Modern Mining October 2016

MINING News

Baobab ships its first phosphate product Open-pit mining at the Baobab phosphate project (photo: Avenira).

A mining contract was signed with a Senegalese contractor, Agromines, in December 2015. The contract was struc- tured to allow continuation of mining after the Stage 1 open pit, allowing opera- tions to be continuous once pre-stripping commenced. Mobilisation of the mining fleet to the Baobab site was undertaken through January and February 2016, with pre-strip- ping commencing for the Stage 1 open pit in March. The first phosphate horizon was uncovered in July 2016 and the first phos- phate was mined at the end of August. Mining of the phosphate mineralisation demonstrated that efficient grade control can be achieved visually during daylight hours, with the mining geology team trained to supervise phosphate mining. Design and engineering for the pro- cessing facility was developed with South

ASX-listed Avenira Limited reports it has achieved another important milestone at its 80 %-owned Baobab phosphate project in Senegal with the first trucking of phos- phate product to the stockpile at the Port of Dakar. Avenira’s strategy to develop the proj- ect is based on an initial, US$15 million, Stage 1 operation producing 500 000 tonnes per annum of phosphate product, with later stages allowing for production expansion. Maiden shipping of product is currently planned for the fourth calendar quarter of 2016. Avenira’s Managing Director, Cliff Lawrenson, commented: ‘‘The Baobab phosphate project continues to progress steadily and it is excellent to see the first trucking of phosphate product to the

stockpile at the Port of Dakar, some 145 km from the mine site. The project is nowmov- ing into operational stage with appropriate procedures and protocols in place. “As expected, the annual wet sea- son slowed processing and drying of the phosphate product and initial trucking operations. However, wet conditions are now easing allowing for more routine operations with first shipping our priority. We thank the whole Avenira team for their commitment in reaching this important milestone.” Baobab employs straightforward open- pit mining to access the mineralisation through the unconsolidated sand over- burden. The processing plant is similarly effective, employing a simple wet-screen- ing process to beneficiate to final product.

The product drying area at Baobab (photo: Avenira).

10  MODERN MINING  October 2016