On or about
Four of the five licenses that contain the vast bulk of the exploration target in the Xaudum Iron Formation project were renewed as submitted, effective
Despite periodic inquiries as to the license renewal status, Tsodilo was first apprised of a possible reason for the continued delay on
On
the license in question has existed in its present form since 2008, six years before the buffer zone was established;
prior to establishment of the current buffer zone in 2014, significant exploration had already been conducted in that area and a compliant NI 43-101 Inferred Mineral Resource Statement prepared by SRK was submitted to the MME identifying a mineral resource of
when it was established in 2014, the current buffer zone encroached on a portion (169 Mt) of the Company's identified mineral resource; and
the prospecting license including this area has since that time been renewed and re-granted multiple times without any controversy.
Gcwihaba also expressed complete agreement that prospecting, and mining activities were permitted in the buffer zone subject to various environmental standards and practices spelled out in
With apparent agreement as to the facts and applicable law, and with renewed and unequivocal assurance from Gcwihaba that it would be sensitive to environmental issues and would fully comply with all laws and regulations in this regard, it was expected that any concerns had been more than addressed and that the PL020/2018 license would now be renewed in short order.
However, in a letter received on
In an effort to reach a mutually acceptable resolution, the Company filed a revised renewal application reducing the buffer zone area of the license block to only an area proximate to a paved airport landing strip, a hospital and a shopping center all established, extended or rebuilt after 2014 and all within the buffer zone. To date, the Company has received no response to the revised license application.
For more detailed information on all the above, and in the interest of transparency, the Company has established a landing page regularly updated to include all records related to this matter. Please see https://tsodiloresources.com/s/MME.asp.html.
While the bulk of the Company's Xaudum Iron Formation resource remains free of any dispute, the area within the buffer zone is of sufficient value that the Company believes further efforts are appropriate to protect shareholder interest, and further believes that the conduct of the
'We believe this case is unique as both the government and the Company agree that mining and exploration can exist in the buffer zone. The facts and the law are not in dispute, and yet the license has not been renewed. We look forward to a speedy resolution of the matter in order to continue our work of bringing one of the largest if not the largest resource project in the country to development, creating jobs, opportunities and income for the Batswana. Our project will be designed at inception to be part of the trend in producing high quality and high value premium direct reduced iron feed quality products, that can be used to manufacture green steel with reduced GHG emissions as well as potentially reducing costs and improving steel quality', he added.
'It is an exciting time to be developing projects in
XAUDUM IRON FORMATION (XIF)
About the
The project is located in the
Preliminary work on the Xaudum Iron project has defined a CIM compliant Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate of 441 million tonnes (Mt) with an average grade of 29.4% Fe, 41.0% SiO2, 6.1% Al2O3 and 0.3% P for the Block 1 magnetite XIF.
Block 1 is a fraction of the potential XIF magnetite resource. An extrapolated exploration target has defined the XIF to be in the order of 5 to 7 billion tonnes at 15 - 40% Fe. This exploration target was generated by inversion modelling of ground magnetic geophysical data which was compared and moderated to volumes from drilling data within Block 1 and its potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature. To date, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource other than in Block 1 and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. See Press Release of
Metallurgical magnetic separation results (Davis Tube Recovery) show that an average concentrate of 67.2% Fe, 4.2% SiO2, 0.5% Al2O3, 0.07% P is obtained at P80 grind size of 80 microns, although higher grades are possible at finer P80's. See Press Release of
Further exploration will be focused on Block 2a where the Company expects an increase in the resource.
An informational presentation of the project outlining more information can be found on the Company's website at www.tsodiloresources.com/i/pdf/Tsodilo-Iron-Project-Overview_May-2021_Website.pdf.
More technical information can be found in a report prepared by
About
Contact:
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
JBruchs@TsodiloResources.com
Head Office
Telephone +1 416 572 2033
Facsimile + 1 416 987 4369
Website: http://www.TsodiloResources.com
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements pertaining to the use of proceeds, the impact of strategic partnerships and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals) are forward- looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward- looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Companyto differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, changes in equity markets, changes in general economic conditions, market volatility, political developments in
Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements and, even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, uncertainties relating to availability and cost of funds, timing and content of work programs, results of exploration activities, interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, risks relating to variations in the diamond grade and kimberlite lithologies; variations in rates of recovery and breakage; estimates of grade and quality of diamonds, variations in diamond valuations and future diamond prices; the state of world diamond markets, reliability of mineral property titles, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, delays in obtaining or failure to obtain required project approvals, operational and infrastructure risk and other risks involved in the diamond exploration and development business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward- looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to their inherent uncertainty.
Neither the
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