Exploration company Jindalee Resources has acquired Exploration Licence (EL5/2016) which covers the Arthur River and Lyons River magnesite deposits in NW Tasmania.
The EL5/2016 is believed to contain Australia’s third largest inventory of magnesite – the primary source of magnesia – which is mainly used in agriculture, mineral processing, paper manufacture and refractory industries. It is also used to produce magnesium, a light metal which is widely used in the aerospace, automotive and electronics industry.
A 2012 resource estimate completed by former licence owner Beacon Hill Resources estimated Inferred Resources of 25Mt at 42.4% magnesia for the southern part of the Arthur River Deposit only. No resources were estimated for the Lyons River deposit.
On May 2012 Beacon Hill released the preliminary results of a scoping study on the Arthur River Deposit, based on a 292,000 dry tone per annum (dtpa) operation producing an average of 100,000dtpa of caustic calcined magnesia (CCM) with an average grade of 95% magnesia over a mine life of 17 years.
Jindalee told the ASX that it intends to evaluate Beacon Hill’s scoping study in light of favourable exchange rate movements and lower mining industry input costs since May 2012.
“Jindalee has commenced accessing and compiling the extensive database for the Project and looks forwards to commencing work on the Project as soon as EL5/2016 has been granted,” reads the statement.
