Name and Location
Farim phosphate project, Guinea Bissau.

Client
GB Minerals.

Project Description
The project has National Instrument 43-101-compliant reserves of 44-million tonnes at an average grade run-of-mine of 30% phosphorus pentoxide, based on a 25-year mine plan.

Total measured and indicated resources (including reserves) are estimated at 105.6-million tonnes grading at 28.4% phosphorus pentoxide, owing to revised resource classification criteria and cutoff assumptions.

The inferred resource base is estimated at 37.6-million tonnes at a grade of 27.7% phosphorus pentoxide.

The current mine plan will excavate 1.75-million tonnes of phosphate ore a year for 25 years, increasing yearly production rates by 35% from the 1.3-million tonnes a year that was envisioned in the previous mine plan.

Two pits will be mined – the South pit, which will operate up to year eight, and the North pit, which will be mined thereafter. As a result of increased production, the pit shells will cover a larger area.

According to the feasibility study, the ore and waste can be easily dug without any drilling and blasting. Based on these conditions, 5 m3 bucket-class hydraulic backhoes have been selected as the primary loading fleet for the phosphate ore. These machines are large enough to produce the yearly tonnages required and can efficiently load the 36 t class of trucks selected for the project.

Primary overburden stripping will be performed with 12.2 m³ bucket-class front-end loaders paired with 97 t haul trucks. The average stripping ratio in the South pit is estimated at 7.62 bank cubic metres a tonne and 10.56 bank cubic metres a tonne for the North pit, resulting in an overall life-of-mine stripping ratio of
9.65 bank cubic metres a tonne.

The phosphate ore will be beneficiated before sale to customers.

The final process that has been selected will consist of horizontal and attrition scrubbing, followed by particle sizing to remove the fraction under 20 μm.

No crushing will be required. This new beneficiation process will result in a final product of 34% phosphorus pentoxide.

The processed phosphate rock will be dewatered to up to 8% moisture using a vacuum-belt filter and transported over the Cacheu river through an enclosed conveyer belt to a truck load-out facility. The product will then be trucked 75 km to a new port at Ponta Chugue, where it will be unloaded, conveyed through a rotary dryer, stockpiled, and conveyed using a shiploader to load 35 000-deadweight-tonne ships.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a pretax net present value, at a 10% discount rate, of $497-million and a tax effected internal rate of return of 34.9%, with a 4.3 year payback period.

Value
Initial capital costs are estimated at $193.84-million.

Duration
The project is expected to take 19 months from the start of detailed
engineering to production.

Latest Developments
None stated.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
GB Minerals, tel +1 604 569 0721, fax +1 604 601 3443 or email inquire@gbminerals.com.