Australian Bauxite Limited (ASX:ABZ) Resource Increases To 36 Million Tonnes At Inverell
Sydney, Sep 2, 2010 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Limited (
ASX:ABZ) has increased the Inferred and Indicated Resources of its bauxite deposit A-B by 64% to 36 million tonnes of gibbsite-rich bauxite in tenement EL 6997 at Inverell in northern NSW. This resource update is based on 78 new holes drilled into A-B deposit in May-June 2010 and the 118 holes drilled in 2009 - a total of 196 holes with 2,748 metres drilled and sampled. Deposit A-B is only one of 4 major bauxite areas identified to date on EL 6997 and the area drilled for resources to date represents less than 15% of the bauxite areas identified. At least 50% of the large EL 6997 tenement is yet to be explored for bauxite.
Parts of the deposit have been confirmed as high grade, Direct Shipping Grade ("DSO" bauxite) up to 9.4 metres thick and averaging 6 metres thick. The A-B deposit is a relatively consistent, thick, high quality bauxite deposit averaging 5.6 metres in bauxite thickness and approximately 1 metre of overburden.
ABx drilled a further 84 holes in May-June 2010 as first pass testing of the 3 other known bauxite deposits on EL 6997 which now warrant resource drilling. ABx also drilled 18 holes in its nearby Pindaroi tenement, encountering thick bauxite in places that also warrant future resource drilling.
ABx has 29 bauxite exploration tenements in eastern Australia covering 7,000 sq kms.
Resource estimates after application of cut-off grades for the drilled resource areas on the A-B deposit are summarised as follows:
Cut-off grades applied: 2 metres minimum thickness, 32% minimum Al2O3 & 8% maximum SiO2.
GOOD BENEFICIATION CHARACTERISTICS
Beneficiation: Bauxites tested to date show excellent potential for simple crushing, washing and screening to produce premium-grade beneficiated bauxite at high yields estimated to range between 60% and 75%. The coarse grainsize and loose structure of the bauxite is thought to be responsible for these favourable beneficiation characteristics.
Available alumina at low temperature is relatively high at more than 85% of total Al2O3.
Reactive silica proportions at low temperatures is relatively low (a good feature) at 61% to 92% 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.
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 70% of the deposit tested to date meets DSO grades and one part of the deposit .
Australian Bauxite Limited CEO, Ian Levy said; "The Inverell deposit is proving to be the predictable, thick, high quality bauxite that we hoped it would be. In mid 2010, we drilled 78 additional holes into the first resource area that had been drilled by 118 holes in 2009. This 66% increase in the number of resource drillholes has expanded resources by 64% whilst also increasing the proportion of Indicated Resources 67% of the deposit - a simultaneous increase in both tonnage and confidence in the deposit."
"Drilling in 2011 will continue expanding the drill tested area of deposit A-B and we will commence resource drilling of the other 3 major deposits that are known on EL 6997. There were also some new discoveries of bauxite encountered in the additional 84 exploratory holes drilled in mid 2010 that warrant follow-up drilling. We also hope to commence resource estimation drilling in the nearby Pindaroi bauxite deposits discovered in the 18 firstpass exploratory drillholes completed in mid 2010."
Drilling Across the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province
Australian Bauxite Limited has been conducting a major, full-time drilling program since April 2010 and has successfully completed its first-pass drilling campaigns on all of its QLD projects and its secondpass drilling campaign at Inverell in northern NSW along with a first-pass exploratory drilling of Pindaroi near Inverell. Results are considered satisfactory, and, in some places, better than expected. Drilling is continuing in southern NSW near Goulburn with a high success rate.
At ABx's northernmost bauxite deposit at Binjour in central QLD, encouraging thicknesses of a concealed bauxite layer up to 15 metres thick were encountered and two-stages of drilling were completed in July. A thick bauxite layer has been discovered at Binjour with early assays indicating high qualities.
A new deposit averaging 3 to 5 metres thick has been discovered near Haden, 40km north of Toowoomba, southeastern QLD but laboratory results are still awaited.
The drilling rig and crews have moved to the Goulburn area, southern NSW where application of improved geological understanding of these bauxite occurrences has led to a significant increase in the frequency of bauxite intercepts. Good thicknesses of bauxite up to 7 metres thick are being intersected in most drillholes. The consistency and extent of the bauxite is impressive but laboratory results are still awaited.
The drill rig is being relocated to commence drill testing of the large bauxite target areas discovered at Trundle in mid-west NSW this week.
ABx issues periodic Drilling Update Reports when sufficient results have been received and assessed by the geologists that are supervising the drilling programs in each area.
The following timeline shows the drilling schedule as completed to date and as planned until year end. If this schedule is achieved, ABx may end the year having achieved first pass testing of all of its 29 tenements 6 months ahead of the original 2009 IPO schedule. The plan is to complete 1,000 drillholes during 2010 and then increase the rate of exploration further so as to complete 1,400 holes during calendar year 2011.
For the complete Australian Bauxite Resources announcement including figures and tables, please refer to the following link:
http://www.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/63639-ASX-ABZ-604586.pdf
About ABx Group Limited
ABx Group Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) started as a bauxite miner in Tasmania in 2014 & controls the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. In 2020 to 2023, ABx also discovered Australia’s only true ionic adsorption clay Rare Earth Elements resource at Deep Leads in pine plantations 40km west of Launceston with a JORC-compliant resource of 89 million tonnes from only 29% of the mineralised outline, averaging 844 ppm total rare earth oxides that is the most enriched in the critically important rare earths, Dy and Tb, of any Australian REE deposit.
ABx has also developed a proprietary technology to produce fluorine chemicals from an aluminium smelter waste product and return the fluorine back into the smelters, thus reducing reliance on imported aluminium fluoride.
ABx has committed a large proportion of its expenditure into Research and Development and has found ways to capitalise on the main strengths of its bauxite type which is very clean, free of all deleterious elements and can be separated into different product streams using physical, chemical and geophysical methods. It has produced and marketed specialist bauxite products for the manufacturers of fertiliser, cement with high late strength for major infrastructure such as bridges and is in the advanced stages of approvals for production of metallurgical bauxite from its Binjour Bauxite deposit with JORC-compliant resources of 37 million tonnes of bauxite, in a joint development with a Chinese-focussed Australian trading company Good Importing International.
ABx is also preparing to produce fertiliser grade and cement grade bauxite from its DL130 bauxite quarry in northern Tasmania, 40km west of Launceston. This quarry is sited in the middle of the large Deep Leads REE deposit and may one day be a site for heap leaching of the REE using a low-cost, benign leachate with the same acidity as apple juice or tea.
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land, strives to leave land and environment better than we find it. We only operate where welcomed.
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