The Kwale deposits are an aeolian subset of the Magarini sands and are generally poorly stratified and contain a fraction of silt of around 25%. Heavy minerals, mainly ilmenite, rutile and zircon, are locally concentrated and are abundant in some places, giving rise to deposits such as the Central, South and North Dunes.

The rocks of the area are of sedimentary origin and range in age from Upper Carboniferous to Recent. Three divisions are recognised: the Cainozoic rocks, the Upper Mesozoic rocks (not exposed on the area) and the Duruma Sandstone Series giving rise to the dominant topographical feature of the area: the Shimba Hills. The Shimba grits and Mazeras sandstone are of Upper Triassic age and form the Upper Duruma Sandstone.

The Margarini sands form a belt of low hills running parallel to the coast. They rest with slight unconformity on the Shimba grits and Mazeras sandstone. This formation was deposited during Pliocene times and consists of unconsolidated fluviatile sediments derived from the Duruma Sandstone Series.

The Kwale Project deposits sits on top of an erosional high which is dissected by streams. The extent of geological and mineralised zones is constrained by the erosional surface surrounding the basement high. Heavy mineral grade and geology is consistent within mineralised horizons, typical of aeolian deposits. Grade and geological continuity in the lower mineralised horizon (Ore Zone 4) is compromised by variable induration.

The Kwale Central deposit is approximately 2 km long, 600-1400m wide and approximately 20-40 m thick on average. Mineralisation is present from surface over the majority of the deposit.

The Kwale South deposit is approximately 6.5 km long, 300-1000m wide and approximately 12-20 m thick on average. Mineralisation is present from surface over the majority of the deposit.

The North Dune is part of the extensive Kwale Dune systems comprising of reddish, windblown Magarini sand formations that overlie a sequence of mineralised clay-rich fluviatile units, which in turn overlie a Mesozoic sandstone Base, known as the Mazeras formation.

These three units are separated by lateritic paleo-surfaces which signify a time-gap between the geological formations.

The Mazeras Sandstone, derived from the disintegration of the Mozambique Belt metamorphic rocks, has likely provided the supply of heavy minerals to the Magarini sand dunes and the fluviatile formations.

Four mineralised geological zones and a basement zone were identified and are used as constraints in the Mineral Resources estimation.

The uppermost zone at Kwale North, referred to as Ore Zone 1, is a dark brown, predominantly fine grained, well sorted silty sand with very little induration. It is also characterised by a clean, high value heavy mineral assemblage.

Ore Zone 4 lies below Ore Zone 1 with a clear lateritic boundary observed in the field with slightly difficult bit penetration, and in HM sink logs, exhibiting elevated iron oxides. Ore Zone 4 is lower in valuable heavy mineral content, often dominated by iron oxides and Al2SiO4 polymorphs (kyanite, andalusite and sillimanite). It is considered a fluvial deposit based on the difficulty of wash and the poor grain sorting.

Ore Zone 5 lies below Ore Zone 4 and is separated from that zone by a lateritic paleo-surface. It is unique mineralogically due to an increased amount of almandine garnet that reports to the mag fraction, significantly increasing the magnesium, manganese, aluminium and silicon in the oxide chemistry, and this is also reflected in QEMSCAN mineralogy.

For Ore Zones 1, 4 and 5, a strong correlation between the field logs, HM sink logs and XRF oxide chemistry and QEMSCAN mineralogy gives confidence to these interpretations.

The grade and mineralogy continuity is abruptly truncated at the western edge by an interpreted normal fault that pushed basement material to the surface with resultant low grades and trash HM.

The 2021 Kwale North Dune Mineral Resources estimate is approximately 6,300m along strike and about 1,200m across strike on average, The average thickness of Ore 1, Ore 4 and Ore 5 are approximately 10m, 7m and 5m respectively.

The Bumamani deposit is situated approximately 1.5km south of the North Dune deposit. The Bumamani deposit is part of the extensive coastal Plio-Pleistocene Magarini Formation, which comprises aeolian dunal sands and clay-rich fluviatile units that overlie down-faulted Jurassic and Tertiary formations.

