PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mineral sands miner Base Resources has reported a solid three months to September 30, as its Kwale operation, in Kenya, continued to deliver.
The mine produced 170 258 t of heavy minerals concentrate in the quarter under review, a slight improvement on the 169 061 t reported in the June quarter. Ilmenite accounted for 116 121 t of production, rutile for 20 926 t and zircon for 6 546 t.
Base on Wednesday said both the wet concentrator and mineral separation plants at Kwale had achieved consistent design availability and throughput during the quarter.
A total of 2.32-million tonnes of ore was mined during the quarter, grading 9.66% heavy minerals, as mining continued through a high-grade section of the Central Dune orebody.
Cash operating costs during the quarter were slightly lower at $95/t, compared with the $97/t reported in the June quarter, owing to higher production volumes this quarter. However, Base warned that operating costs in the December quarter would increase owing to a planned midlife servicing of the mobile mining fleet.