Mineral sands miner Base Resources Limited (LON:BSE) has predicted another year of steady production from its Kwale mine in Kenya.
Guidance for the year to end June 2019 is 88,000 to 93,000 tonnes of rutile, 420,000 to 450,000t of ilmenite and 32,000 to 37,000t of zircon. That is broadly in line with the year to June just ended, where production was 91,700t of rutile, 465,000t ilmenite and 37,200t of zircon.
Rutile production hit a record in the final three months of the year, while prices of the metal and zircon rose again.
Base added it expects the price of ilmenite, which is used to made make paint pigment titanium dioxide to remain steady over the next three months through rutile has the potential to see further price rises.
Demand for Zinc
Zircon demand is strong with enquiries well above the company’s capacity to supply.
Production and unit sales costs rose slightly in the last quarter, but this was more than matched by an increase in revenue per tonne to US$376 per tonne (US$314).
The company is also focusing on the Toliara minerals sands project in Madagascar, which it acquired in January and where it recently appointed Mineral Technologies and Lycopodium to carry out a pre-feasibility study.
A decision on whether to proceed to construction is predicted for the second half of calendar 2019, with the first production pencilled in for 2021.
Net debt over the year dropped by US$27.6mln to US$33.2mln.