Modern Mining September 2018

MINING News

The Kwale mineral sands mine in Kenya (photo: Base Resources).

Mineral sands producer enjoys a record year 91 672 tonnes of rutile, 464 988 tonnes of ilmenite and 37 157 tonnes of zircon; and an average price improvement across all products, with rutile up 17 %, ilmenite up 28 % and zircon up 46 %.

Toliara Sands project in Madagascar. A pre-feasibility study on the project has started. Tim Carstens, Managing Director of Base Resources, said: “This has been an outstanding year for Base Resources with our team achieving the goal of a total recordable injury frequency rate of zero – a fantastic outcome for any resources opera- tion globally and testament to the quality of our management team. “Consistent production and strong average price improvement across all products contributed to record financial results for the company and has allowed significant debt reduction and established a strong platform from which to grow the business. The well-timed acquisition of the Toliara Sands project in Madagascar has given Base Resources an outstand- ing growth path in the development of another world-class mineral sands project with a long production life.” Outlook priorities for the 2019 finan- cial year include completion of the pre-feasibility study for Toliara Sands and commencement of the definitive feasibility study, ahead of a planned final investment decision in late 2019. Base expects to produce 88 000 to

Price increases and consistent sales vol- umes across all products drove record revenue and NPAT for the year ended 30 June 2018 (FY18) for Base Resources, listed on the ASX and London’s AIM. Revenue increased 22 % to US$198,8 million while EBITDA increased 32 % to US$109,3 million. Operational highlights for FY18 included a total recordable injury fre- quency rate of zero (no lost time due to injury since 2014); consistent production –

Base completed a major optimisation project at the Kwale Operation in Kenya to maximise production volumes while the Kwale South Dune measured and indi- cated resources increased by 19 %. The company also progressed its long- term strategy with the acquisition of the

Tanga Resources to acquire Namibian project Tanga Resources, listed on the ASX, has entered into a binding agreement to acquire all the issued shares in Aloe Investments One Hundred and Ninety Two (Proprietary) Ltd, a Namibian entity which owns 100 % of the Hagenhof copper-gold-cobalt project (EPL 6226) in Namibia.

sought after metals, including copper and cobalt, for which strong demand is forecast with the rising uptake in electric vehicles. Matthew Bowles, CEO of Tanga Resources, said: “We are delighted to have secured a 100 % interest in this highly prospective copper-cobalt project in a world-class, politically stable jurisdiction. The highly encouraging results returned in our initial sampling programme, coupled with the historical copper results, have given us confidence that Hagenhof is a worthy acquisition and will fit neatly into the Tanga portfolio alongside our other Namibian asset, Joumbira.” 

Hagenhof is a highly prospective cop- per-cobalt project hosted within a major structural setting, within the Damaran Metallogenic Belt in central northern Namibia. The acquisition expands Tanga’s presence in Namibia, adding to the Joumbira zinc project, and provides share- holders with greater exposure to highly

10  MODERN MINING  September 2018