Page 55 - pd296-August21-mag-web

Genmin gathers

pace in Gabon

ron ore developer Genmin Ltd has deliv- “So, a couple of things aligned but in
Iered its first major milestone since list- saying that, we didn’t float Genmin be-
ing on the ASX earlier this year, increas- cause there were these tailwinds and
ing the indicated tonnage for its Baniaka positive sentiment around iron ore. It’s
project in Gabon by 107%. something we’ve been systematically
Last month’s resource update was working on since 2012. We’d already
based on drilling completed over the spent $US30 million to that point and
Tsengue and Bandjougoy prospects whilst we’re calling this a PFS because
prior to Genmin’s debut on the bourse in we don’t have the resource classification
March. Indicated resources at Baniaka under JORC, a lot of the work we’re do-
now total 24mt, representing 38% of the ing now is actually far more advanced
overall project inventory. than that.”
A combination of diamond and RC More than 25,000m of drilling, includ-
drilling is now under way at Baniaka as ing almost 11,000m of diamond holes,
Genmin seeks to convert more of its in- had been completed at Baniaka when
ferred resource base to indicated and Genmin brought the project to market.
measured status ahead of a PFS which A diamond rig was operating on dou-
is slated for release in Q1 2021. ble shift at the time of print and is set to
Life has changed considerably for complete a 2,000m programme later this
Genmin in the months post its IPO, ac- month before the start of a 10,000m infill
cording to managing director Joe Ariti, drilling campaign.
who established the company as a pub- While the drill rigs will be busily turn-
lic unlisted group almost a decade ago ing for the balance of the calendar year,
during the final stages of the last iron Genmin has also placed a high empha-
ore boom. The company now holds circa sis on pilot-scale metallurgical test work
$28 million cash to progress through the via a facility at Bond Equipment in South
various phases of studies, while the in- Africa.
house team has been expanded to re- Bond is currently running a 21t bulk Genmin restarted drilling in Gabon ahead of
flect the multiple ongoing work streams sample through its facility to test the a PFS for the Baniaka iron ore project due
required to move towards development proposed Baniaka flowsheet at a large early next year
and production. scale. At the end of this process, po-
Ariti said the company made the de- tential FEED criteria will be available for
cision to come to market on the back of the eventual processing plant which will said he was always confident iron ore
a number of key catalysts, not least the be built at the company’s South African would rally after remaining in the dol-
advanced nature of the Baniaka project. campus and then assembled on site. drums for the best part of a decade and
“When we looked at the reasonable “The traditional way of building a plant is still a firm believer there is only one
prospects of eventual economic extrac- where you have a construction camp of destination for potential development
tion of those resources at Baniaka, we 300 people and you have a piping con- projects outside of Brazil and the Pilbara.
could see a 10-year mine life starting at tract, you have an electric contract and “When we set Genmin up in 2012 as
5 mtpa and going to 10 mtpa,” Ariti told you have a plate contract, we don’t need an iron story, even though the cycle was
Paydirt. “So, we thought in terms of the that. It’s all being done in South Africa moving into a downward position, we
taking the project to the next level, for- under controlled conditions,” Ariti said. knew it would come back again because
malising the feasibility study, putting in a “We’re not going down the classi- the world will always have a demand for
place a mining permit and actually start- cal approach of doing a PFS and then steel,” he said.
ing the mining process, the best way to spending another year doing a BFS for a “At the time, we didn’t foreshadow
access capital would be to list the com- very simple washing, screening and po- COVID and how rapidly it would come
pany. tentially DMS iron ore circuit. There’s not back and how sustained it would be.
“The other side of it was the capital a lot of risk, particularly now that we’ve We also felt the Chinese for a long time
markets off the back of COVID. We could got to this point of testing bulk samples have wanted to diversify supply, that’s
see as China emerged from its own shut- in South Africa, generating design cri- why they went looking in Africa in the last
down, the stimulus package it had put in teria and selecting the equipment com- boom so we knew they would return to
place was largely infrastructure and steel ponents for the plant which would be look at good iron ore projects.”
intensive, which led to a demand for iron manufactured on campus first and then – Michael Washbourne
ore and opened that window around assembled on site.”
iron ore pricing and in particular gave us Ariti, who oversaw the successful Afri-
strong tailwinds for the listing. can Iron story prior to founding Genmin,

aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT aUgUST 2021 Page 55