Maiden Resource Estimate

RNS Number : 5854F

IronRidge Resources Limited

29 July 2016

 

29 July 2016

Maiden Resource Estimate of 54.9 MT Bauxite at Monogorilby

Newly identified bauxite province with significant scale potential

IronRidge Resources Limited (AIM: IRR, "IronRidge" or the "Company") is pleased to announce a Maiden 54.9 MT, JORC compliant bauxite mineral resource estimate ("Mineral Resource") at its Monogorilby Bauxite Project ("the Project") in the newly identified bauxite province of central Queensland, Australia.

HIGHLIGHTS:

·      Maiden 54.9 MT inferred bauxite mineral resource estimate at 37.5% total alumina and 8.5% total silica.

·      New mineralised province identified with significant scale potential; only one of six target areas drilled to date.

·      Excellent available alumina to reactive silica ratios with predominantly gibbsite mineralogy; higher value product implied.

·      Mineralisation found on hilltop and slopes; low stripping ratios implied.

·      Average 7m and up to 14m thick bauxite profile from surface.

·      Significant land holding granted and under application over a total 1,484km².

·      Preliminary scouting metallurgical test-work indicates potential to beneficiate:

o  Good to premium quality DSO (35-40% available alumina, 1-3% reactive silica) at 5-85% mass recoveries through simple crushing, screening and scrubbing of the 1 to 3m thick surface duricrust and;

o  Fair quality DSO (<30% available alumina, >5% reactive silica) at 38% mass recovery through simple crushing and screening of the sub-surface bauxite profile.

·      The Project is <55km from a rail system with connections to the Port of Bundaberg, including provision for a multi-user loader.

·      Bauxite prices are buoyant at circa USD$49.5/tonne; majors are approving significant long-term project expansions to meet growing global demand.

·      Additional high-grade titanium (average 3.8% to 5% TiO₂ from drilling) occurs within the bauxite profile with highest grades at surface; potential scope for a staged, early start-up dual premium DSO and titanium concentrate product.

Vincent Mascolo, CEO IronRidge Resources, commented: "We are very pleased to report the maiden bauxite resource; not only does it confirm a newly identified bauxite province with significant scale potential, but it is also located less than 55km from a dormant rail system connected to the operational port of Bundaberg.

"Surface mineralisation beneficiates through simple crushing and screening up to a premium 52% alumina DSO, with desirable gibbsite mineralogy".

"Resource scale potential, proximity to infrastructure and a premium DSO product, all point to an exciting, potential low capital intensity project with potential low stripping ratios and operating costs.

"Additionally, high-grade titanium results averaging 3.8% to 5% TiO₂ consistently occur within the weathering profile above and below the bauxite horizon, providing scope for a titanium concentrate by-product and further enhancing the Project".

Maiden Bauxite Resource

Independent consultants Mining One Pty Ltd of Melbourne, Australia prepared a JORC 2012 compliant maiden mineral resource estimate for the Monogorilby Bauxite Project based on a 94 drill hole (for 2,424m) reverse circulation ("RC") percussion drilling programme.

A 3D interpretation of the mineralised domain was constructed using sectional interpretation strings as well as detailed government topographic (ortho-DEM) data to build the domain wireframe and modelling constraints.

An inverse distance weighted estimate was modelled for key variables, that estimated tonnes and grades into a block model. All blocks were constrained to a resource wireframe and all blocks outside this wireframe were not considered in the calculations.

Results of the estimation are shown in table 1 below, and the grade tonnage curve for Avl_Al₂O₃% is shown in figure 1 below.

Table 1: Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (JORC 2012 compliant), Monogorilby Bauxite Project

MONOGORILBY RESOURCE (>30% Tot Al2O3, <10% Tot SiO2 and >18.5% LOI)
Resources Class	Tonnes	Avl Al2O3%	Tot Al2O3%	Rx SiO2%	A:S	LOI%	Tot SiO2%	Fe2O3	TiO2%	V%
Measured	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Indicated	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Inferred	54,894,438	28.02	37.5	7.9	3.6	20.9	8.5	23.9	5.2	0.062
Totals	54,894,438	28.02	37.5	7.9	3.6	20.9	8.5	23.9	5.2	0.062

Please use the link at the end of this announcement to view Figure 1: Grade Tonnage Curve for the Monogorilby deposit detailing an inferred resource for Available Alumina (Avl_Al₂O₃%).

