ALTECH CHEMICALS LTD
19 September 2014
AMMG selects Meckering as key feed to HPA chemicals project
Most advanced aluminous clay deposit within the Co
pany's portf lio
Quality of ore; close to Pert
; previous mining; landholder agreements; and proj ect accessibility
J RC-compliant indicated and inferred resource of 65Mt
Small crushing, drying and screening op
ration proposed at Meckering
Deposit will su
port a HPA
lant operation for more than 100 years
Australia Minerals and
Mining Group Limited
(ASX: AKA)
(AMMG/the Company) is pleased to announce that it has selected the Meckering aluminous clay deposit as the key supply feedstock
material for
its HPA chemicals project (the Projject). AMMG
currently holds pending tenements over aluminous clay assets at Gibson (Esperance), Kerrigan (Hyden), Bobalong (Tambellup) and both pending and granted tenements at Meckering. The Company has now selected the Meckering deposit as it is the most advanced aluminous clay project within the Company's portfolio.
The Meckering deposit gives the Company access to an abundant, low-cost aluminous clay feedstock, which has already been purified
and processed by a natural weathering process over millions f
Figure 1 - Location of Meckering Aluminous Clay Project
years. As a result, the direct ore feed contains very low levels of
impurities including iron, titanium, sodium, calcium, potassium and magnesium. The main imp urity is insoluble silica, which can be easily filtered during the processing.
By contrast, bauxite ore used to produce alumina
and aluminum metal contains around
22% iron compared to the
aluminous clay feedstock at Meckering, which contains 0.7% iron (See Table 1). Based on t he informatio
in the recently
completed Integrated Study, the relativ ly pure ore feedstock allows AMMG to produce a hi gh value, high margin product at significantly lower operating and capital costs than almost all of its global HPA competitors.
The other main advantage of the deposit is that it has been previously mined and is in relati ve close proximity to Perth at approximately 130km and is accessed via the 8km Leming Road to the Great Eastern Highw ay.
ralia Minerals and Mining Group Limited
45 125 301 206
3 Bay Road
Claremont, Western Australia 6010 Australia
Telephone: +61 8 9389 5557
Facsimile: +61 8 9389 5510
Website: www.ammg.com.au
The Company proposes its HPA plant to be located in Perth (130km), which keeps transport costs down as only relatively low annual tonnages of ore will be required.
The exploration licence
covers private freehold
cleared farmland with key
landowner agreements and surface rights already in place.
Figure 2 - Typical Meckering Aluminous Clay
Table 1 - Typical Analysis of Ore Feed Stock
Bau | xite | Canadian PA Project (typical) | AMMG Alu inous Clay ** (t pical) |
Darling Ran | ge (typical)* | Canadian PA Project (typical) | AMMG Alu inous Clay ** (t pical) |
Al2O3 (%) | 34.5 | 22.77 | 30 .5 |
SiO2 (%) | 21.5 | 53.29 | 56 .3 |
Fe2O3 (%) | 21.2 | 8.36 | 0.7 |
TiO2 (%) | 2.00 | 0.98 | 0.7 |
K2O (%) | 0.24 | 3.41 | 0.2 |
CaO (%) | 0.015 | 0.65 | 0. 1 |
NaO (%) | 0.005 | 1.42 | 0. 1 |
MgO (%) | 0.01 | 1.67 | 0. 1 |
LOI (%) | 18.1 | - | - |
*Geochemical and mineralogical characteristics of bauxites, Darling Range, Western Australia, Applied Geochemistr y
** HPA Plant Feed
Background and JORC Resource
The Company's 100%-owned Meckering project was subject to extensive historical explorati on activities by CRAE in the early 1990's and Swan River Kaolin (SRK) in 2005.
The exploration was focused on a large tonnage
deposit in
order to provide high bri ghtness kaolin for industrial
applications such as ceramics and paper coatings. From SRK's exploration a JORC complliant indicated and inferred resource of 65Mt @ 83.4% brightness was developed with consultants Geos Mining. S RK mined the deposit, using conventional open pit methods, to obtain a bulk sample for test work. In total 48 tonnes of ra w kaolin was processed in the SRK pilot plant near Northam. Approximately 19 tonnes of kaolin product was successfully pr oduced to commercial quality (40% recovery) and samples were sent to potential end-users.
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Proposed Mining Operation
AMMG's HPA mining operation will comprise of a small crushing, drying and screening plant l ocated at the Meckering site.
