Last checked at 21 Feb 2014 07:00
21 February 2014 |
Bushveld Minerals Ltd
("Bushveld" or the "Company")
Bushveld Iron Ore Project update
· Rights secured to extension of P-Q Deposit
· P-Q Deposit resource upgrade to continue
· Revised JORC resource to be completed within Q1 2014
Bushveld Minerals Limited (AIM: BMN), a diversified mineral development company with projects in Africa, is pleased to announce in respect of the Bushveld Iron Ore Project that it has successfully executed the Amended Prospecting Right (APR), under Section 102 of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act (MPRDA) of 2002. Under the APR, the Prospecting Right 95PR ("LP 95 PR") has been amended to include the mineral Phosphate Ore, and the prospecting area has now been extended to include the farms Schoonoord 786LR and Bellevue 808LR, which are adjacent to the Company's Bushveld Iron Ore Project, located in the Limpopo Province, South Africa.
The application for the licence was granted to the Company in January 2013. The Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) was required to execute the APR to allow the Company to fully secure rights to the southern extension of the P-Q mineralisation.
The execution of the APR significantly extends the strike of the P-Q Deposit and means that Bushveld can now progress the resource upgrade planned for the Deposit, as previously announced. This upgrade will be based on an accelerated drilling programme on strike extensions to the P-Q mineralisation previously identified through the interpretation of airborne geophysics geochemistry data and historical drilling data on the Bellevue farm.
Bushveld believes that including these farms within the P-Q Project mineral resource will allow the Company to significantly increase its JORC compliant resource, further proving the scalable potential of the Project. Previously, neither farm has been included in the JORC mineral resource statement. A resource upgrade on the P-Q Deposit is now expected within Q1 2014.
Furthermore, the inclusion of phosphate within the Prospecting Right allows the Company to advance its phosphate project, from which positive metallurgical test results were announced recently.
Fortune Mojapelo, CEO of Bushveld Minerals, said:
"We are pleased with the execution of the Bushveld Iron Ore Project's Amended Prospecting Right for the licence, to include the Schoonoord 786LR and Bellevue 808LR farms.
"While the Scoping Study announced for the P-Q Project in 2013 was based on a modest operation, utilising less than 20% of the then-established resource (712Mt), the Company believes that extending the resource along strike adds cost-effective scalability to the modest, low-capex production plan outlined in its Scoping Study.
"This supports our goal to extend and upgrade the Bushveld Iron Ore Project resource at the P-Q Deposit. Furthermore, the phosphate potential within the license can now be explored, and has the potential to materially enhance the overall economics of the Bushveld Iron Ore Project.
"We have continuously relayed our confidence in the geological basis for our planned resource upgrade at the P-Q Deposit. We can now proceed and incorporate it into the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) underway, which already benefits from the joint metallurgical testwork programme under our MoU with China Railway and Engineering Company (CREC No.10), conducted by Beijing Huamao Lineng Technology Co. Ltd.
"We look forward to progressing the PFS, adding to that the Project's phosphate potential, and continuing to pursue all such opportunities to unlock value in line with our Bushveld Group approach to developing the assets which form our commodity platforms."
Contact
For further information on Bushveld please visit http://www.bushveldminerals.com or contact:
Enquiries: info@bushveldminerals.com
Bushveld Minerals Fortune Mojapelo | +27 (0) 11 268 6555 |
Strand Hanson Limited Andrew Emmott / James Harris Warren Pearce / Scott McGregor |
+44 (0) 20 7409 3494 +27 (0) 21 794 0323
|
Fox Davies Jonathan Evans | +44 (0) 20 3463 5000 |
RFC Ambrian Jonathan Williams | +44 (0) 20 3440 6800 |
Tavistock Communications Jos Simson/ Nuala Gallagher | +44 (0) 20 7920 3150 |
Tielle Communications Stéphanie Leclercq | +27 (0) 83 307 7587 |
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Notes to the editor
Bushveld Minerals Limited is a mineral development company with a portfolio of vanadium-and titanium bearing iron ore and tin assets in Southern Africa. The Company owns the Bushveld Iron Ore Project and Mokopane Tin Project, both located on the northern limb of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa. In addition, Bushveld has a controlling 54.39% interest in Lemur Resources (ASX: LMR), that owns the Imaloto coal project in Madagascar.
Bushveld was admitted to the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange in March 2012.