Modern Mining January 2020

MINERAL SANDS

of mine and all major mine infrastructure will be located at the MSP site (including power generation, administration, work- shops, stores and camp). In terms of infrastructure, Toliara is not particularly well served and the project scope addresses this through building a 45 km-long dedicated product haulage and access road (includ- ing a new 630 m long concrete bridge over the Fiherena River), an export facility, a power plant, a borefield for water supply and a permanent camp for expatriate and non-local skilled person- nel (able to house 263 operational people and the 630 people expected during construction). It is envisaged that power for the mine site will be supplied by an Independent Power Producer (IPP) with generation being based on a hybrid HFO, solar PV and battery storage system located near the MSP and camp. Stage 1 installed power is 23,5 MW with this increasing to 29 MW in Stage 2. Regarding the construction phase, the DFS says that the construction effort will be spread over a wide geographic area covering the MSP, WCP, mine infrastructure, road, bridge and export facility. These works will be performed by multiple civil, structural, mechanical and pipework (SMP), electrical and instru- mentation (EI) and marine contractors, with a workforce peaking at 1 629. It is currently envisaged that Stage 1 will be imple- mented over 26 months from October 2020 to November 2022 and Stage 2 between September 2025 and September 2026. Photos courtesy of Base Resources

Exploration at Toliara by Base Resources and earlier owners of the project has delineated a mineral resource of 1 290 Mt at 5,1 % heavy minerals (HM).

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provided for three ilmenite products (two weeks’ production). A tall building (approximately 50 m) design has been adopted for the MSP with multiple machine floors to reduce operating cost (by utilising gravity to reduce materials handling equipment and drives). The MSP is fixed for the life

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