Please use the link at the end of this announcement to view Figure 2: Monogorilby mineralised domain Interpretation screen shot, looking north-north-west.

Preliminary Metallurgical Test-Work

Preliminary scoping metallurgical test-work including size reduction, scrubbing and sizing was completed at Core Resources laboratory in Brisbane, Australia on representative 25 to 50kg bulk samples of the surface duricrust and bauxite resource. This work was carried out, to test whether a 'premium quality' DSO product could be easily beneficiated through simple crushing, scrubbing and screening.

The first two tests (sample one and two) were carried out on surface duricrust material collected from the plateau margin and top from outcrop and by backhoe pitting respectively. The third metallurgical sample was collected by air-core drilling and designed to assess the beneficiation characteristics of the sub-surface bauxite material. Two air-core drill holes were twinned with two resource drill holes, representative of the average resource grade. Drill cuttings were then combined to form a single 50kg bulk sample, representative of the average resource grade for preliminary sighter metallurgical test-work.

Please use the link at the end of this announcement to view Figure 3: Staged metallurgical sampling; surface duricrust outcrop (left), top plateau backhoe pitting (middle) and aircore drilling (right).

Results of metallurgical test-work to date on surface duricrust and the top 1-3m of plateau material, demonstrate that 44-36% alumina and 14-3% silica head-grade material can be beneficiated through simple crushing, screening and scrubbing to a good to premium quality DSO bauxite at 44-52% alumina (>36% available alumina) and 2-5% silica (>2% reactive silica), at 85-5% mass-recovery respectively.

Results of preliminary metallurgical test-work to date on sub-surface bauxite material through the mineralised profile and representative of the resource grade, demonstrate that 36% alumina and 8% silica head-grade material can be beneficiated through simple crushing and screening to a fair quality DSO bauxite at 38% alumina (28.7% available alumina) and 10.7% silica (>10.6% reactive silica), at 38% mass-recovery.

The proportion split of the maiden 54.9Mt resource tonnage representative of the surface duricrust and top 1-3m of plateau material (1^st phase metallurgical test-work) relative to the sub-surface bauxite material (second stage test-work) is currently undefined. However, it is reasonable to estimate that 10-25% of the current resource potentially represents surface material whilst the remainder represents the bulk of the resource.

Additional Resource Potential

Drilling to date has defined bauxite occurring over the Monogorilby plateau alone (used for the current resource estimate, see figure 2); however, drilling has also intersected high-grade 'blind' DSO bauxite under cover within the valleys floors, termed 'Valley Fill Bauxite'. Several drill holes intersected high-grade DSO valley fill bauxite in the current resource drilling programme which were not included in the maiden resource estimate and provide additional scope for a resource upgrade.

Drilling intersections including 6m at 39% total alumina and 2.2% total silica in hole MON046 and 4m at 36.8% total alumina and 4.5% total silica in hole MON040 demonstrate the additional potential within the immediate project area. High available alumina to reactive silica ratios and supporting petrographic work confirm gibbsite dominant mineralisation; a potential source of "premium" DSO bauxite used as a "sweetener" in the alumina refining process.

X-ray diffraction studies of representative samples have confirmed that gibbsite is the main mineral species present in the bauxite layer. Gibbsite is the preferred bauxite mineralogy for low-temperature, low pressure refining to alumina, and the target type bauxite ore of new refineries coming on line in India and China. Low pressure and low temperature treatment technologies are cost efficient to operate.

The Company has identified additional high-grade titanium results within the resource drilling with grades consistently reported between 3.8% to 5% TiO₂. Preliminary mineralogical work using QEMSCAN has identified rutile and ilmenite as the main titanium bearing phases occurring within the bauxite profile. The downhole grade profile from resource drilling indicates a surface enriched titanium zone that progressively reduces in grade down the bauxite profile. Additional resource potential exists for a high-grade pre-strip titanium concentrate.

The Company is planning to conduct additional value-adding metallurgical test-work to assess the potential for dual bauxite and titanium concentrates via hydrometallurgical test-work. 

Major New Bauxite Province

The Company has moved quickly to secure exploration rights through license approvals and applications covering 1,484km² of prospective host lithologies for both "plateau type" and "valley fill" type bauxite targets, providing exciting resource growth potential.

Targets include extensive plateau zones within the Mount Redhead and Coco forest areas to the north with confirmed bauxite occurrences, as well as potential extensive "blind" targets lying buried below the Durong plateau to the south (see figure 4 below).

