May/June 2013 - The ASIA Miner

Central Asia
Kazax closes Lomo iron ore acquisition
KAZAX Minerals has completed the acquisition
of a 75% interest in the Lomonosovskoye
Limited Liability Partnership (LP),
which holds unrestricted exploration and
production rights to the Lomonosovskoye
(Lomo) iron ore deposit in Kazakhstan. The
other 25% of LP is held by Kazakh state
agency Tobol.
Lomo is in the northwest corner of the country,
618km northwest of the capital Astana and
50km west-southwest of the regional capital
of Kostanay. It lies 15km northwest of the town
of Rudny with primary access by highway from
Kostanay, via Rudny. The project boasts measured
and indicated resources of 333.5 million
tonnes grading 36.6% total iron, and 108.7
million inferred tonnes grading 34.8% iron. Mineralization
remains open at depth and along
the lateral extents.
Kazax Minerals’ president David Savage
says, “The completion of this acquisition is a
key step forward for the company and paves
the way for Kazax to move forward into an
operational stage in 2013. We are very excited
to have received all approvals from the
Kazakhstan Government for this acquisition
and are appreciative of the support that the
government departments involved have provided.
We are well on track to complete all remaining
approvals in the first half of this year
and aim to commence operations in the third
quarter of 2013.”
He says the company has completed a second
round of tender meetings with selected
Examining core from the Lomonosovskoye iron ore deposit.
Kazax Board members visit the project in northwest
Kazakhstan.
Chinese contractors who are bidding for the
process plant EPCM. “Two of them, CNEEC
and TCC, in particular are bidding aggressively,
and both have committed large teams
to work on their bids. Both candidates have
approached their central bodies and received
approval for funding support, which only confirms
their serious commitment to bidding
and funding our project. CNEEC have locked
in with ICBC, one of the major Chinese Government
banks, as their funding partner.
ICBC have made direct contact with us and
things are progressing very well.”
David Savage says, “We have separate
packages out to several bidders for the crushing
and screening circuits of the plant and
are receiving bids directly for all key plant
components to enable our team to build up
alternate pricing to Chinese EPCM contractors
so we are sure we are getting the best
possible offers.
“Our project team is compiling the various
components of the NI 43-101-compliant
bankable feasibility study (BFS). This is a
large, complex task to achieve, and the dedicated
team will continue to remain focused
on this major component that will confirm the
mine viability and economics. Our team has
also had continued discussions with several
Russian lenders for debt finance support.
Both Sberbank and Alfa Bank are conducting
their due diligence reviews, and VTB will become
involved post completion of the BFS.”
Boost in Shambesai high-grade oxide resource
NEW resource and reserve estimates have
been completed for Manas Resources’ Shambesai
Gold Project in the Kyrgyz Republic.
There is now 95% of the resource within the
measured and indicated categories while there
has also been a significant increase in high
grade oxide resources within the design pit.
The total JORC-compliant measured, indicated
and inferred resource estimated from a
new geological model total 8.1 million tonnes
@ 2.69 grams/tonne gold for 697,000 ounces.
The cut-off grade for oxide resources is
0.3 grams/tonne and for sulphide resources
is 0.75 grams/tonne. The resource includes
500,000 tonnes @ 1.9 grams/tonne for
29,000 ounces of inferred material. The new
model has been developed by CSA Global in
conjunction with Manas’ in-house team.
The updated estimate has increased confidence
levels to include 1.2 million tonnes of resource
classified as measured, including 1 million
tonnes of oxide and 200,000 tonnes of
sulphides, and has increased the indicated
estimate by 1.1 million tonnes. The total highgrade
oxide resource from surface has increased
more than 15% to 2.43 million tonnes @
4.4 grams/tonne for 346,000 ounces.
Shambesai is now confirmed to have a
proven and probable reserve of 2.5 million
tonnes @ 3.4 grams/tonne for 277,000
ounces of gold. All ore volumes to be included
in a bankable feasibility study (BFS)
will be in these categories. The new reserve
will form the basis for the BFS which
was expected to be completed by the end
of April. An independent assessment of the
BFS will then be undertaken by Perthbased
consultants Mintrex.
Manas’ managing director Stephen Ross
says, “We are extremely pleased with the
results of the resource and reserve re-estimation
which uses adjusted cut-off grades
to better reflect the oxide and sulphide mine
plans. In particular, the significant overall increase
in ounces within the high-value oxide
resource and reserve provides a much higher
confidence level in our estimates for
debt financing purposes.” Debt intermediary
Optimum Capital has been engaged
for project financing purposes.
Meantime, Manas has finalized plans for
a 2‐tranche capital raising of Aus$5.1 million
through the issue of 51 million shares
at 10c each to accelerate permitting and
development activities at Shambesai. The
private placement will be managed by
Blackwood Capital.
14 | ASIA Miner | May/June 2013