FIRST BAUXITE CORPORATION ("First Bauxite" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that on April 22, 2013 the Honourable Minister of Natural Resources & Environment of the Government of Guyana, granted to the Company the Tarakulli-Canje Permission for Geological & Geophysical Survey "PGGS" to explore for bauxite in the Tarakulli-Canje area, in the county of Berbice, Guyana.
The Company has the right to apply at any time during the three year term of the PGGS, for up to twelve Prospecting Licenses, (which are valid for an initial period of three years with two mandatory renewals of one year each). Once the conditions of the PGGS have been met, the Minister is obliged to grant such licenses.
On October 20, 2010, First Bauxite announced that it had acquired Bauxite Corporation of Guyana Inc. ("BCGI"), which held the rights to two Tarakulli Prospecting Licenses ("Tarakulli PL's) hosting the Tarakulli bauxite deposit in Guyana. The two Tarakulli PL's were initially granted on September 7, 2007. Prior to their expiration in 2011, the Company, through its 100% owned local subsidiary Guyana Industrial Minerals Inc. "Ginmin", applied to the Minister for a Tarakulli-Canje PGGS over a wider area which included the two former Tarakulli PL's and has now been informed of its successful bid.
First Bauxite is also pleased to announce that on April 25, 2013, the Government of Guyana granted to Ginmin a 50 Years Industrial Land Lease over 1,197 acres of State land adjacent to the community of Sand Hills, Demerara River. The Bonasika Sinter plant with support facilities including bauxite ore stockpiles and storage areas will be located on the Lease.
Historical Exploration of the Tarakulli-Canje PGGS
The Tarakulli bauxite deposit is located approximately 15 km west of the Corentyne River, which is the border between Guyana and Surinam, and approximately 90 km east of the Aroaima-Kwakwani bauxite mines, which are owned and operated by UC Rusal, the world's largest aluminum and alumina producer. The Tarakulli deposit was discovered by Reynolds Metals Company (USA) ("Reynolds Metals") in the 1960's based on drilling more than 700 holes on an approximate 500 x 500 m grid. A report entitled "Geological Evaluation of the Tarakulli Bauxite Deposit in the Corentyne River Area of Guyana" dated July 2001 prepared by Maurice C. Hamilton provides a historical, "possible reserve" estimate of 62.8 Mt of in-situ wet bauxite; a grade of 58.6% Al2O3, 4.7% SiO2, 2.5% TiO2 and 3.3% Fe2O3 was quoted from a 1999 Bermine mine plan for the deposit encompassing 62.9 Mt. The 2001 report is based on the drill data collected by Reynolds Metals during drilling campaigns from 1962-1964 and the early 1970's. The deposit occupies an area of 6.5km by 1.5km and the bauxite horizon was estimated to have an average thickness of 6.6m based on 40 contiguous mineralized holes with greater than 1.82m (6ft) bauxite thickness and overlain by some 46m of sand and clay overburden.
The Canje deposit, some 34km northwest of Tarakulli, was also drilled by Reynolds Metals in the 1960's and First Bauxite has obtained their old maps showing the location of 516 holes, with annotations indicating that 156 holes intersected bauxite. However, only 25 drill hole logs, with assays, have been found to date with bauxite intersections ranging from 0.5 to 10m thick, buried under 27 to 75m of overburden.
A qualified person has not done sufficient work on either the Tarakulli or Canje deposits to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. First Bauxite is not treating the historical estimates as mineral resources or reserves but rather stating the tonnages as an indication of the potential for further exploration towards defining and classifying the resource potential.
First Bauxite 2011 Exploration of the Tarakulli Deposit
In 2011, First Bauxite drilled 32 drill holes, totalling 1,878 meters, in the Tarakulli deposit with the objective of confirming the Reynolds Metal historical data. A series of twinned holes were drilled; Reynolds had used a diamond coring method to recover the bauxite while First Bauxite used a sonic rig which generally provides better recoveries of undisturbed core. Twelve paired bauxite intersections allowed for a comparison between the Reynolds Metals and First Bauxite results and the overall average grades of the major oxides correlated well (with the exception of iron, whose content is lower). Individual samples displayed considerable variation, particularly the bauxite thickness and silica content. The average bauxite thickness for the Reynolds Metals' holes was 6.4m compared to 7.1m for the First Bauxite twelve twin holes. The 2011 programme confirmed the overall validity of the Reynolds Metals results for grade estimation as well as demonstrating the potential of the high alumina grade Tarakulli deposit
Mr. Bryan S. Osborne, P.Geo of Aluminpro Inc., who is the designated Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, planned and monitored the QA/QC procedures for the Tarakulli 2011 exploration and has reviewed the technical information above for accuracy.
Hilbert Shields, the CEO of the Company stated, "Through the acquisition of this large and highly prospective land package in the prolific coastal bauxite belt of Guyana, which hosts the drill high grade Tarakulli and Canje bauxite deposits, FBX is leveraging our in-country exploration expertise and infrastructure to grow our metallurgical grade bauxite resource base. However the Company's focus is to obtain financing to develop the Bonasika Mine and refractory bauxite Sinter Plant at Sand Hills on the Demerara River".
Source: http://www.firstbauxite.com/