Persistent Mt Burgess produces revised lead-zinc-silver blueprint for Botswana

Australian explorer, flush with funds from a big gold project payout in Western Australia last decade, has maintained its focus on southern Africa that began with a diamond quest in Namibia and now sees the company with a new base metals mining blueprint in Botswana.

PERTH - 

Mount Burgess Mining Ltd (ASX: MTB) has released a complete revised scoping study for its Kihabe zinc-lead-silver discovery in Botswana that showed increasing metal prices may alter the picture from an earlier study.

An earlier study showed that the major drop in metal prices would not sustain a new mine.

However, the company said Thursday that the earlier study was based on a zinc price of $US1,228/tonne, lead at $US1,176/tonne and silver at $US11.11/ounce.

The just completed study showed zinc has recovered 55%, lead 79% and silver doubled since that time.

The company said metal recoveries of around 60% could be achieved for both zinc and lead.

Mt Burgess said the consultant's view was that subject to satisfactory results from metallurgical testwork and a continued improvement in base metal prices, Kihabe has "the potential to form the basis for an economically attractive business venture."

The company's base metals targets extend from Botwana into Namibia

On the Botswana side of the border, Mt Burgess has so far designed at the Kihabe and nearby Nxuu deposit, combined resources of 27.4 million tonnes @2.32% zinc equivalent grade, applying an 0.5% zinc equivalent low grade cut.

Kihabe is a classic SEDEX type deposit, about 2.6 kilometres long, with an average width of 15 metres within a range of up to 50m in thickness. Nxuu, 7 km east, is formed in a shallow syncline of quartz wacke, hosting oxidised zinc-lead mineralisation.

Disclaimer

MINEWEB is an interactive publication, with rolling deadlines through each day, commencing in the Sydney morning,  and concluding, 24 hours later,  in the Vancouver evening.  If you believe your side of an issue deserves inclusion, but has failed to meet one of our deadlines, you are invited to notify the Editor in Chief in Johannesburg, and we will include you in our editing and expanding on our stories. Email him at alechogg@gmail.com

Print story      Email story      Subscribe to free newsletter

Back

 

responses to this article

Name
Subject
Comment