Exploration
East Africa
Base looks at north dune
Location:
Resource:
Kenya
Mineral Sands
Mineral sands producer Base Resources has released the maiden
JORC mineral resource estimate for its Kwale north dune project
in Kenya.
Base Resources’ Kwale operation is currently based on the central
dune and south dune deposits, with mining operations to date
focused on the central dune. A transition to the south dune deposit
is scheduled for June 2019.
Based on the current ore reserves, Kwale will continue until
mid-2022, which will be extended to mid-2024 subject to
approval of the south dune mining lease variation currently
before the Kenyan Government.
Although Base acquired the north dune deposit with the
acquisition of the entire Kwale project in mid-2010, it was
excluded from the project’s mineral resources based on grade and
then prevailing economic conditions.
A decision was taken to re-evaluate the potential of the north
dune in 2018 considering improved economic conditions, refined
Base Resources is exploring mineral sands in Kenya
resource definition methodology and with insights gained from
five years of operations on the Central Dune.
The 2019 Kwale north dune mineral resources estimate will
incorporate the results of an extensional and infill drill programme
completed in 2018 as well as earlier programmes. The 2019 Kwale
north dune mineral resource is estimated to be 171 million tonnes
(Mt) at an average heavy mineral (HM) grade of 1.5% and 38%
slimes (SL) and containing 2.6Mt HM, based on a 1% HM cut-
off grade. The high slimes content is likely to make the resource
amenable to hydraulic mining as is currently employed at the
Kwale Operations.