Exploration company World Titanium Resources’ Ranobe mine, in south-west Madagascar, is undergoing final environmental and social permitting by the local government, the company said in November last year.

The mine, which forms a part of World Titanium’s Tier 1 Toliara Sands project is projected to produce 407 000 t/y of ilmenite and 44 000 t/y of zircon-rich concentrate over an initial one-year mine life.

This first phase of mine devel-opment uses about 17% of Ranobe’s 959-million tonnes of defined mineral resource.

The overall total heavy mineral (THM) grade of 6.1% for the Ranobe mineral resource is high by minerals sands industry standards and the initial Ranobe mine plan focuses on an ore reserve of 161-million tonnes averaging 8.2% THM, resulting in one of the highest in situ ore values in the sector, the company states.

With no overburden and very low slimes (less than 5%), simple dry mining can be used.

The heavy minerals at Ranobe consist predominantly of ilmenite which makes up about 90% of the final product. The project also benefits significantly from the presence of much higher value zircon and rutile, which, as a zircon-rich concentrate, contribute about 10% of the product volume and about 45% of the projected revenue.

The ilmenite- and zircon-rich concentrate can be easily separated from the ore using standard equipment, and existing infrastructure can be leveraged to decrease the initial development capital.

The definitive engineering study (DES) completed in August 2012 confirmed that a low capital investment, low technical risk and simple mineral sands operation can be built using proven technology.

It envisages using a simple mining and processing route at 8-million tonnes a year of ore.

The Ranobe mine is a robust project with projected high operating margins and relatively low development capital, compared with similar scale mineral sands projects.

The forecast life-of-mine (LoM) average operating cash cost of $116/t of product, combined with LoM average revenue of $271/t of product, result in high forecast operating margins.

When combined with the low capital intensity and absolute capital required for the initial development, currently estimated as $216-million, including working capital, the project is forecast to deliver an internal rate of return of around 29% and a net present value of $310-million over a 21-year life.

The infrastructure for the Ranobe mine is inherently expandable and increases the potential to incrementally scale up the operation.

The mineral resource at Ranobe could potentially sustain a life of more than 100 years at the planned initial production rate for the Ranobe mine, demonstrating the long life of the Tier 1 Toliara Sands project.

World Titanium Resources has a total exploration target of more than 4 700-million tonnes in the Toliara Sands exploration permits at Ranobe, Ankililoaka, Basibasy and Morombe, includ-ing the 959-million tonnes at 6.1% THM mineral resource at Ranobe.