Quarterly Report and Activity Statement
Sydney, Oct 31, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Australian Bauxite Ltd (
ASX:ABX) provides the Company's Quarterly Report and Activity Statement for three months to 30 September 2017.
Corporate
- Current group available cash at the end of the quarter was $2.42 million and is currently $1.73 million after payment of product transport and port costs.
- ABx has lines of credit for working capital if required and has no current plans for capital raisings.
Bauxite Refining Technology
- ABx has announced that it has entered into a research and development venture with technology company Refined Ore Industries Limited. The R&D Venture is a bauxite refining technology to increase the value of ABx's bauxite tenfold, capitalising on the clean chemistry of ABx bauxite, abundant available reagents and processing skills available in Tasmania or in Townsville, QLD as an alternative location.
The R&D Venture is called ALCORE which is the next stage in ABx's development of bauxite beneficiation and refining technology. This technology was patented on 5 June 2017 and is designed to produce Aluminium Fluoride (AlF3) which is an electrolyte used to increase the electrical efficiency of aluminium smelters and is also used in lithium ion batteries. The process also produces Corethane Gas (R) for energy security.
ALCORE technology upgrades low-grade bauxite fractions, by using waste acids from zinc refineries and fertiliser plants. Reagents are recycled with no emissions, particulates or waste generated. The main makeup reagent is fluorosilicic acid "FSA" which is also used to fluoridate drinking water supplies.
The production plant can operate off-grid by producing its own heat and electricity as a result of coproduction of Corethane gas which is a clean and cheap gas substitute that meets the Finkel Review recommendations on emission targets. The production plant could sell surplus electricity into the national grid at peak demand periods or alternatively, Corethane gas can provide a gas fuel to a major industrial customer (eg. brick plants or aluminium smelters), thus freeing up natural gas supply when it is most needed.
An engineering firm has begun final designs and costings for the Stage 1 plant design. The study is due to be completed in early 2018. ABX will continue wide consultations before making and announcing final funding strategies to create value for ABx shareholders.
Sales
- ABx announced the completion of two sales during the quarter comprising:
1. 30,000 tonnes of mixed grade blended cement-grade bauxite, product 04.100; and,
2. 5,000 tonnes of cement grade, product 04.15.
The two sales were delivered from Bald Hill mine at Campbell Town, northern Tasmania to Bell Bay Port in early October, 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Both cargoes were shipped from Bell Bay Port on 24th October. Invoices have been submitted for the final tonnages sold, based on independent ship surveys.
- Fertiliser grade bauxite sales from the Bald Hill mine have been ramped up to satisfy customer demand over the summer period at modest but valuable prices to supply local industry. Invoices are yet to be submitted for these sales which are ongoing.
To view the full report, please visit:
http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/3V6240K8
About ABx Group Limited
ABx Group Limited (ABx) (ASX:ABX) started as a bauxite miner in Tasmania in 2014 & controls the Eastern Australian Bauxite Province. In 2020 to 2023, ABx also discovered Australia’s only true ionic adsorption clay Rare Earth Elements resource at Deep Leads in pine plantations 40km west of Launceston with a JORC-compliant resource of 89 million tonnes from only 29% of the mineralised outline, averaging 844 ppm total rare earth oxides that is the most enriched in the critically important rare earths, Dy and Tb, of any Australian REE deposit.
ABx has also developed a proprietary technology to produce fluorine chemicals from an aluminium smelter waste product and return the fluorine back into the smelters, thus reducing reliance on imported aluminium fluoride.
ABx has committed a large proportion of its expenditure into Research and Development and has found ways to capitalise on the main strengths of its bauxite type which is very clean, free of all deleterious elements and can be separated into different product streams using physical, chemical and geophysical methods. It has produced and marketed specialist bauxite products for the manufacturers of fertiliser, cement with high late strength for major infrastructure such as bridges and is in the advanced stages of approvals for production of metallurgical bauxite from its Binjour Bauxite deposit with JORC-compliant resources of 37 million tonnes of bauxite, in a joint development with a Chinese-focussed Australian trading company Good Importing International.
ABx is also preparing to produce fertiliser grade and cement grade bauxite from its DL130 bauxite quarry in northern Tasmania, 40km west of Launceston. This quarry is sited in the middle of the large Deep Leads REE deposit and may one day be a site for heap leaching of the REE using a low-cost, benign leachate with the same acidity as apple juice or tea.
ABx endorses best practices on agricultural land, strives to leave land and environment better than we find it. We only operate where welcomed.
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