Last checked at 2 Jun 2011 12:08
For immediate release: 2 June 2011
Pathfinder Minerals Plc
("Pathfinder Minerals" or the "Company")
Letter of Intent to Combine Licences
Pathfinder Minerals (AIM: PFP), the natural resources company with licences to mine heavy minerals sands in Mozambique, announces that it has received a Letter of Intent, from the Ministry of Mineral Resource, Natural Directorate of Mines of Mozambique (the "Ministry"), to combine Licence 73L ("Moebase") with Licence 760C ("Naburi"), thereby forming a single Mining Concession licence.
The Moebase licence, previously for Exploration and Research will be unified with the Naburi licence and mirror the existing terms of Naburi's 25 year Mining Concession issued on 13 September 2004. The Company will make a further announcement on receipt of the mining title, which the Ministry has confirmed is being processed and will be issued soon.
The Moebase and Naburi licences span 32,780 hectares of land near the Indian Ocean coast of the Zambezia province of Mozambique, known to contain the heavy minerals, ilmenite, rutile and zircon. A Scoping Study was recently carried out by URS/Scott Wilson on the licences, formerly belonging to subsidiaries of BHP Billiton, which confirmed an historic mineral resource estimate of 2.02 billion tonnes, with 3.55% heavy mineral content and areas of significantly higher heavy mineral content. The Scoping Study estimated a run of mine production of 47 million tonnes per annum (tpa), yielding approximately 1,245,000 tpa of ilmenite, 24,000 tpa of rutile and 65,000 tpa of zircon.
Pathfinder Minerals intends to undertake a confirmatory drilling and metallurgical test work programme to allow conversion of the historic mineral resource into a current estimate.
Nick Trew, Chief Executive, commented:
"The Ministry's decision to unify our licences to form a single Mining Concession enables Pathfinder Minerals to move forward with certainty of tenure on this world class asset."
Enquiries:
Pathfinder Minerals Plc
Nick Trew, Chief Executive
Tel. +44 (0)20 7399 4371
Daniel Stewart & Company Plc
Oliver Rigby or James Thomas
Tel: +44 (0)20 7776 6550
M: Communications
Ben Simons or Maria Souvorov
Tel: +44 (0)20 7920 2340 /2327
Notes to Editors
About Pathfinder Minerals
Pathfinder Minerals, through a wholly owned subsidiary, has licences covering approximately 32,000 hectares of land on the Indian Ocean coast of the Zambezia province of Mozambique, known to contain the heavy minerals, ilmenite, rutile and zircon.
The licences, known as Naburi and Moebase and formerly held by BHP Billiton, are over land located near the Indian Ocean coast of Mozambique. Historical reported mineral resources on the assets are estimated at 2.02 billion tonnes with a 3.55% total heavy mineral content, which is equivalent to approximately 71.7 million tonnes of contained heavy minerals. Confirmatory drilling and metallurgical test work will be required to upgrade the classification of the mineral resources.
Exploration work conducted on the licences from the mid-1980s through to 2002 has identified significant mineralisation. Bulk sampling and metallurgical test work conducted in support of prefeasibility and feasibility studies in the mid-1990s indicates that valuable heavy minerals can be recovered using conventional dredge mining, wet concentration and dry mineral separation processes.
The Company is undertaking a detailed feasibility study with a view to developing a mine for commercial extraction.
Heavy Minerals Sands
The more valuable components of a heavy mineral sands deposit include the titanium oxide minerals ilmenite and rutile, and in addition, zircon. Ilmenite and rutile are used to produce titanium dioxide pigment used in the production of paint, paper, plastic, textiles, rubber and pharmaceutical products. Zircons are commercially mined for the metal zirconium and are used for abrasive and insulating purposes.