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Project Overview
Project Setting
Special Mining Lease measuring 1,661 hectares is located within the Kwale Exclusive
Prospecting License area of 56km2 and is located approximately 50km south of Mombasa,
and 8km inland from the Indian Ocean.
The Project resource comprises two dunes that contain economically viable concentrations
of heavy minerals, which are separated by the Mukurumudzi River. These are the Central and
South Dunes. A third dune, the North Dune is not currently included in the Project.
The general stratigraphic sequence of the Kwale deposit, as seen below, is composed of
brown sand at the surface, followed by orange or reddish sand, becoming more beige or
pinkish at depth. The base of the deposit is weathered sandstone from the Mazeras
Sandstone.
Typical Cross Section Central Dune at Kwale
Mineral Resources
The total Kwale Mineral Resources at 30 June 2016 are shown in the table.
Deposit Mineral Resource Category Ore In Situ HM HM Slime Oversize HM Assemblage
Ore Reserves
The total Kwale Ore Reserves at 30 June 2016 are shown in the following table.
Read the full 2016 Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves statement.
From the DMU and the auxiliary HMU ore is fed by slurry pipeline to the WCP where the slimes and tails are removed and a heavy mineral concentrate
(HMC) produced. The HMC is delivered to the MSP for separation of the three valuable products ilmenite, rutile and zircon. The products are road hauled
to the dedicated Likoni port facility where rutile and ilmenite products are stored for loading to ships via a conveyor system. Zircon is containerised and
exported through the existing Mombasa port container terminal.
The Kwale dunes are amenable to the dozer trap continuous dry mining technique. For the rst 5 years, the mine will operate at between 8 and 9 million
tonnes per annum before increasing to 12.5 million tonnes per annum as the grade declines.
The ore is mined in 160 X 80-metre blocks using two
CAT D11 dozers backed up by two CAT D10s and
other ancillary mobile equipment and is fed to the
DMU where extraneous vegetation and other
foreign materials are screened out before the ore is
slurried with water and pumped to the process
plant. Subsequently the DMU has been
supplemented with the introduction of the HMU
that handles peripheral ore zones not amenable to
dozer mining.
The plant operates at a maximum feed rate of 90 tonnes per hour from
the HMC stockpile equating to a maximum annual production rate of
approximately 455,000 tonnes ilmenite, 85,000 tonnes rutile and
32,000 tonnes zircon. Changes in the ore mineral assemblage will
directly affect the proportions of these products.
The plant operates at a maximum feed rate of 90 tonnes per hour from the HMC stockpile equating to a
maximum annual production rate of approximately 455,000 tonnes ilmenite, 85,000 tonnes rutile and
32,000 tonnes zircon. Changes in the ore mineral assemblage will directly affect the proportions of these
products.
The HMC is upgraded using a combination of gravity, electromagnetic and electrostatic methods to
generate marketable products of ilmenite, rutile and zircon. The ilmenite and rutile products are
produced in bulk for sale to international markets, while zircon is typically bagged and containerised for
export.
Reject impurity streams are returned to the WCP for disposal with the sand and slimes tailings.
A bulk storage and shipping terminal has been established at Likoni, approximately 50km north of the
mine site.
The ilmenite and rutile products are road hauled in bulk in conventional 30-tonne road trucks and
discharged in the 80,000-tonne storage shed at Likoni. A mobile ship loader utilising conventional
conveyor technology loads at a rate of 1,000 tonnes per hour into bulk carrier vessels moored alongside
the dedicated wharf. Zircon, either bagged or loose, is containerised on site and exported via the container terminal in the port of Mombasa.
Supporting Infrastructure
Base Titanium has constructed and commissioned an 8.5 million cubic metre water supply dam on the Mukurumudzi River to provide for its process water
requirements of about 20,000 cubic metres per day. The surface water supply is back up by a bore eld comprising 4 bore holes capable of supplying 5,000
cubic metres per day.
Electrical energy is supplied via a purpose built 14km 132kV power transmission line and substation. Power demand to run the operations is 9MW.
Connecting access from the main coastal highway to the mine site is by way of 8km sealed road built by Base Titanium.