Africa-focused iron-ore mining company Cavalla Resources, owned by private investment holding company Jonah Capital, has completed a definitive feasibility study (DFS) on its Buchanan iron-ore project, in Buchanan, Liberia.

Jonah Capital CEO John Barton-Bridges tells Mining Weekly that Cavalla Resources is also in discussions with senior lenders and prospective equity investors to raise the capital necessary to bring the project into production.

“If all goes well, we could start construction on the project by the end of the year,” he says.

The Buchanan project, once operational, will produce 1.2-million tonnes a year of 65% iron concentrate over five years from an iron-ore fines stockpile above surface.

Barton-Bridges says the concentrate has low levels of impurities and will constitute “a good feed for pellet plants”.

“We have entered into an offtake agreement for 50% of the product with local black-owned global trading company Oreport,” he states, adding that Cavalla Resources is also in discussions with other potential offtakers for the balance of the product.  

Barton-Bridges points out that the Buchanan project will be a low-cost producer, with an operating cost of less than $22/t, free-on-board Buchanan Port.

“The low operating cost is a result of several factors. The project is located a few hundred metres away from the Port of Buchanan and the resource is located in an above-ground stockpile. Therefore, there are no major mining costs and the resource is a fine-grain material, which requires no milling and basic processing,” he explains.

The project will use hydraulic mining methods to recover the tailing deposits.

Mining solutions company Fraser Alexander Tailings provided input to the DFS and is a candidate to carry out the hydraulic recovery of the resource once the project is in operation.

Barton-Bridges says, despite the downturn in the Chinese economy, the development of the project will not be negatively affected, as the project is a low-cost producer, “which serves as protection against price fluctuations”.

Other Projects

In addition to the Buchanan project, Cavalla Resources has six exploration licences in Liberia.

The company conducted exploration on two of the licences in joint venture (JV) with iron-ore major Kumba Iron Ore and Anglo American, while it is developing the other four sites on its own, such as the Nimba South iron-ore project, in Liberia. The six exploration licences cover more than 4 000 km².

Consulting engineering firm SRK Consulting supervised the exploration programme on Nimba South. To date, extensive surface mapping and trenching, and geophysical and geochemical surveys, as well as 3 000 m of drilling, have been completed on the site.

“SRK is preparing the report on exploration work, which has been completed to date. This will include a proposed programme for the next phase of exploration and budget for the programme,” Barton-Bridges explains.

The report is due for release as soon as the assay results are available.

Further, Cavalla Resources solely owns the Wehsen and the Grand Gedeh 1 and 2 projects, all located in eastern Liberia.

“A decision will be taken soon on whether to proceed with the projects,” states Barton-Bridges.

Exploration programmes on the JV Gbarnga project, in Bong County, and the Kalasi project, in the Nimba region, were completed in May.

The JV management decided last month that, based on the exploration results, they will not renew the licences on either of the projects.

Additionally, Jonah Capital owns a 100% share in the Kasempa copper and cobalt project, in north-western Zambia. The project is in its exploration stage.

“Three target areas have been identified and drilling programmes . . . are under way,” says Barton-Bridges.

He states that the drilling programme on the first area was completed in January, and consulting engineering and environmental consulting firm The MSA Group supervised the drilling campaign.

The MSA Group is compiling the report for the drilling programme. The report will include a budget and a proposed exploration programme for the next phase of the exploration programme.

“I expect the Kasempa report to be released in the next two to three weeks. This will guide us as to how to best proceed with the project,” Barton-Bridges concludes.