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[July 2009]
Pisolite Hills Bauxite 30% Resource Upgrade to 130Mt
Brisbane-based emerging bauxite company Cape Alumina has released details of a 30% increase in bauxite resources for its Pisolite Hills project on the Weipa bauxite plateau of western Cape York, QLD, Australia.
Key Points:
- Pisolite Hills resource upgrade to 130Mt in situ bauxite sufficient for 12 to 15 year initial mine life.
- Expected beneficiation yield of 86.1 Mt on a dry tonnage basis.
- The resource upgrade will form a pivotal component of the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) due to commence in September.
- Further drilling to upgrade resource categories planned for the 2009 field season.
Cape Alumina’s CEO Dr Paul Messenger said the resource upgrade was the result of compilation and modelling of first pass drilling at the PH5 plateau and dry bulk density testwork on PH1 and PH2 plateaus completed during the 2008 field season.
The revised estimate represents an in situ Mineral Resource of 130.2 million tonnes of Measured (27.5 Mt), Indicated (56.1 Mt) and Inferred (46.6 Mt) bauxite. This resource is exclusive of bauxite that falls within the recommended High Preservation Areas around minor tributaries and springs which were proposed by the company in its recent submission to the State Minister of Environment and Resource Management on the declaration of the Wenlock River Basin as a Wild River Area.
After wet beneficiation, the resource is expected to yield 86.1 Mt of product bauxite on a dry basis including Measured (20.1Mt), Indicated (37.9Mt) and Inferred (28 Mt) Resources at an average grade of 53.1% Al2O3 (41.5% Available Alumina and 7.5% Reactive Silica at 150°C).
Dr Messenger welcomed the resource upgrade as another positive sign of the viability of the Pisolite Hills project. “These results provide us with further confidence of the scale and quality of the Pisolite Hills deposits,” Dr Messenger said. “We see potential for an initial 12-15 year operation at Pisolite Hills at a target production rate of 7 Mtpa. There’s a growing market for the resource as the bauxite is suitable as a blending feed for the new breed of low-temperature Bayer-process refineries in China.
“This new resource statement will form a key component of the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) due to commence in September. Further drilling in the 2009 field season will aim to increase the percentage of the resource in the Measured and Indicated categories.”
www.capealumina.com.au
ENDS