Australian Bauxite (ASX:ABZ) Releases Quarterly Report For The Three Months Ending 31 March 2010
Sydney, April 22, 2010 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABZ) has released its quarterly report which is dated 22nd April 2010 and is for the three months ending 31 March 2010.
PRINCIPAL POINTS
Exploration
- Maiden Resource - 22 million tonnes maiden JORC resource at Inverell, NSW (only 10% of the identified bauxite deposit has been drill tested);
- New South Wales - accelerated drilling program at Inverell-Pindaroi to confirm 200-300 Mt regional resource target underway - 91 holes completed, 75% hit rate averaging 5.4m bauxite;
- Tasmania - 8 new tenement applications covering 1,500 km2; best quality results of any ABx bauxite area tested to date;
- Queensland - Drilling program finalised for Pechey State Forest; and
- Victoria - Bauxite prospective areas in Victoria identified - West Gippsland exploration application lodged over 152 km2.
Corporate
- A$3.5 million placement completed - 10 million shares issued at 35 cents per share; and
- Broker Research Report released by State One - 12-month target of approximately 75c per share.
Snapshot
- No Shares: 80 million
- Net Assets: A$6.4 million including A$6.3 million cash
- NTA per share: A$0.084
- Market Cap: A$30 million
- VWAP (Jan - Mar): 36.46 cents
- Tenements (including 12 applications pending):
---------------------------- NSW 11 3,438 km2QLD 6 1,617 km2TAS 8 1,441 km2VIC 1 152 km2Total 27 6,649 km2----------------------------
CORPORATE
Register snapshot
On 31st March 2010, ABx had 80 million ordinary shares on issue and 10,200,000 options.
Cash at hand
At the end of the March quarter, ABx had available cash of A$6.3 million.
Trading summary
During the March quarter the total market trade value was A$3.34 million, with 828 trades (average of A$4,039 per trade). 9.17 million shares were traded - the VWAP for the March quarter was 36.46 cents.
Broker Research Report
On 16th March 2010 State One Stockbroking Limited released a comprehensive research report on ABx.
The report is available through contacting State One Stockbroking on +61-8-9288-3388. It has also been posted on the ABx website on the INVESTORS | BROKER COVERAGE page.
Capital Raising
On 18th March 2010 ABx completed the placement of 10 million fully paid ordinary shares (14.29% of its issued capital) at 35 cents per share to sophisticated, eligible and/or professional investors, as defined under Section 708 of the Corporations Act, raising A$3.5 million before costs.
The shares were issued under ABx's 15% placement capacity as provided for under Listing Rule 7.1 to sophisticated, eligible and/or professional investors introduced by State One Stockbroking Limited.
Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of ABx will be held on 28 May 2010 commencing at 9:30 am at 131 Macquarie Street, Sydney.
The Notice of Meeting and Explanatory Statement have been dispatched to shareholders.
EXPLORATION
Drilling continues at Inverell; commences at Pindaroi
Drilling got underway during the March quarter at Inverell (EL 6997) and Pindaroi (EL 7268).
Very encouraging results have been received from the accelerated program designed to confirm a 200-300 Mt regional resource target.
- 91 holes have since been completed over 11 drill-days, averaging more than 8 holes per day;
- Bauxite has been confirmed in 75% of the holes drilled, which is in line with expectations for this extensively mineralised area; and
- Average bauxite thickness in bauxite zones is about 5.4 metres of bauxite as logged - similar to average thickness of the maiden resource announced on 10th February 2010.
Follow-up areas for infill drilling will be selected once assays are available and a detailed report will be released following completion of the campaign and analysis of assay results.
ABx expands into Tasmania and Victoria
Tasmania
During the March quarter ABx lodged eight (8) new exploration tenement applications in Tasmania totalling 1,441 km2. The bauxite-types encountered in Tasmania range in nature from pisolite-capped bauxite through to amorphous tabular bauxite but extend over considerable distances across central Tasmania.
Tasmania's proud mining heritage rivals NSW and QLD and Tasmania has the advantage of very short-haul distances by rail to export ports that have capacity for increased export volumes.
Victoria
ABx has identified bauxite prospective areas in Victoria. An application has been lodged of an area of 152 km2 centred on Rokeby in West Gippsland.
22 Million Tonnes Maiden Inverell Resource
On 10th February 2010 ABx released details of its maiden resource - 22 million tonnes of gibbsite-rich bauxite on the first target area on EL 6997; based on drilling of less than 10% of known bauxite areas on the Tenement.
Gibbsitic bauxite upgrades to premium grades at high yields with simple screening; large proportion of the resource is Direct-Shipping Grade (DSO).
Several additional deposits also identified many times larger than the maiden resource area.
Initial resource target for Inverell is between 200 and 300 million tonnes Drilling in the initial resource area encountered a remarkably uniform bauxite layer typically 3.5 to 9 metres thick with less than 1 metre of overburden. Most of this very thick deposit lies at surface with no overburden.
Drilling in the initial resource area encountered a remarkably uniform bauxite layer typically 3.5 to 9 metres thick with less than 1 metre of overburden. Most of this very thick deposit lies at surface with no overburden.
The volume of the bauxite layer (all grades) in the drill-tested area was 24 million tonnes of raw, in-situ bauxite (all grades).
Beneficiation: Bauxites tested to date show excellent potential for simple crushing, washing and screening to produce premium-grade beneficiated bauxite at high yields - see Appendix 1 (see the link at the bottom of the release). The coarse grainsize and loose structure of the bauxite is thought to be responsible for these favourable beneficiation characteristics.
Available alumina at low-temperatures is relatively high at 85% of total Al2O3.
Reactive silica proportions at low temperatures is relatively low (a good feature) at 75% of total SiO2.
Low goethite: Mineralogical studies of the bauxite suggest that abundances of the problematic iron hydroxide mineral species called goethite are very low to absent.
Iron-removal: Testwork results from a proprietary method developed by Hudson Resources Limited for lowcost removal of iron minerals from the bauxite using simple physical separation methods are progressing well. Early indications are that low-iron, high alumina bauxite can be produced which would allow some processed bauxite to be sold into higher priced bauxite markets.
Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) is bauxite that is of sufficiently good quality that it can be mined and sold in its raw form after simple crushing and sizing. Approximately 75% of the deposit tested to date meets DSO grades.
For the complete Australian Bauxite Limited Quarterly Report, please click the link below:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/62680-ASX-ABZ-590268.pdf
About ABx Group Limited
ABx Group Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) is a uniquely positioned Australian company delivering materials for a cleaner future.
The three priority projects are:
- Heavy rare earths: Supplying light and heavy rare earths from Tasmania into Western supply chains
o Processing Options Analysis conducted in partnership with external experts
- Clean fluorine chemical production: Producing industrial chemicals from aluminium smelter by-product (ALCORE)
o Continuous pilot plant under construction in Bell Bay, Tasmania
- Near-term bauxite production: Mining bauxite resources for the aluminium, cement and fertiliser industries
o Agreements executed with Good Importing International for bauxite projects in Queensland and New South Wales, and $2.7 million initial payment has been received
o Approvals well advanced for DL130 bauxite project in northern Tasmania
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land and strives to leave land and environment better than we find it. We only operate where welcomed.
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