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| Balline |
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The Balline mineral sands project is located in the mid-west district of Western Australia between the coastal town sites of Kalbarri and Port Gregory.
Altura entered into an agreement for the right to explore for and evaluate heavy mineral (HM) resources at Balline in June 2006 through its subsidiary company Australian Garnet Pty Ltd. Two granted exploration licences (E70/2509 and E70/2546) overlie the project area. Garnet sand is a hard mineral, free of heavy metals and toxic components and is used as a blast for medium for cleaning steel structures, as well as water-jet cutting and water filtration, among other uses. Garnet is highly sought after and widely used commodity in the industrial blasting and cutting industry and due to its generally inert and non-toxix properties; the worldwide demand for this commodity is growing. Extensive exploration undertaken by Australian Garnet had identified three zones (Balline North, Balline South and Menari) of significant heavy mineral content at Balline. These zones are present by near-surface Garnet, Ilmenite and leucoxene-bearing strandlines within Cainozoic coastal sand dunes. In excess of 14,000m of air core drilling has been undertaken and in December 2008 independent consultants CSA Australia Pty Ltd and Craigstone Pty Ltd established an initial resource of 30.3 mt @ 7.11% HM classified under the JORC code (ASX Announcement 16 December 2008). A review of this Mineral Resource was undertaken by AMC Consulting Pty Ltd prior to an Ore Reserve estimate released in August 2009 (ASX Announcement 21 August 2009). The total resource at Balline is reported as 226.9 mt @ 3.7% HM (8.4 mt HM) with a probable Ore Reserve of 65.5 mt @ 5.7% HM (3.7 mt HM). The main products being targeted from the resource are Garnet, Pseudo-Rutile, Ilmenite, Rutile and Zircon. Mining lease M70/1280 was granted to Australian Garnet on 19 August 2009. The mining lease extends over the HM deposit at Menari covering an area of 262 hectares. Since this period, Australian Garnet had completed all necessary studies from an environmental perspective to progress the project to the final approvals stage with the Department of Environment and Conservation and the Department of Mines and Petroleum. These studies include noise modelling, Aboriginal heritage, a level one fauna and flora assessment as well as a subterranean fauna review for the project impact area. An extensive hydro geological programme has also been completed with the sinking of three test production bores and seven monitoring bores in the area. Detailed analysis including pump testing has been carried out in late 2009, culminating in the lodging of a 5C license application (extraction license), in January 2010. Bulk marketing samples have been mined from the deposit, processed and sent to prospective customers bother internationally and domestically with a view to securing off take agreements for sales from commencement of mining. An upgrade of design work from the initial scoping study completed in 2009 is also being initiated, with construction expected to commence once final regulatory approval has been received.
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