Australian Bauxite Limited has completed investigative drilling as part of its due diligence with respect to Mining Lease ML80126, located 25 kilometers south of Mundubbera and 155 kilometers southwest of Bundaberg Port in central Queensland.
ABx confirmed that the Inferred Resource of bauxite identified is 3.5 million tonnes. Establishing the resource size provides the resource size consideration for concluding final agreements to purchase the mining lease and commence early mine production to supply the buoyant bauxite market which is currently seriously short of this type of gibbsite bauxite.
This granted, long-term mining lease ML80126 may be a fast track route to the commencement of ABx's large Binjour Bauxite Project located 115 kilometers southwest of Bundaberg Export Port Queensland.
Strategically significant;
Mr Ian Levy CEO of ABx said that "The discovery of a good bauxite deposit on this granted long-term Mining Lease is one of the final jigsaw pieces in establishing the first modern bauxite business in Australia since the 1960s. Production from this mining lease may commence early and kick start the large Binjour Project several years earlier than we previously thought."
Summary of Resource;
A gibbsite rich bauxite layer, 1 meter to 7 meters thick, totalling 5 million tonnes has been discovered beneath a shallow layer of soil and overburden red clay at the Toondoon Mining Lease ML80126. A total of 14 drillholes totalling 186 meters were drilled and revealed a consistent continuous deposit and enabled the estimation of an Inferred Resource.
Raw In Situ DSO Bauxite;
It is common to commence operations based on those bauxite zones that contain bauxite in the ground that is DSO Bauxite which can be exported directly and to stockpile the bauxite that requires screening for processing in later years. Approximately 50% of the bauxite meets DSO grades and requires no upgrade. The estimate of DSO Bauxite is approximately 50% of the bauxite deposit.
