West-Africa-focused iron-ore exploration company West African Iron Ore expects to release the initial 43-101 resource report for its flagship Wondima target in the fourth quarter of this year, once comprehensive resource estimation and metallurgical testing have been completed.

The scope of the report covers the Wondima target in the com- pany’s Forécariah tenements, in the West African country of Guinea. The report is expected to provide a mineral resource estimate compliant with NI43-101, a full metallurgy report on iron and other associated minerals, as well as initial estimates for capital expenditure and operating expenditure.

West African Iron Ore CEO Guy Duport tells Mining Weekly that the company is focusing its efforts on the Wondima target, which is an extensive iron-bearing layered orebody prospect that has been identified along the northern extension of the Sambalama-Kaliadi magnetic anomaly, located south-east of the Wondima target.

The central part of the target, where drilling has been concentrated, comprises 33 km2 out of a 64 km2 geophysical target of raised plateau, which has a flat and hard iron-rich cap. Iron mineralisation starts from surface to a maximum depth of 26 m.

Drilling

Drilling results undertaken from May to September 2012 on the Wondima target show consistency in grade and thickness.

Of a completed 449 drilled holes and about 11 000 m of drilling, which include 384 holes that entailed 9 955 m of reverse-circulation drilling and 65 holes that entailed 1 088 m of diamond drilling, assays of 326 holes, averaging 30% iron for 8.5 m at surface on a 400 m × 400 m area, have been released.

The mineralisation has a thickness of about 8.5 m, starting from surface.

After the release of the com- pany’s technical report, it is considering undertaking a prefeasibility study on the Wondima deposit for potential mine development and mine exploitation by 2015.

“We will continue extending our resources through further drilling and analysis of our Awa prospect, which is similar to the Womdima deposit. The Awa prospect is located at the south-eastern end of the Forécariah tenements, on the Sierra Leone border,” says Duport.

Meanwhile, the company’s Sambalama-Kaliadi prospect is an additional target for magnetite ore and supergene higher-grade iron oxide ore at surface.

Prospects

“Iron deposits in these two prospects have the potential for an easy upgrading to marketable product and we are considering the possibility of developing these iron oxide ore prospects as a means to generate early cash flow, which will be used to fund further exploration and development at additional targets on the Forécariah tenements,” says Duport.

In the near term, after the maiden technical resource report has been released, West African Iron Ore aims to complete a preliminary economic assessment and bankable feasibility studies for potential early mine development of its Wondima deposit.

“The results of these will be extremely intriguing, with the current potential for simple, shallow, surface mining operations with low capital and operating expenditure,” says Duport.

“We are in continual discussions with several potential partners, some major mining companies and other parties interested in investing in an undervalued iron-ore project with great potential for growth.

“We are in talks with China International Fund (CIF), which is in a joint venture (JV) with junior iron-ore miner Bellzone Mining,” says Duport.

Bellzone Mining is a neighbour, with its operation located to the east of the Foré-cariah tene- ment, and has an already operational barging port within the boundaries of West African Iron Ore’s tenements in Forécariah.

It would be beneficial for the Bellzone Mining-CIF JV and West African Iron Ore to have a supporting partnership through their respective Forécariah projects, as it provides the opportunity to share infrastructure costs, generate better asset use and increase higher overall rates of return for both parties.

Bellzone’s producing Foré-cariah mine has infrastructure, an export facility with power and staff quarters, as well as a 76 km haul road, which connects the Yomboyeli pit to the port at Konta.

The facilities are capable of increasing production, which will assist in the development of West African Iron Ore’s project and lower everyone’s capital expenditure.

“The first commercially produced iron-ore from Guinea since 1966 was exported on December 27, 2012, from the operations at Forécariah,” Duport concludes.