Two mineralised geological zones and a basement zone were identified and were used as constraints in the Mineral Resource estimation.

The uppermost zone at the Bumamani deposit, referred to as Ore Zone 1 (Figure 9), is a dark brown, predominantly fine grained, well sorted silty sand with very little induration and is similar to the Ore Zone 1 units in the other Kwale deposits. It averages 1.9% HM, 21% SL and 4% OS. The zone gets sandier to the east with reduced silt content. Mineralogically it is characterised by clean, glossy and rounded HM grains with an average VHM content of approximately 70% VHM.

Ore Zone 4 (Figure 10) lies below Ore Zone 1, with the two zones separated by a lateritic paleo-surface which may imply a time-gap in depositional history. Ore Zone 4 is a fluviatile unit represented locally with poorly sorted sandy clays and gritty sands. The Ore Zone 4 domain averages 1.8% HM, 23.6% SL and 6.4% OS. Ore Zone 4 is mineralogically similar to Ore Zone 1.

The Basement Zone at the Bumamani deposit lies beneath Ore Zone 4 and comprises compacted clays, sandy-clays, limestone and fluvial sands. The grain sizes range from silt to pebbles and boulders, with generally poor sorting and is characterised by trace concentrations of HM typically with low VHM content.

The Kwale Operation is located on SML23, which lies within PL119 which has an area of 88.7 km2 , and is located approximately 50 kilometres south of Mombasa and approximately 10 kilometres inland from the Kenyan coast.

The Kwale Project comprised three areas that contain concentrations of heavy minerals. These are the South Dune, Central Dune (fully depleted in June 2019 and currently under rehabilitation) and the North Dune and Bumamani deposits. Mining operations transitioned to the South Dune over a 2-week period in late June 2019. On the basis of current Ore Reserves, mining is scheduled on the Kwale South Dune until October 2022.

The mining method is hydraulic mining, which Base Titanium has used successfully since 2017. It is non selective, with hydraulic mining units (HMU) using high pressure water jets to sluice the entire ore face, which flows as a slurry to a sump and is then pumped, ultimately, to the concentration plant.
Base Resources employs a hydraulic mining method which has proven cost effective and well suited to the Kwale deposit and involves blasting the mining face directly with high pressure jets of water to create an ore slurry. The ore slurry is then pumped to the wet concentrator plant where slimes are removed before a number of gravity separation steps reject most of the non-valuable, lighter gangue minerals to produce a heavy mineral concentrate.

Mining of the Kwale South dune is undertaken solely by hydraulic mining units (HMU) methods. The pit slopes are currently about 50 degrees in Ore 1 and Ore 4 at the South Dune.

Due to the geometry of the deposit and the non-selective mining method, there is no ore/waste discrimination (other than topsoil stripping) and it is not considered appropriate to add additional dilution factors.

Mining Recovery of Hardness > 2 material is largely discounted by raising pit floor to exclude from design.

Small amounts of this material (representing less than 1% of the pit inventory) report fully inside the pit design on a localized basis, however these have been excluded from the process feed and Ore Reserve estimate as being unrecoverable using a HMU mining method.

Mining Recovery makes provision for a 0.2 m topsoil profile which is excluded from reported ore material.

The plants at the Kwale Operations are designed to process ore to recover three separate products – rutile, ilmenite and zircon.

Minerals are extracted and separated from the Pliocene Magarini sands in a Wet Concentrator Plant (WCP). The heavy mineral concentrate is further refined into Ilmenite, Rutile and Zircon in a Mineral Separation Plant (MSP).

Ore is received at the wet concentrator plant (‘WCP’) from the mining units via a slurry pipeline. The WCP removes slimes, concentrates the valuable heavy minerals (rutile, ilmenite and zircon) and rejects most of the non-valuable, lighter gangue minerals. The WCP incorporates a number of gravity separation steps using spiral concentrators. The heavy mineral concentrate (‘HMC’), containing 90% heavy minerals, is then processed in the mineral separation plant (‘MSP’). The MSP cleans and separates the finished rutile, ilmenite and zircon minerals and removes any remaining gangue.

The HMC is upgraded using a ........