Mining Weekly

ASX-listed exploration and development company Minbos Resources last month started work with joint venture (JV) partner Petril on the bankable feasibility study (BFS) work programmes for the high-margin, high-grade phosphate Cabinda project, in Angola.

The 391.3-million-ton project, with an estimated ten-year mine life, spreads across the southern part of the Republic of Congo, the north-western part of Angola and the western part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Minbos has the funding in place to rapidly progress the initial trade-off studies and the BFS,” Minbos CEO Lindsay Reed reiterated in a company statement issued last month. The first cash call for $500 000 has been made to the JV partners and Minbos has paid its 50% share of $250 000.

To fund the BFS, Minbos raised a capital placement in February for $3.4-million. The first phase of this capital placement has been finalised, while the second phase of $2-million will be completed following shareholder approval later this month.

The BFS is expected to be completed in the first half of 2017, the company reported, detailing that the BFS work programmes consisted of two phases. The first phase will entail trade-off studies on aspects of the flow sheet and port operations and is expected to last about six months and cost about $1.2-million.

The bulk sampling, pilot plant testwork and product samples produced in this phase will form the basis of the BFS. Bulk sampling, which will start in the second half of this month, will be followed by a 1 000 m infill drilling programme at the Cacata deposit, the company reports.

Meanwhile, the request for proposals for the engineering and environmental and social assessment studies for the BFS has been distributed to large engineering groups. Contracts for these studies are expected to be awarded in late May, according to the company.

However, the outcome of the first phase will determine the total cost and timing of the second phase, the company concludes.