Metallica Minerals Limited is an Australian bauxite, zircon-rutile, nickel-cobalt-scandium and graphite resource development and exploration company.
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Supports Low Cost Direct Shipping Strategy.
The recently completed initial resource estimation for Metallica’s 60% held (reducing to 50% in a JV with Ozore) Urquhart Point Bauxite Project supports the Company’s plan to develop an initial 1.5-2.0Mtpa low capital and operating cost DSB operation (i.e. no screening or upgrading required). Results to date indicate that the overall potential direct shipping resource of 7.5Mt (using a 45% Al2O3 lower cut-off) contains at least 4.8Mt of readily marketable bauxite.
As shown in our initiation report, this resource comprises two areas – the northern Area A and southern Area B, with Area A generally being of higher quality. The bauxite stratigraphy is also subdivided between a higher quality lower domain defined by <15% total SiO2 and +48% total Al2O3, and a higher silica upper domain, with lower domain resources shown below.
The quality results from Area A as shown above, which has a more continuous lower domain, indicate a marketable product, with low temperature, 150° C analyses returning an average available alumina (“AAl”) grade of 40.6% and 4.9% reactive silica (“RxSi”), from the lower domain resource of 4Mt grading at 53.3% total Al2O3 and 13.0% SiO2. These results indicate the majority of the silica is in quartz, and not clays.
No AAl or RxSi assays have been carried out as yet on Area B (or for that matter on the upper domain in both areas), however we still see the potential for readily marketable material to be produced from Area B, which has 777Kt grading at 52.7% Al2O3 and 13.2% SiO2 in the lower domain, which are similar grades to those at Area A. In addition in the later years of the proposed operation there is potential for upgrading the remaining resource by dry screening the bauxite to exclude a major portion of the fines (<1.5mm) to make the bauxite marketable, albeit with slightly higher operating cost and likely discount compared to the DSB sale price.
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Official website: http://www.metallicaminerals.com.au/
ASX on Hotcooper: http://hotcopper.com.au/asx/MLM
