LONDON (Alliance News) - Bacanora Minerals Ltd Wednesday said it has retained the services of Process Engineering LLC to design a plant to produce boric acid from borate minerals from its El Cajon deposit in the Magdalena borate project in northern Mexico.
Bacanora shares were down 14% to 0.760 pence per share Wednesday morning whilst Rare Earth Minerals PLC, which holds a 11.3% stake in Bacanora saw its shares drop 4.3% to 0.947 pence per share.
Process Engineering will design the plant, which will have a capacity of 25,000 tonnes of boric acid per annum. Boric acid is a weakly acid crystalline compound derived from borax, used as a mild antiseptic and in the manufacture of heat-resistant glass and enamels.
The company is continuing with metallurgical tests at the site in order to refine and optimise the boric acid production at a pilot scale, it said in a statement. To develop its pre-feasibility study at the site, the company will continue infill diamond drilling and bulk sampling alongside revising the mine plan and preparing the costings for the plant, all of which is to be completed in the first quarter of 2015, it said in a statement.
"We are very pleased with the work performed and results obtained in our boric acid pilot plant, resulting in the continuous and systematic production of high purity boric acid. The company is advancing the project through the pre-feasibility stage by completing engineering design work, updating the mine plan and obtaining necessary capital and operating cost data for the pre-feasibility report which we expect to be completed in the first quarter of 2015," said Bacanora President Martin Vidal.
Rare Earth Minerals PLC also released a statement on the development of the project. Rare Earth Chief Executive Kiran Morzaria said "the continued advancement of this project provides accretive value to the Rare Earth Mineral's shareholding in Bacanora, and we look forward to hearing and reporting on the progress being made."
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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