Modern Mining June 2018

WEST AFRICA

ASX-listed Avenira has appointed Wood (formerly Amec Foster Wheeler) as the lead engineering contractor for the Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) currently underway on its 80 %-owned Baobab phosphate project, located 145 km east of Dakar in Senegal. Avenira is planning an expansion and upgrade of the existing beneficiation plant at its Gadde Bissik mine. Avenira plans Baobab expansion

T he objective of the BFS is to pro- vide a definitive design basis for detailed engineering and con- struction management for a plant with a nominal capacity of 1 Mt of high-quality phosphate rock concentrate per year. The scope of the study includes min- ing, processing and a tailings storage facility. Wood will develop operating and capital cost estimates to a ±10 % accuracy. This will also provide for detailed economic modelling to as- sist in raising funds to advance the project into commercial production. The BFS will build on the conceptual study conducted by Hatch in 2017 and on the experi- ence accumulated frommining activities on site since 2016. It will follow a two-stage approach. Phase 1 is a Feasibility Study to deliver an AACE Class 4 cost estimate and is expected to be completed by early July 2018. Phase 2 will deliver a BFS including an AACE Class 3 cost

estimate and is projected to be completed by the end of 2018. Avenira has been involved with Baobab since 2014 and successfully achieved its first production in September 2016, just 10 months after the decision to mine was taken. The mine operates under a Small Mine Permit (SMP) which currently covers 5 km 2 and allows unlimited production from the Gadde Bissik prospect. Open-pit, free-dig mining operations are undertaken by a mining contractor. The current plant, which has a nameplate capacity of 500 kt/a, was commissioned in August 2016. The mineralogy of the deposit is straightforward with well-defined silica and apatite grains enabling beneficiation to a high- grade commercial concentrate to be achieved using well-known and widely applied flotation technologies. The project’s indicated mineral resource is now estimated at 42 Mt at 19,4 % P 2 O 5 at

The product drying area at the Baobab phosphate project in Senegal.

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June 2018  MODERN MINING  39