JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed iron-ore and manganese developer Ferrex on Thursday announced that the environmental permit for its Nayega manganese project, in Northern Togo, had been granted.
The environmental permit set the conditions for the operation of the mine, with Ferrex noting that it was a major milestone towards the granting of the project’s mining permit.
“We continue to focus on finalising the definitive feasibility study and securing the mining permit before the end of this quarter,” MD Dave Reeves said.
Further, the company also received extensions on its prospecting permits, after relinquishing 50% of the 92 000 ha area, as per the mining code.
These permits had been renewed for two years and were renewable for one more period of two years subsequent to this.
“[This] allows us to continue the ongoing exploration programme that is defining new manganese mineralisation outside the main Nayega deposit,” said Reeves.
Meanwhile, Ferrex was also applying for additional ground in the prospecting permit area to increase the possibility of further exploration success, following positive results from recent pit sampling that was focused on increasing the current Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 11-million tons.
These results had confirmed a number of existing targets, which had the potential to add substantial value to Nayega, the company stated.