31 May 2012 07:00
7am: 31 May 2012
Bellzone Mining plc
("Bellzone" or the "Company")
Forécariah Mining Update
·; First ore transported from Forecariah to the port of Konta
·; First sales expected Q3 2012
Bellzone Mining plc (AIM: BZM) is pleased to announce a progress update at its Forécariah JV iron ore mine in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.
Following receipt of authorisation to commence production on 21 May 2012, the operations have commenced stockpiling the first fines material for wet processing and transported the first lump production via haul trucks to the transhipping port at Konta.
The lump ore will be stockpiled at Konta before being transported by barge to the transhipping Panamax vessel, FGM Iron. First sold ore is expected to be loaded into a Cape size (circa 170,000 tonne) vessel for sailing in Q3 2012.
Off-take negotiations are progressing well and the Company will update the market as and when appropriate.
Nik Zuks, Chief Executive Officer of Bellzone, commented: "I am pleased to provide an update on commissioning following authorisation to commence production last week. The JV is now in production, and loading of the transhipping vessel from the port will commence soon with first sales expected in Q3 2012.
The conditions attached to the authorisation to proceed were not unexpected and were in the main a codification of previous undertakings that were already contained in Bellzone and CIF's business plan as well as some administrative work."
Updated images and video footage of the processing plant has today been published on the website. For more information please visit www.bellzone.com.au
Enquiries:
Bellzone Mining plc
Terry Larkan/Graham Fyfe +61 (0) 8 9420 8900
Canaccord Genuity Limited
Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker to Bellzone +44 (0)20 7523 8000
Andrew Chubb/Tarica Mpinga
Renaissance Capital Limited
Joint Broker to Bellzone +44 (0)20 7367 7777
Rob Edwards
Tavistock (UK)
Jos Simson/Paul Youens +44 (0)20 7920 3150 / +44 (0)7899 870 450
PPR (Australia)
David Ikin
+61 (0) 8 9388 0944 / +61 (0) 408 438 772
About Bellzone Mining Plc
Bellzone Mining plc is a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange and was admitted to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM: BZM) on 1st April 2010. Bellzone Mining plc ("Bellzone" or "the Company") is an exploration and resource development company with iron ore and nickel / copper permits in the Republic of Guinea, West Africa.
Kalia Mine
The Company's flagship project, the Kalia Mine Project, is planned to commence production in 2015 and be producing iron ore and iron ore concentrate at a rate of 50 million tonnes per annum. The Kalia Mine Project has 1.46 billion tonnes of contained iron in JORC resources in 6.16 billion tonnes of magnetite, 193 million tonnes of oxide and 92.5 million tonnes of supergene BIF. The oxide and Supergene BIF resources have been established from just 10.5% of the 55km2 of the mapped surface oxides on the Kalia permit while the magnetite has been established over 7km of the 19km Kalia I strike. Drilling results and internal estimates indicate that the Kalia Mine Project has the potential to host more than 10 billion tonnes of magnetite.
Forécariah JV
Bellzone and CIF have fully funded a joint venture to undertake the accelerated exploration and development programme at CIF's Forécariah iron permits that lie between 30 and 80 kilometres from the Guinea coast. The Forécariah permits are held in a CIF subsidiary, Guinea Development Corporation ("GDC") and will be transferred to the JV operations company, Forécariah Guinea Mining SA as per the terms of the definitive and JV shareholder agreements. Commissioning production commenced in Q1 2012 and production will ramp up to an initial rate of 3‐4 mtpa.
Other activities
Bellzone has completed a mapping and surface sampling programme identifying highly prospective targets at its Sadeka Nickel/Copper Project. A VTEM aerial survey has been completed and prospective targets have been identified and a drilling programme has commenced.