Clifford Frame’s Minroc Mines (MN-T) is acquiring a half-interest in the Kanyemba uranium-vanadium project in Zimbabwe from Toronto-based junior Cline Mining (CMK-V).
Minroc will pay Cline 1.5 million Minroc shares (which currently trade at 70 cents) and provide a cash loan of US$150,000. Minroc will also manage a feasibility study and incur the next $3 million in expenditures. Cline, through a wholly owned subsidiary, will retain the remaining half-interest in the project.
The Kanyemba concession covers 420,000 ha in northeastern Zimbabwe and includes the existing Kanyemba uranium-vanadium deposit plus numerous other mineralized zones. Uranium and vanadium at the main Kanyemba deposit are hosted in sandstone lenses up to 200 metres thick that extend from surface to a minimum depth of 220 metres and dip 18 along a 1,000-metre strike length. The deposit remains open at depth and laterally.
Previous work included airborne geophysical surveys, 54,000 metres of drilling and a feasibility study on the main Kanyemba deposit, which is reported to contain 7 million lbs. U3O8 and 15 million lbs. V2O5 at grades averaging 14 lbs. U3O8 and 30 lbs. V2O5 per tonne.
In its upcoming program, Minroc plans to drill along extensions of the main deposit and further explore 16 additional uranium-bearing zones on the concession.
Minroc envisions developing a mine that will annually produce 1 million lbs. U3O8 and 1.8 million lbs. V2O5 over 10 years. Mining will be carried out by room-and-pillar methods, with daily production pegged at 200 tonnes. Capital costs are estimated at US$20 million, and cash operating costs are expected to fall below US$4 per lb. of oxides produced.
Minroc is already active in southern Africa through its 40%-owned, Johannesburg-listed subsidiary, SA Mineral Resources. The subsidiary, also known as Samroc, is involved in two projects in South Africa: the building of a US$3-million manganese-sulphate facility in Graskop, and the development of a 15,000-tonne-per-year copper sulphate operation in Roodekraal.
Meanwhile, at Minroc’s re-opened Cassiar asbestos plant in British Columbia, the first shipment has been made to the Japanese trading-house Kakiuchi. Using wet-process technology, Minroc is exploiting chrysotile contained in tailings at a design rate of 1,000 tonnes per month.
Minroc says the magnesium metal in the Cassiar tailings could be used to feed an operation comparable to the Magnola project, currently under construction in Asbestos, Que. At Magnola, Noranda will use a proprietary technique to win magnesium from tailings bought from JM Asbestos for one dollar.
Be the first to comment on "Minroc eyes Kanyemba"