Name and Location
Bushveld P-Q iron-ore and titanium project, Limpopo, South Africa.
Client
Bushveld Minerals.
Project Description
The Bushveld project is based on three adjacent new-order prospecting rights on 12 farms covering 25 207 ha.
The project currently boasts a total inferred and indicated mineral resource of 991-million tonnes, which includes 52-million tonnes at a 40% iron oxide (Fe2O3) cutoff on the main magnetite layer.
The total inferred and indicated mineral resource for the P-Q zone deposit is 939-million tonnes of iron-ore at a cutoff of 35% Fe2O3, after a 31% resource increase from farms Schoonoord 786LR and Bellevue 808LR.
A scoping study has been completed on the larger, but lower-grade, iron and vanadium P-Q zone, equating to 12% of the total Joint Ore Reserves Committee resource. The study highlights a low capital expenditure (capex) and product route at a base case run-of-mine of five-million tonnes a year.
There is scope for project mining volumes to be ramped up to seven-million tonnes a year, given that the scoping study uses only 12% of the current resource, which is based on only 5.5 km of a potential 18 km strike. This is subject to a rail infrastructure capacity study being undertaken.
The project also offers opportunity for downstream beneficiation.
Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
The project has a post-tax net present value, at a discounted rate of 10%, of $188-million and an internal rate of return of 34%.
Value
The project has a low capex of $126-million.
Capex for a seven-million-tonne-a-year operation is estimated at $153-million.
Duration
Bushveld aims to start production in 2016.
Latest Developments
Bushveld is continuing with its pyrometallurgical testwork designed to evaluate the investment case for an integrated pig iron and titanium product.
Collaboration on pyrometallurgy testwork with China Railway & Engineering Corporation No 10 is ongoing.
Simultaneously, Bushveld is investigating options for a primary titanium production route, with an iron by-product, if it is shown to present a rapid path to production with attractive economics. It will also investigate the viability of processing the phosphate resource in the hanging wall of the P-Q Deposit. Throughout these work programmes, Bushveld will continue to explore possible synergies with the adjacent Bushveld vanadium project
Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.
On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.
Contact Details for Project Information
Bushveld Minerals, tel +27 11 268 6555, fax +27 11 268 5170 or email info@bushveldminerals.com.