Please use the link at the end of this announcement to view Figure 4: Province scale tenure; major target areas defined and maiden resource area.

Please use the link at the end of this announcement to view Figure 5: Examples of DSO bauxite outcrops and scarp face channel sampling

Project Location and Infrastructure

The Monogorilby project is located in central Queensland, within a short trucking distance of the dormant rail system leading north to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

The project is wholly owned by IronRidge Resources and its local subsidiary Eastern Exploration Pty Ltd over awarded licenses EPM 19419, EPM 25975, EPM 16261 and EPM 16260, see figure 6 below.

Please use the link at the end of this announcement to view Figure 6: Map showing location of the Monogorilby project area (red outline) and surrounding infrastructure.

The Company looks forward to keeping its shareholders updated on progress and will announce results of the ongoing exploration programme as news becomes available.

For any further information please contact:

IronRidge Resources Limited
Vincent Mascolo (Chief Executive Officer)	Tel: [phone]
Nicholas Mather (Executive Chairman)	Tel: [phone]
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP	Tel: [phone]
Nominated Adviser and Broker
Jeff Keating Tercel Moore Yellow Jersey PR Limited Financial PR Dominic Barretto	Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors:

IronRidge Resources is an AIM listed mineral exploration company with frontier assets in both Australia and West Africa, with two province scale projects in Gabon, and promising and advanced titanium and bauxite projects in Queensland Australia. IronRidge's corporate strategy is to create and sustain shareholder value through the discovery of world-class and globally demanded commodities.

Australia:

Monogorilby is prospective for province scale titania and bauxite with an initial maiden resource of 54.9MT of premium DSO bauxite Monogorilby is located in central Queensland, within a short trucking distance of the rail system leading north to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

May Queen is located in Central Queensland within its wholly owned Monogorilby license package and is highly prospective for gold with drill ready targets defined. Historic drilling completed during the 1980s intersected multiple high-grade gold intervals including 2m @ 73.4 g/t Au (including 1m at 145g/t), 4m @ 38.8g/t Au (at end of hole) and 3m @ 18.9g/t Au, over an approximate 100m strike hosting numerous parallel vein systems, open to the north-west and south-east.

Wholly owned Quaggy contains highly anomalous platinum, palladium, nickel, cobalt and copper exploration targets and is located in Central Queensland within a short trucking distance of the dormant rail system to the Port of Bundaberg. It is also located within close proximity of the active Queensland Rail network heading south towards the Port of Brisbane.

Gabon:

Tchibanga is located in south-western Gabon, in the Nyanga Province, within 10-60km of the Atlantic coastline. This project comprises two exploration licenses, Tchibanga and Tchibanga Nord, which cover a combined area of 3,396km² and include over 90km of prospective lithologies and the historic Mont Pele iron occurrence.

Belinga Sud is Located in the north east of Gabon in the Ogooue-Ivindo Province, approximately 400km east of the capital city of Libreville. IRR's licence lies between the main Belinga Iron Ore Deposit, believed to be one of the world's largest untapped reserves of iron ore with an estimated 1bt of iron ore at a grade >60% Fe, and the route of the Trans Gabonese railway, which currently carries manganese ore and timber from Franceville to the Port of Owendo in Libreville.

Corporate:

IronRidge made its AIM debut in February 2015 successfully securing strategic alliances with three international companies; Assore Limited of South Africa, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan and DGR Global Limited of Australia. Assore is a high- grade iron, chrome and manganese mining specialist. Sumitomo Corporation is a global resources, mining marketing and trading conglomerate. DGR Global is a project generation and exploration specialist.

The Board of Directors is represented by mining industry professionals with a broad range of corporate, exploration, production, contracting and capital markets experience. The Company was admitted on 12 February 2015 (Ticker Code IRR) and currently has 236,612,203 shares and 14,770,000 unlisted options on issue.

Competent Person Statement:

Information in this report relating to the exploration results is based on data reviewed by Mr Nicholas Mather (B.Sc. Hons Geol.), the Executive Chairman of the Company. Mr Mather is a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy who has in excess of 25 years' experience in mineral exploration and is a Qualified Person under the AIM Rules. Mr Mather consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.

To view Figures 1-6, click on or paste the following link into your internet browser:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/5854F_-2016-7-28.pdf

 

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