IRON MINERALISATION Ruskoway’s latest testwork on Matayo has established that a final product of up to 69% iron maghemite can be produced
South African junior mining and exploration company Ruskoway is intent on developing its four diversified mineral resource projects in South Africa, says Ruskoway project manager Siyabonga Sibiya.
The company’s Fonte Verde platinum-group metals (PGMs), nickel and copper deposit is located near the town of Delmas, in Mpumalanga.
Sibiya tells Mining Weekly that the previous owners of the project – precious metals producers Gold Fields and Aquarius Platinum – undertook substantial exploration drilling, establishing that Fonte Verde has a combined resource of 378-million tons of PGMs, nickel and copper ores.
Ruskoway estimates that it will cost about R25-million to develop the project to full bankable feasibility study, which will include undertaking further exploration work and building a pilot process plant and mine infrastructure.
Adjacent to Fonte Verde is Ruskoway’s Argent lead, zinc and silver project. Sibiya notes that it offers the potential for early-stage commercial operations based on ownership of tailings and the potential to obtain a mining permit.
“We are investigating the potential to reprocess the tailings by gravity methods and/or froth flotation, while the Brakfontein lode area has the potential to be reopened as an underground mine,” he highlights.
Sibiya points out that Argent operated in several phases from 1889 to 1957; Ruskoway is assessing the cost implications of restarting operations. However, he stresses that the project will not be capital intensive, as there is existing infrastructure at the site from previous operations.
Additionally, the company’s Rooikraal project consists of a PGMs, nickel and copper deposit. The project is located in the Loskop lobe area, adjacent to Aquarius Platinum’s Blue Ridge project, about 30 km south-east of Groblersdal, in Mpumalanga, on the eastern limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex.
Rooikraal covers 1 024 ha and is also adjacent to the eastern boundary of platinum producer Lonmin’s Millennium project.
“Given its proximity to the Millennium project, representing about 3.7-million ounces, and the Blue Ridge project, where Aquarius Platinum has reported an indicated mineral resource of 4.6-million ounces of PGMs, Rooikraal is a highly prospective project.”
Sibiya remarks that Dr Hans Merensky carried out extensive trenching in the 1920s and Aquarius Platinum drilled 16 boreholes at the site in the early 2000s. Ruskoway considers the project to have substantial promise, based on the extensive outcropping and some “very interesting” mineralised intersections in the Rooikraal unit – considered to be equivalent to the Merensky reef – and an underlying upper group two reef-style mineralised zone.
He says the company requires about R5-million to reassay the outcropping in the trenched areas and an additional R5-million to undertake further drilling campaigns on strike zones to establish a resource size for the project.
Ruskoway also owns the Matayo iron-ore, manganese and gold project, in the North West, which is centred around the old Drylands gold mine.
“We expect to mine a premium iron product, both fines and pellets, from the two main iron-ore bodies, which have about 30-million tons of iron-ore,” Sibiya comments.
He also notes that the company intends to process Matayo’s gold tailings and remaining in situ orebody for gold and silver. There is about 385 000 t of readily defined and available gold tailings at the project, with a head grade average of 1.13 g/t of gold, which provides “substantial cash-generating prospects” for the company.
Sibiya states that Ruskoway is also investigating the potential to produce a low-grade manganese product or a manganese iron product, with silver as a by-product.
He further points out that two test plants have been constructed at the 160 km2 Matayo site for testwork on iron and precious metals recovery. Work is being executed to achieve customer specification on the product and the pilot plants have identified various processes to produce a product of more than 66% magnetic iron.
Moreover, Sibiya highlights that the company’s latest testwork has established that a final product of up to 69% iron maghemite can be produced at the site.
He adds that the company is also developing a high-value product for the coal-wash dense-media-separation market from the site’s iron-ores.
Moreover, Sibiya states that maghemite can also be used as a catalyst in international integrated energy and chemicals company Sasol’s gas-to-liquids plants and as feed material for producing direct reduced iron pellets.
Ruskoway has applied to the Department of Mineral Resources for a bulk sampling permit to undertake more detailed testing of Matayo’s resource value. Sibiya expects that the permit will be granted within the next three months.
Following the completion of bulk sampling tests, the company intends to establish a small processing plant that will initially produce 5 000 t/m to 10 000 t/m, which can be ramped up over time to produce greater tonnage, if required.
The company aims to use the cash generated from Matayo to fund the development of all its other projects. However, Sibiya says Ruskoway is also currently in discussions with finance institutions that have an interest in the company’s project portfolio.
However, he concludes that the company is still open to engaging with other potential partners that are interested in investing finance and/or skills into developing its projects.