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Australia

Boonanarring Mine

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Overview

Mine TypeOpen Pit
StatusCare and Maintenance
Commodities
  • Rutile
  • Zircon
Mining Method
  • Truck & Shovel / Loader
Production Start... Lock
Mine Life... Lock
SnapshotBoonanarring and Atlas are to be mined in series, with a total mine life of approximately 8 years (Boon ~5; Atlas ~3), according to the 2017 BFS Plans.

In August 2023 Image Resources completed mining and processing activities at its Boonanarring mineral sands project. Image Resources originally intended to relocate mining and processing operations from Boonanarring to the Atlas project.

But due to continuing delays in environmental approvals for mining at Atlas mineral sands project, Image Resources has initiated employee reductions. The Boonanarring project moves to care and maintenance mode, which will continue until such time as approvals are granted for construction at Atlas and equipment relocation commences.

Owners

SourceSource
CompanyInterestOwnership
Image Resources NL 100 % Indirect
Boonanarring Mineral Sands Project is 100%-owned Image Resources.

Deposit type

  • Sedimentary
  • Mineral sands

Summary:

Boonanarring is hosted in the Perth Basin, in the Pleistocene Yoganup Formation on the eastern margin of the Swan Coastal Plain.

The Yoganup Formation is a buried pro-graded shoreline deposit, with dunes, beach ridge and deltaic facies. This formation lies unconformably over the Lower Cretaceous Leederville Formation and is overlain by the Pleistocene Guildford Formation and the Quaternary Bassendean Sand

The Yoganup Formation consists of unconsolidated poorly sorted sands and gravels, with local interstitial clay and heavy minerals that occur sporadically along the Gingin Scarp, which is interpreted to be an ancient shoreline that was stable during a period of marine regression.

Boonanarring has three major strandlines of heavy minerals, which are interpreted to have been deposited during the Pleistocene in a notch in the local basement rock that may represent an ancient sea cliff. Lower grade mineralisation is present in the sands proximal to the higher-grade strandlines. Two additional strandlines, to the south-west of the main strandlines, are present in the southern part of the project area.

The basement to the strandline mineralisation is identified by the increased slimes content of the Leederville Formation or at the base of the Yoganup Formation. Mineralisation within this has high zircon concentrations.

The mineralisation of the Boonanarring deposit is hosted by the Yoganup Formation. The main geological units identified include:

- Surface sands: low clay, yellowish coloured and generally unconsolidated sands that occur from surface to depths of 4 – 10 m and which are interpreted as belonging to the Bassendean Sand unit. In some areas, lateritic surface gas formed at the base of this unit;

- Red cover sands: red to brown coloured iron-rich sands that have varying levels of induration and which often contain clayey lenses towards the base of the unit. Oversize material is common and goethite/limonite chips can report as heavy mineral concentrates. The sands are often coarse, suggesting a high energy depositional environment, and interpreted to correlate to the Guildford Formation;

- Host sands: brown to light grey, fine to medium grained sands that are well sorted and generally increase in grain size towards the base of the unit. This unit is correlated with the Yoganup Formation and contains heavy mineral accumulations associated with strandline deposition.

The heavy minerals within the Yoganup Formation have been concentrated in two main strandlines that coalesce in the south and are continuous over a strike length of 13.2 km. An additional strandline to the west is present in the southern part of the Premises. The basement to the strandline mineralisation is demarcated by the increased slimes content of the clay-rich Leederville Formation.

Dimensions
The heavy minerals within the Yoganup Formation have been concentrated in two main strandlines that are continuous over a north-south strike length of 10 km. The strandlines are separated by sands with low concentrations of heavy minerals of 50 m to 100 m in the north and the strandlines coalesce in the south. The eastern strandline has a strike length of 9 km and is approximately 100 m wide and extends further north than the western strandline. The western strandline has a strike length of 9.6 km and is up to 220 m wide.

An additional strandline of mineralisation is present to the east that has a strike length of 3.6 km and is up to 100 m wide and merges with the eastern strandline to the north.

Two additional strandlines, to the south-west of the main strandlines, are present in the southern part of the project area. These extend for approximately 3 km and 2.7 km north-south and have across strike widths of up to 120 m. These are overlain by a shallow sheet of mineralisation with dimensions of 350 m east-west and up to 600 m northsouth.

The strandlines are up to 15 m thick and have an average thickness of 4.5 m. The average depth to the top of the mineralised strandlines is 28 m.

Reserves

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Mining Methods

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Comminution

Crushers and Mills

Milling equipment has not been reported.

Processing

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Production

CommodityUnits20232022202120202019
Heavy Minerals kt  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe270
All production numbers are expressed as concentrate. ^ Guidance / Forecast.

Operational metrics

Metrics2022202120202019
Annual processing capacity  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe
Ore tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,166 kt
Waste  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe23,498 kt
Tonnes processed  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe3,186 kt
Total tonnes mined  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe

Production Costs

CommodityUnits20232022202120202019
All-in sustaining costs (sold) Heavy Minerals AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 390 / t  
All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Heavy Minerals AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 343 / t  
C1 cash costs (sold) Heavy Minerals AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 325 / t  
C1 cash costs Heavy Minerals AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 285 / t  
^ Guidance / Forecast.

Financials

Units2022202120202019
Revenue M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 146.2  
Operating Income M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 39.2  
Gross profit M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 64  
Pre-tax Income M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 29.2  
After-tax Income M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 20.8  
EBITDA M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 72.5  
Operating Cash Flow M AUD  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe  ....  Subscribe 62.9  

Heavy Mobile Equipment

Fleet data has not been reported.

Personnel

Mine Management

Job TitleNameEmailProfileRef. Date
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required ........... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 28, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 28, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 28, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 28, 2023
....................... Subscription required ....................... Subscription required Subscription required Sep 28, 2023

EmployeesYear
...... Subscription required 2021
...... Subscription required 2020
...... Subscription required 2019

Aerial view:

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