Explorer bullish on Mauritanian iron-ore prospect ------------------------------------------------------------------------
An iron-ore exploration campaign alongside an existing operation in Mauritania has reportedly unearthed a significant resource, with the initiator expecting it to increase to over one-billion tons as prospecting continues. In a recent presentation, Sphere Investments MD Alexander Burns said it had been encouraged by results at the Guelb El Aouj project, a joint venture with state-miner SNIM, where Sphere can earn a 50% interest by spending $11-million in taking the project to a bankable-feasibility-study stage. The project would be a seven-million-ton-a-year brownfields expansion, which would employ existing mine and related infrastructure to elevate overall output to 18-million tons a year . Also being investigated is a seven-million ton a year concentrator and pellet plant, which will require 20-million tons a year of ore input. SNIM currently exports 12-million tons a year of hematite ore and magnetite concentrate from its operations. It also owns and operates a deepwater port and 700-km long railway line to service its operations. Potential resources in situ are 800-million tons in three deposits and by October last year, the firm indicated that resources from the east and centre deposit stood at 675-million tons. The firm is also conducting an assessment of the exploration potential of the nearby Bou Derga and Tintekrate magnetite deposits. The Australia-based company has already advanced the Guelb el Aouj deposits to an inferred resource of 675-million tons including 450-million tons for the east deposit and 225-million tons for its centre deposit. The decision to evaluate these two deposits was announced by the firm this month following positive results from recent mapping and modelling by Sphere's geologists. “Based on similar procedures to those used for the initial assessments of Centre and East, we believe that Bou Derga provides a magnetite-quartzite target in the order of 450- to 600-million tons,” Burns said. Last month, Sphere gave the go-ahead for Stage 2B of the now $22-million bankable feasibility study (BFS) on the project, based on the drilling and other test results from Stage 1 and Stage 2A work. The final and third stage of the Guelb el Aouj bankable feasibility study is expected to be completed by the second quarter of next year and the European Investment Bank has put forward a $5,5-million loan facility. The firm is targeting over 1 100-million tons in total and is looking at a long-term concentrate offtake to feed the growing steel industry. Some $850-million is to be spent for the mine, which has an expected life-of-mine of 30 years. Currently, the product it aims to produce is selling at $95 a ton. Already, an open-cast mine is under construction. Production will start in 2010 and the firm aims to be a major steel supplier. Mauritania offers clear titles and is set to have elections in a year-and-a-half. Currently, the country is being seen as a land of opportunity and projects are being developed. -- “Peace is not the absence of war. It is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence and justice” _______________________________________________ M-net mailing list [email protected] http://mauritanie-net.com/mailman/listinfo/m-net_mauritanie-net.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Mauritanie-Net" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Mauritanie-Net -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
