LionOre Mining International (LIM-T, LOR-A, LIM-L) and partner African Rainbow Minerals (AGM-L, ARI-J) have agreed to go ahead with a chromite mining operation at the Nkomati nickel project in Mpumalanga province, South Africa.
While feasibility studies continue on a larger expansion for the main nickel deposit, the chromite resource, in oxidized material overlying the disseminated nickel resource that Nkomati plans to mine from 2009 onward. The project requires only US$2.2 million in capital expenditures.
The resource consists of 7.3 million tonnes grading 33.3% Cr2O3, with another 2.4 million tonnes grading 32.9% Cr2O3 in the inferred category. The material can be upgraded on site by crushing and screening to a 38%-chromium concentrate, and test processing at the Machadadorp chrome smelter, owned by African Rainbow affiliate Assmang (AMN-J), showed the concentrate could be used to produce charge-chrome grade ferro-chromium alloy.
The two partners have already announced that a US$62-million “Interim Expansion Project” would go ahead a Nkomati, bridging the expected 2008 depletion of ore from the current underground massive sulphide orebody and the longer-term expansion project that would exploit a larger disseminated nickel deposit.
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