PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Junior Genmin is targeting first production from its Baniaka iron-ore project, in Gabon, by mid-2024.
MD and CEO Joe Ariti told delegates at the second day of Paydirt’s Africa Downunder conference, in Perth, that the prefeasibility study for Baniaka is due in the current quarter.
Genmin has previously defined inferred and indicated mineral resources at Baniaka totalling 257.9-million tonnes of iron-ore at an in-situ grade of 40.1% iron.
The company is planning an initial five-million-tonne-a-year export operation, scaling to ten-million tonnes a year during Stage 2, Ariti said on Thursday. The company is planning to produce a mix of lump, fines and pellet feed, and has signed three non-binding memoranda of understanding with Chinese firms for up to 16-million tonnes a year of potential offtake.
Genmin in August announced that both of its Baniaka and Bakoumba exploration licences, in Gabon, had been extended by a further six years until 2028.