The mining of approximately 26,000tpa is proposed to be campaign-mined once every two to three years. The crushing and screening process is energy efficient as it is based on the aluminous clay material, whic h contains a large proportion of natural fines and is soft and friable. The operation is supported by the near-surface n ature of the aluminous clay
material, which is found at surface under a shallow overburden of clays. The alumina and low silica content is an ide l feed size for the HPA operation.
atural fines of less than 0.5mm with high
The crushed clay will be dried to remove any moisture and to allow efficient dry screening.
The dried aluminous clay is
screened to remove the oversize (>0.5mm) which is predominantly quartz and silica. Th e less than 0.5mm product is transferred to site storage bins where it will be transported to Perth for processing at the HPA plant.
The simple screening process is expected to upgrade the aluminous clay from around 19% Al2O3 to around 30% Al2O3. Due to the very low tonnage of ore required, the Meckering operation will likely operate on a five-day per week day shift
basis employing 2-3 operators. The annual mined
tonnage is around 26,000tpa and the
HPA plant feed is around
12,500tpa. At a JORC resource of 65 mt, the deposit will support a HPA plant operation for more than 100 years.
Figure 5 - Proposed Operation at Meckering Aluminous Clay Deposit
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Figure 6 - Proposed Operation Layout at Meckering Aluminous Clay Deposit
Figure 7 - AMMG aluminous clay stockpile used for pilot plant work
Managing director, Mr Iggy Tan said that Meckering deposit was chosen due to the or e's exceptional quality; close
proximity to capital city Perth; the Yilgarn Craton
weathering process naturally removing
impurities in this resource;
substantial previous mining; established key landholder agreements; and good transport acce ss.
-End-
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For more information, please contact:
Corporate
Iggy Tan
Managing Director
Australia Minerals & Mining Group Ltd
Tel: +61 8 9389 5557
Media Contact Tony Dawe Consultant
Professional Public Relati ons
Tel (offic ): +61 8 9388 0 944
E ail: info@ammg.com.au
Email: tony.dawe@ppr.co m.au
About AMMG (ASX: AKA)
AMMG is aiming to becom
the world's leading supplier of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumi a (H
(Al2O3) which is the major source material for scratch-resistant artificial sapphire glass, us d in t
generation
f smartphones and portable tablet devices. HPA is also used i
the production of L
abrasives, ceramics and a
HPA market is approximatel
rowing range of high-performance electronic applications. The global
20,000tpa and is expected to double over the coming decade.
Current HP
producers use an expensive and highly processed feedstock material
such as aluminum metal to
roduce HPA quality product. A
MG is one of o ly two companies in the world th at report the ability to produce 4
HPA directly from an ore fe dstock, such as aluminous clay.
AMMG employs a well-established processing t echnology to extract HPA from a
low-impurity aluminous clay feedstock sourced from the Company's 100%-owned Meckering p oject in Western Australia.
AMMG has produced test
3,000tpa production facility.
uantities of 4N HPA product and is now advancing a Bankable Feasibility Stu dy (BFS) to develop a full-scale
AMMG is a chemical processiing group focused on creating a high-margin pr oduct to meet the growing global
demand for the next generation of high-performance electronic applications.
Forward-looking Statements
This announcement contains for ard-looking state
ents which are identified by words
uch as 'anticipates', 'forecasts', 'ma y', 'will', 'could', 'b lieves', 'estimates',
'targets', 'expects', 'plan' or 'intends' and other si
ilar words that in volve risks and u certainties. Indications of, and guid elines or outlook on, future earnings,
distributions or financial position or performance and targets, estimates and assumptions in respect of production, pri ces, operating costs, results, capit l expenditures, reserves and resources are also forward looking statements. These statements are based on an assessme nt of present economic and operating conditions, and on a number of assumptions and estimates regarding future events and actions that, while considere d reasonable as at the date of this announcement and are expected to take place, are inherently subject to significant technical, business, economic, competitive , political and social uncertainties and
contingencies. Such forward-looking statements ar
not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and
other important factors, many of which are beyond the control of our Company, the Directors and management. We cannot a nd do not give any assurance that the
results, performance or achieve
ents expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this announceme nt will actually oc ur and readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements are subject to various risk factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from the events or results estimated, expressed or anticipated in these statements.
Competent Person Statement
Technical information in this report is based on information compiled by B.Sc. Geology, AMMG Chief Geologist and a member of the Australasian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr O'Mara has sufficient exploration experience which is relevant to the styles of mineralisation and types of de posit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2012 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' ("JORC 2012"). Mr O'Mara consents to the inclusion in this release o the matters base d on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
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