TIDMALBA
RNS Number : 5264I
Alba Mineral Resources PLC
22 March 2018
Alba Mineral Resources plc
("Alba" or the "Company")
Amitsoq Licence Renewal and Further Metallurgical Test
Results
Highlights
-- Amitsoq Graphite licence renewed to Alba for a further five-year period.
-- Government of Greenland grants a 12 month moratorium on the
exploration expenditure commitment attaching to the Amitsoq
licence.
-- Further metallurgical testwork has confirmed the ability to
produce a marketable grade concentrate from Amitsoq graphite.
Alba Mineral Resources plc (AIM: ALBA), the diversified mineral
exploration and development company, is pleased to announce that
Mineral Exploration Licence (MEL) 2013/06, comprising the Amitsoq
Graphite Project in southern Greenland (the "Project"), has been
renewed for a further five years commencing from 2018. Furthermore,
the Government of Greenland has confirmed that the exploration
expenditure commitment for the Project has been reduced to zero for
2018.
The Company has completed further metallurgical testwork on the
Project which has confirmed the ability to produce a marketable
grade concentrate.
Licence Renewal
MEL 2013/06, which is 90% owned by Alba (with the right to go to
100% ownership), has been renewed for a second five-year term
encompassing calendar years 2018-2022 inclusive. At the same time,
the Government of Greenland has confirmed that the current year
(2018) standard expenditure commitment for the Project has been
reduced to zero, as part of an accommodation that the Government of
Greenland has decided to apply to all exploration licences which
are in their sixth year of grant or above.
Details of Testwork
Samples from the Amitsoq graphite deposit have been tested in a
two stage testwork programme aimed at establishing the basic
response of the mineralisation to concentration methods, to seek to
confirm the technical and financial viability of the project.
The first phase of testwork (reported in the Alba RNS on 12
April 2017) was carried out at the SGS (Cornwall, UK) laboratory,
and investigated the concentration of the graphite by gravity
separation at differing sizes using a Mozeley table (a device used
in mineral processing laboratories to separate valuable minerals
from gangue (or worthless) minerals). This testwork showed that an
acceptable rejection of gangue mineral could be achieved, with an
acceptable recovery of the graphite to the gravity tail, throughout
the size fractions.
Flotation at differing grind sizes indicated that the graphite
was recoverable at a grind below 500 microns at extremely high
recoveries with a maximum of 97.4% recovery at a relatively coarse
150 micron grind.
This Phase 1 testwork indicated that the graphite was amenable
to recovery by conventional methods.
Following the collection of further channel samples during the
2017 field season, a second phase of testwork was carried out in
the SGS (Canada) laboratory, owing to the closure of the UK
laboratory. This phase has now been completed.
The second phase of testwork was aimed at defining the quality
of concentrate which could be produced by conventional flotation
methods. The testwork investigated the flotation of the
mineralisation from a top-size of 6 mesh down through successive
size fractions by milling, to obtain a coarse rougher concentrate.
The rougher concentrate was then reground and cleaned prior to
splitting into a +100 mesh (150 micron) and a -100 mesh fractions
for polishing and cleaning.
Both fractions above and below 100 mesh upgraded to marketable
carbon grade concentrate of up to 97.3% combined.
Optimisation testwork is now required to evaluate the economic
grade versus recovery trade-off at varying sizes of grind to
establish the project flowsheet design.
George Frangeskides, Alba's Executive Chairman, commented: "We
are grateful to the Government of Greenland for the continuing
strong support they give to those of us operating in the mining
sector in Greenland. The latest demonstration of that support, in
recognition of a view that global conditions for mining exploration
remain sub-optimal, is the Government's decision to apply a
moratorium on exploration expenditure commitments for the duration
of calendar year 2018 for all licences entering into year six or
more of their term, which includes our Amitsoq licence."
"We have continued to push forward our work at Amitsoq, as shown
by the completion of these latest positive testwork results. The
grant of a further five year licence term is a major development
and reward for the significant work we have put into the Project
over the past few years. Aside from Amitsoq, we now have a strong
portfolio of exploration assets in Greenland and we look forward to
announcing our plans for this coming field season soon."
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes
of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Qualified Person's Statement
Leonard Holland is an independent consultant with over 50 years'
experience in the minerals processing industries. He is a Fellow of
the Institute of Materials Minerals and Mining, a UK registered
Chartered Engineer and a graduate of the University of Wales,
University College of Swansea with a B.Sc. Honours in Extractive
Metallurgy. Through qualifications and experience, Mr Holland is a
Qualified Person as defined in the National Instrument 43-101
Standards of Disclosure of Mineral Projects (N.I. 43-101). Mr
Holland has approved the technical information in this
announcement.
For further information please contact:
Alba Mineral Resources plc
George Frangeskides, Executive Chairman +44 20 7264 4366
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP (Nomad)
James Caithie / Liam Murray +44 20 7213 0880
First Equity Limited (Broker)
Jason Robertson +44 20 7374 2212
Yellow Jersey PR (Financial PR/ IR)
Tim Thompson / Sophia Macleod / Henry Wilkinson +44 77 1071 8649
alba@yellowjerseypr.com
Alba's Principal Operations & Investments
Oil & Gas
Horse Hill (Oil & Gas, UK): Alba holds an 18.1 per cent
interest in Horse Hill Developments Limited, the company which has
a 65 per cent participating interest and operatorship of the Horse
Hill oil and gas project (licences PEDL 137 and PEDL 246) in the UK
Weald Basin.
Brockham (Oil & Gas, UK): Alba has a direct 5 per cent
interest in Production Licence 235, which comprises the previously
producing onshore Brockham Oil Field.
Mining
Amitsoq (Graphite, Greenland): Alba owns a 90 per cent interest
in the Amitsoq Graphite Project in Southern Greenland and has an
option over the remaining 10 per cent.
Thule Black Sands (Ilmenite, Greenland): Alba owns 100 per cent
of mineral exploration licences 2017/29 and 2017/39 in the Thule
region, north-west Greenland.
Gold Mines of Wales (Gold, Wales, UK): Alba holds a 49 per cent
interest in Gold Mines of Wales, the ultimate owner of the Clogau
Gold project situated in the Dolgellau Gold Belt in Wales.
Inglefield Land (Multi-Commodity, Greenland): Alba owns 100 per
cent of mineral exploration licences 2017/40 and 2018/15 in
north-west Greenland.
Melville Bay (Iron Ore, Greenland): Alba is entitled to a 51 per
cent interest in mineral exploration licence 2017/41 in Melville
Bay, north-west Greenland. The licence area benefits from an
existing inferred JORC resource of 67 Mt @ 31.4% Fe.
Web: www.albamineralresources.com
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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