per year.
Since 2005, prices of bauxite imported into China have risen from US$27 per tonne to more than US$70 per tonne CIF Shandong Ports, China.
The majority of imports into China are gibbsite-rich bauxite from Indonesia similar to the DSO bauxite that is to be produced by the Goulburn Bauxite Project and all other bauxite projects of Australia Bauxite Limited.
During the quarter, the Indonesian government took steps to enforce a large reduction in bauxite exports from Indonesia and/or an imposition of an export tax so as to encourage processing in Indonesia's aluminium industry. It is considered likely that a reasonable compromise will be achieved so that China can continue importing bauxite from Indonesia for the near-term and increasingly import bauxite from Australia, which is a more reliable supplier.
The market opportunities for Australian Bauxite Limited's bauxite appear substantial.
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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