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AFRIcA

Base’s Kwale mineral
sands mine in Kenya has
continued to meet guidance
throughout its history

B
Base readies for ase readies for

widespread approval idespread approval
w

buoyant commodity market, excellent boundary as evidence the Kenyan regu- good and it needed cleaning up but that
A operational performance, improved latory system does work, eventually. has been in place for nearly two years
project economics – Base Resources Ltd “There was never any actual doubt ago now,” he said. “But, it seems ap-
has all the right ingredients for a bumper about whether we would get the exten- propriate for the companies going about
2022; it just needs approval to capitalise sion for the South Dune reserve, it was things the right way, the established op-
on the opportunities. just about the time which is because it is erators,” Carstens said. “It is a big focus
Last year was equal part rewarding a slightly dysfunctional process,” he said. of the permanent secretary to get licenc-
and frustrating for African-focused min- The extension pushes Kwale mine life es by February 2022. They know that
eral sands miner Base with its flagship to December 2023, but Carstens is ea- post-February, government begins to
Kwale mine in Kenya performing strongly ger to see further approvals which will al- shut down ahead of elections. Then you
and prices for its three main products – il- low Base to add further life to operations. have the election itself and then the wait
menite, rutile and zircon – defying expec- “We need to be doing exploration in until the minister is appointed and settles
tations. In addition, an updated DFS for Kenya to extend the mine life beyond in. That will all create further delays.”
its Toliara development in Madagascar 2024 but with the moratorium it is diffi- Longer-term, Carstens expects for
redefined the project’s parameters, lifting cult,” he said. more clarity in the regulatory system.
the resource beyond 2bt and NPV past While the Kenyan Government hasn’t “Hopefully there will be a reset after
$US1 billion. always displayed a deep appreciation of the August elections and things move
However, before the company can get resources industry dynamics, Carstens along smoother after that,” he said. “It’s
the most out of either asset it needs li- said there was recognition about the frustrating because we can see fantastic
cences granted by the Kenyan and Mala- need to speed up the system. opportunity in Kenya and not just imme-
gasy authorities. “The permanent secretary of mines is diately surrounding Kwale.”
“That’s been the challenging issue in aware the country needs Base, as the Ideally, Base will be granted explora-
both assets,” Base managing director largest mining company in Kenya, to con- tion licences this month, allowing it to fire
Tim Carstens lamented. The company tinue,” he said. up exploration with the aim of finding fur-
remains confident it will receive both ex- The Kenyan Government placed a ther reserves for Kwale.
ploration licences in Kenya and a devel- moratorium on the issue of new explo- “As long as we get exploration up and
opment agreement in Madagascar, but ration licences in early 2020 and while running in early 2023, we could have
frustration comes from a lack of clarity in Carstens is broadly supportive of that something lined up to coincide with the
timelines. decision, he hopes to see changes soon. end of Bumamani but then also step that
Carstens pointed to the granting of “The moratorium was put in place for out a bit further, even if it is only as a
an extension to the Kwale mining lease the right reasons, the governance wasn’t bridge to something else,” Carstens said.

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