JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Sable Mining has announced an upgraded Joint Ore Reserves Committee- (Jorc-) compliant resource of 181.8-million tonnes at an in-situ grade of 58.8% iron at its Nimba iron-ore project, in south-east Guinea, following expansion exploration drilling on a limited area of Plateau 3. 

The updated resource statement, which included data from an additional 36 diamond drill holes, also increased the indicated resource by 10% to 148.4-million tonnes, demonstrating the potential upside to the “robust” fundamentals demonstrated in the preliminary feasibility study (PFS).

The January PFS was based on a maiden Jorc-compliant probable reserve of 53.96-million tonnes at a grade of 61.6% iron, which was derived from the August 2013 Jorc-compliant resource of 135.5-million tonnes, grading at 59.4% iron.

As metallurgical sampling remained ongoing, the minerals explorer said in a statement on Wednesday that the drill rig had now been repositioned on Plateau 3 to generate additional material for metallurgical testwork and to progress the marketing study.

In addition, reverse circulation infill drilling had now been completed on Plateau 2 and 3, with samples having been sent for testing.

Commenting on the resource statement, CEO Andrew Groves said the resource upgrade was the result of achieving a key objective of the company’s development strategy for 2014. 

“The team continue to drive progress at Nimba as we approach our ultimate goal of achieving commercial iron-ore production at the end of 2015.  In line with this, the additional components of our development continue to make headway, as metallurgical testwork is under way to progress the marketing studies for our final product and we continue encouraging discussions with the relevant authorities regarding our end-to-end logistics solution. 

“We continue to work closely with the governments of Guinea and Liberia and, with their support, we remain focused on opening up this region as a new development corridor between these two countries,” he said.