LONDON (Alliance News) - Sable Mining Africa Ltd Wednesday said it has received positive results from the metallurgical test work conducted at the Plateau 2 area of the Nimba iron ore project in Guinea.
The Nimba iron ore project, which has over 205 million tonnes of ore, consists of three Plateau areas, of which 2 and 3 have been drilled with early work already started on Plateau 1, which is also the largest of the three. The entire project has an estimated life of mine of around 20 years at present.
The testwork on Plateau 2 has shown the sheer size of the project, as the Plateau 2 area can provide the capability to produce high-quality premium-grade lump and fines products for 10 of those years by itself.
Lump product grades from Plateau 2 have come back at 63.33% iron whilst fine product grades were slightly lower at 62.11%. Sable is also considering the potential for a third "medium grade" fine product, which would have a grade of around 58.58% iron.
"These metallurgical results underpin the quality of our Nimba iron ore product and the potential commercial viability of the project. With grades of 63% and 62% iron returned from our lump and fines product respectively, Nimba is able to sustain the production of both high quality premium grade lump and fines products over an initial ten year life of mine exclusively from Plateau 2," said Chief Executive Andrew Groves.
The company also said the testwork has suggested the mechanical and thermal characteristics of the higher-grade lump product will allow it to charge higher prices and will increase the marketability of the product.
"The rate and degree of reduction from iron oxide to iron and the porosity of the lump product are considered excellent, positively impacting blast furnace productivity and direct feed suitability respectively," said Sable.
The iron is located within easily fragmented rock, which will allow the company to crush more ore using less power, driving down operational costs and capital expenditure.
Further testing is underway to test the sinter characteristics of the fine product at Plateau 2, with initial results expected in September. Sintering is the process of compacting and forming a solid mass of material by heat or pressure without the product melting, testing its thermal capabilities.
Further metallurgical test work also is underway to progress marketing studies for the end product.
"Furthermore, as Plateau 2 is one of three plateaux within our licence area, there remains significant further upside opportunity, the development of which could potentially be funded from revenues generated at Plateau 2, positively impacting the Project's capital requirements," said Groves.
"Our focus will now be on further defining the end product quality grade, so that we can begin to assess export opportunities into markets such as Europe and China," he added.
Sable shares were up 2.1% to 0.490 pence per share late Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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