Metro Mining Ltd’s (ASX:MMI) updated bauxite reserves and resources support the company’s intention to maintain and expand production at the Bauxite Hills operations in Far North Queensland over many years.
The update has been prepared following three years of mining at Bauxite Hills and precedes the company kicking off 2021 operations later this month.
It includes depletion through mining as well as through blending decisions due to prevailing market conditions.
“Strong reconciliation”
Metro’s managing director and chief executive officer Simon Finnis said: “This reserve/resource update reiterates that Bauxite Hills has a significant mine life and improves our confidence in the total resource.
"There has been strong reconciliation from the results of mining to date and the resource and reserve model.”
Reserve update
Bauxite Hills total reserve estimate is now 101.5 million tonnes (wet) and takes into account depletion to February 2021.
The overall decrease in reserve taking into account depletion by mining is 8 million tonnes or 7.3% from that published in July 2019.
July 2019’s reserve estimate was based on a survey and reconciliation as of the end of mining 2018.
The decrease in reserve is largely due to:
- Bauxite ore mined since 2018 and ore not recovered due to blending decisions to date; and
- No additional conversion of resource to reserve.
Resource update
The total resource for Bauxite Hills is now 131.2 million tonnes (dry), representing a decrease of 5.1% from July 2019.
The change is due to:
- Bauxite ore mined since 2018 and ore not recovered due to blending decisions to date; and
- The addition of more inferred tonnes around the fringes of the deposits due to a reinterpretation of the model.
The total measured resource is now 71.1 million tonnes (dry), representing a 9% decrease of the measured category from that published in July 2019.
There have been 500,000 tonnes of the inferred resource converted to the indicated resource and there are minor fluctuations in the alumina and silica grades.
The resource converted from inferred to indicated has not been included in the reserve tonnages.
Finnis added: "The depletion through mining is a natural occurrence and the depletion due to blending decisions reflects the difficult market conditions we face at the moment.”
Restarting operations
Metro aims to restart operations from April 19 following the end of the northern Australia wet season.
The company is directly employing more than 120 people from Cape York communities and the Cairns region at the mine with an additional 130 people employed by contractors who provide services to the mine.
A target has been set to mine and ship 4 million wet metric tonnes (WMT) of bauxite between April and December this year.
An initial 2.3 million WMT is committed under Metro’s longstanding contract with Xinfa and the negotiations for additional sales for 2021 and beyond are progressing well.