AMN - KENYA: Record rutile production from Kwale

Base Resources Limited predicts another year of steady production from its Kwale mineral sands operation in Kenya. This comes after the company achieved record rutile production of 24,451 tonnes in the June quarter.

Guidance for the year to June 30, 2019, is 88,000 to 93,000 tonnes of rutile, 420,000 to 450,000 tonnes of ilmenite and 32,000 to 37,000 tonnes of zircon. This is broadly in line with the year to June just ended, where production was 91,700 tonnes of rutile, 465,000 tonnes of ilmenite and 37,200 tonnes of zircon.

The company's predictions are supported by strong prices for rutile and zircon, which have recently seen further increases.

The Zircon price is held up by strong demand with the company reporting enquiries well above its capacity to supply.

Base expects the price of ilmenite, which is used to made make paint pigment titanium dioxide, to remain steady over the next three months though rutile has the potential to see further price rises.

While production and unit sales costs rose slightly in the June quarter, revenue per tonne increased to US$376 per tonne from US$314.

The strong June quarter performance was made possible by the successful ramp-up of mining operations following commissioning of Kwale phase 2 optimisation project.

The company hopes to add to resources at Kwale with near-mine exploration drilling continuing to the northeast of the operations.

Base is also focusing on the Toliara minerals sands project in Madagascar, which it acquired in January and where it has appointed Mineral Technologies and Lycopodium to carry out a pre-feasibility study.

A decision on whether to proceed to construction is predicted for the second half of calendar 2019, with the first production pencilled in for 2021.

www.baseresources.com.au