Pisolite Hills Project Yields Positive Results for Cape Alumina Limited

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Perth, Australia)--One of Cape Alumina Limited's (ASX:CBX) (Brisbane, Australia) major projects has delivered encouraging results for the company. The planned Pisolite Hills alumina project involves processing and transporting 7.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of dry product from North Queensland, Australia, with an estimated capital investment of $360 million (AUD$400 million).

A pre-feasibility study (PFS) was completed in collaboration with consulting engineering company GHD Pty Limited (Brisbane, Australia). The PFS included contractual requirements that are based on processing, mining, infrastructure, shipping and equipment. With the PFS now complete, the company is working toward the state government's requirements for an environmental impact assessment.

The current statistical model estimates the life of mine to be 14 years, based on the 7.5 million tonnes per annum to be extracted from the inferred 134 million-tonne bauxite resource.

The location of the project is in the far northern part of the western Cape York region of Queensland. The high-quality bauxite is very competitive with international export standards, especially when compared with the quality and prices of bauxite in neighbouring countries, such as Indonesia.

Although many Australian mining activities have been suffering due to factors such as unfavourable commodity prices and the weakening of the Australian dollar, Chinese demand for bauxite is still strong. With prices remaining fair, Australian producers of bauxite-related projects are seeing an advantage from a 20% export tax that has been in place in Indonesia since 2012, which boosts their competitive position.

Some of the variables that were explored in the pre-feasibility study were the logistics of the project, including transport and access to port and barge facilities. The transporting of bauxite via transhipment methods has been factored into the capital investment. Cape Alumina plans to transport bauxite in 6,000- to 10,000-tonne barges to other international shipping vessels that have yet to be identified.

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