PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A scoping study into the Mannar heavy mineral sands (HMS) project, in Sri Lanka, has estimated that the four-million-tonne-a-year dredging operation could have a mine life of 20 years.
ASX-listed Titanium Sands’ scoping study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of A$122-million, with a potential capital pay-back period of two years.
The initial scoping study estimated a net present value of A$545-million and an internal rate of return of 52%.
The scoping study was based on a high-grade zone of 82-million tonnes at 6.03% total heavy minerals, which Titanium Sands on Fridays said was an ideal Stage 1 zone for the project, with further areas to be considered from within the total current mineral resource estimate of 187-million tonnes, at 5.3% total heavy minerals.
Titanium Sands MD Dr James Searle said in a statement that the scoping study had indicated an economically robust project, which had given the company the confidence to examine in more definitive feasibility studies an 8-million-tonne a-year or 12-million-tonne-a-year production rate, over a mine life of more than 20 years.