LONDON (Alliance News) - Sable Mining Africa Ltd Wednesday said it has updated the resource at the Nimba iron ore project in south-east Guinea after completing further drilling.
The updated JORC resource increased to 205.2 million tonnes at 57.8% iron compared to the previous estimate of 181.8 million tonnes at a grade of 58.8% iron. Both estimates were made at an iron cut-off grade of 40%.
Joint Ore Reserves Committee produces the Australian code for the reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves.
The measured and indicated portions of the resource have increased by 31%, to 195 million tonnes from 148.4 million tonnes.
Sable said the increase is expected to knock on to the amount of premium direct shipping ore product at the project.
Direct shipping ore is a higher grade of ore that is cheaper to process, leading to lower operating costs It has high quantities of hematite or magnetite, meaning it can be fed directly into iron-making blast furnaces.
"It is of particular importance to note the increase in screenable direct shipping ore material together with the higher lump yields, as this will directly impact the quality of our final saleable product and potentially further enhance margins," said Chief Executive Andrew Groves.
There is also potential to increase the current JORC reserve and enhance the robust fundamentals demonstrated in the preliminary feasibility study, said Sable.
"The Sable Mining team continue to drive progress at Nimba forward as we approach our ultimate goal of achieving commercial iron ore production in the second-half of 2016," said Groves.
Sable shares were up 4.6% to 1.82 pence per share on Wednesday morning.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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