JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Exploration results from pit sampling at Aim-listed Ferrex’s Nayega manganese project, in Togo, have confirmed a number of targets with the potential to increase the project’s current Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource of 11-million tonnes, MD Dave Reeves said on Thursday.
He noted that the two priority targets identified through the sampling process were located within easy trucking distance of the planned plant at Nayega and had the potential to provide additional high-grade feedstock for the proposed 250 000 t/y low capital expenditure (capex) openpit manganese mine and, subsequently, the proposed ferromanganese smelting operation.
“Over the coming months, we plan to conduct additional mapping, sampling and pitting to advance these two target areas,” Reeves said, adding that the definitive feasibility study for the Phase 1 openpit operation was nearing completion and that the environmental permit was on track to be granted during the fourth quarter.
He further stated that, in light of the imminent granting of the Nayega mining licence and the current reduction in iron-ore prices, Ferrex had decided to primarily focus on its manganese assets and develop them towards production in the near term, while continuing to advance its iron-ore assets in South Africa and Gabon using in-house skills to keep expenditure to a minimum.
“We will continue to engage with interested parties in terms of strategic alliances for our iron projects; however, [we] will only enter into such agreements if it is in the best interest of our shareholders, as we believe our projects are not only viable at this price level, they are even more attractive in the current iron market due to their very low capex requirements," he said.