Name of the Project
Xaudum Iron Formation (XIF) project.

Location
North-West district of Botswana.

Project Owner/s
Tsodilo Resources, through its wholly owned subsidiary Gcwihaba Resources.

Project Description
The project has the potential to be the first iron deposit to be considered for development in Botswana. 

Preliminary work on the XIF project has defined a Canada Institute of Mining-compliant inferred mineral resource estimate for the Block 1 magnetite XIF of 441-million tonnes with an average grade of 29.4% iron, 41% silicone dioxide, 6.1% aluminium oxide and 0.3% phosphorous.

Block 1 is a fraction of the potential XIF magnetite resource. An extrapolated exploration target has defined the XIF to be five- to seven-billion tonnes at 15% to 40% iron.

The preliminary economic assessment on the project will evaluate several options for the development of the project at a variety of scales, including:

nontraditional, but potentially profitable, small-scale startup mining production options, such as ferrosilicon production from magnetite concentrate;

midsize scenarios, whereby magnetite concentrate will be processed through a concentrator and transported to a railhead and on to port facilities;

large-scale mining options, where full-scale mining will modify the pellets that will then be transported to port facilities.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Not stated.

Planned Start/End Date
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Drill and assay results for the XIF project have confirmed that Block 2a, located 10 km south of Block 1, is a continuation of the same Block 1 magnetite-rich units.

This, the company says, will result in a significant increase in the resource tonnage for the neoproterozoic, banded magnetite iron prospect upon completion of the Block 2a drill programme.

The drilling results indicate that Block 2a contains the same three magnetite resource lithological units that are seen in Block 1, with average grades of 35.6% iron in the Block 2a grade of the major banded magnetite BIF unit coded MBA.

The average Block 1 grade for MBA is 35.5% iron.

The average Block 2a grade of the major magnetite diamictite schist unit coded DIM is 25.1% iron, while the average Block 1 grade for DIM is 20.8% iron.

Further, the results show that 25% iron is the average Block 2a grade of the minor magnetite garnet schist unit coded MGS, while the average Block 1 grade for MGS is 22.1% iron.

Based on metallurgical davis tube recovery magnetic separation results for Block 1, Tsodilo reports that a general average high-grade iron concentrate of between 66% and 67% iron and above can be expected from Block 2a.

This the explorer reports will represent a significant increase in the XIF resource tonnages as it is of a similar size to Block 1.

The company has defined a common information model-compliant inferred mineral resource estimate within Block 1 of 441-million tonnes, with an average grade of 29.4% iron, 41% silicon dioxide, 6.1% aluminium oxide and 0.3% phosphorus for the magnetite XIF in Block 1

Key Contracts, Suppliers and Consultants
SRK Consulting (technical report).

Contact Details for Project Information
Tsodilo Resources, email info@TsodiloResources.com.