Tertiary Minerals PLC
27 November 2002
www.tertiaryminerals.com
27 November 2002
TERTIARY INITIATES SCOPING STUDY FOR
GHURAYYAH TANTALUM-NIOBIUM PROJECT
• Scoping Study Awarded To St Barbara Consultancy Services
• Team Includes SRK Consulting And GBM Minerals Engineering Consulting
• Study Based On Recently Completed Metallurgical Development Programme And
385 Million Tonne Inferred Mineral Resource
• Includes Production Of Concentrate And Added-Value Products
_______________________________________________________________________
Tertiary Minerals plc is pleased to announce that it has commissioned London
based St Barbara Consulting to carry out an economic and technical scoping study
for development of its Ghurayyah tantalum-niobium deposit in Saudi Arabia.
The study will be based on the recently announced results of Tertiary's
metallurgical development programme where a valuable concentrate of tantalum
niobium and yttrium was produced using industry standard process technology. It
will commence immediately and take approximately 12 weeks to complete.
The broad objectives of the study are to:
• carry out mine and process design, capital and operating cost estimates
for a mining, concentration and concentrate processing operations based on
the bulk-mineable Ghurayyah tantalum-niobium resource,
• evaluate production of both tantalum and niobium in both concentrate and
added-value form and assess the value of by-product yttrium, zircon and
rare-earth oxides,
• to consider water supply requirements and any environment issues relating
to the project,
• define a scope of work and budget for a preliminary feasibility study, and
• carry out comprehensive financial modelling of the project.
The study will be managed by St Barbara's senior mineral processing consultant
Richard Wilkinson, a metallurgist/chemical engineer, who was formerly in charge
of mineral processing research at Billiton Research. Mr Wilkinson has recently
been advising the Company on its metallurgical development programme. St Barbara
will carry out the process design for ore concentration and concentrate
processing options. SRK Consulting will design and cost the mining operations
whilst GBM Minerals Engineering Consultants will cost the processing plant and
infrastructure.
Project planning will be based on the Inferred Minerals Resource previously
estimated by SRK Consulting at 385 million tonnes grading 245 g/t tantalum
pentoxide (Ta205), 2,840 g/t niobium pentoxide (Nb205), and 8,915 g/t zirconium
oxide (Zr02).
Further information:
Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, Tertiary Minerals plc. Tel: 01625-626203
Ron Marshman, City of London PR Ltd. Tel: 020-7628-5518
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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