Bauxite Resources (ASX: BAU) has upped the the bauxite resource base in the North Darling Range area to 33.4 million tonnes at 41.1% total alumina as a result of resource modelling on drilling at the Cardea and Minerva prospects.
This has led to a maiden Inferred Resource of 6.4 million tonnes at Cardea prospect, with a further 2.2 million tonnes maiden Inferred Resource for the Minerva prospect.
The Minerva area comes under the Bauxite Resource Joint Venture with Yankuang Group.
Bauxite Resources will retain a 30% bauxite interest, while the Cardea prospect is subject to a Farm In and Joint Venture Agreement between Bauxite Resources and HD Mining & Investment Pty Ltd (Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources). Shandong can earn up to a 60% interest at the completion of certain milestones.
Resource modelling for Minerva and Cardea were conducted by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants Pty Ltd, and all results supersede previous resources announced by the Company.
Stage 3 of the Cardea resource is currently being modelled and two additional prospects, Pomona and Concordia, have been identified. First pass drilling is complete on several properties within these new prospect areas.
Resource modelling is planned for the second half of calendar year 2011 once all results have been returned from these prospects.
The Company is reviewing all resources for various cut-off grades with the objective of optimising the quality of potential refinery feed and assessing Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) potential. This forms part of the refinery scoping study that is underway,
North Darling Range Global Resource
The Company is building on the robust resource base in the North Darling Range with the addition of the two resource areas. Drilling is ongoing across selected tenements within the 49 tenements granted to date in the Darling Range.
The Darling Range in the south west of Western Australia produces 23% of the world’s alumina. This area has mined bauxite and refined alumina since the 1960s and currently exports 12.3Mtpa earning West Australia $3.6 billion in export revenue and accounting for 5% of the State’s total export income.