Overview
| Stage | Permitting |
| Mine Type | Open Pit |
| Commodities |
|
| Mining Method |
|
| Mine Life | 29.5 years (as of Jan 1, 2022) |
AVZ’s securities on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) were placed in a voluntary suspension on 11 May 2022, following the Company’s request for a trading halt on 9 May 2022, pending the finalisation of the mining and exploration rights for the Manono Project.
14 July 2021 - Front End Engineering Design (FEED), process plant design and site geotechnical investigation studies completed confirming updated CAPEX and OPEX for the Manono Project
AVZ upgraded its JORC Proved and Probable Ore Reserves estimate to 131.7Mt – an increase of 41.6% from the 93Mt reported in its April 2020 DFS. The Manono Project LoM extended to 29.5 years, based on a 4.5Mtpa ore operation underpinned by the Ore Reserves – an increase of 47.5% from its April 2020 DFS. The extended LoM has been used as an input in the optimised DFS/BFS.
Using FEED Study outputs, work commenced on the optimisation and upgrading of the April 2020 Manono Definitive Feasibility Study to Bankable Feasibility Study. |
Source:
p. 15
On the 2 nd February 2017, AVZ Minerals Ltd. formed a joint-venture (JV) with La Congolaise d’Exploitation Miniere SA (Cominiere) and Dathomir Mining Resources SARL (Dathomir) to become the majority partner in a JV aiming to explore and develop the pegmatites contained within PR13359. With the purchase of Dathomir’s 15% shareholding in 2021, current ownership of the Manono Lithium Project is AVZ 75% and Cominiere 25%.
On September 27, 2021, AVZ Minerals announced Suzhou Cath Energy Technologies (“CATH”) will earn a 24% interest in the Manono Project.
July 29, 2022 - AVZ Minerals Limited confirms that the parties to the Transaction Implementation Agreement (“TIA”) have agreed to amend the end date to 31 December 2022 to provide for completion of closure formalities.
Contractors
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Summary:
The Manono Lithium and Tin Project lies within the mid-Proterozoic Kibaran Belt, an intracratonic domain stretching for over 1,000 km from just north of Kolwezi north into southwest Uganda. The belt strikes predominantly southwest to northeast and is truncated by the northsouth to north-northwest-south-southeast trending Western Rift system.
Historically the Manono Lithium and Tin Project has been referred to as the Manono-Kitotolo Deposit, comprising the north-eastern Manono Sector and the south-western Kitotolo Sector separated by 2 km by Lake Lukushi.
The area is covered by a variably lateritised eluvial cover up to 8 m thick and consists of orange brown sandy or clayey-sandy, loose laterites, crumbly laterites and hardpan laterites. Sandy alluvial material cover occurs along the Lukushi River and its tributaries. The alluvial and eluvial (including the lateritised material) cover contains significant cassiterite and minor columbite- tantalite mineralization and was mined prior to the discovery of the pegmatitehosted mineralization and is still mined by artisanal miners today.
Within the Manono-Kitotolo sectors there are currently 7 large discrete pegmatite intrusions recognized, namely Roche Dure, Kyoni, M’Pete, Tempete, Carriere de L’Este, Malata and Kahungwe, along with several smaller unnamed pegmatites.
The host rocks to the pegmatites comprise mica schists and mafic schists/amphibolites, the latter being more prevalent i ........
Summary:
AVZ has decided to initially use contract mining for the operation and will review this position at the end of a 3-year cycle. Mining will be by conventional drill and blast as applicable to hard rock mining, with articulated haul trucks direct tipping into the ROM (Run of Mine) bin and onto the ROM pad for campaigning and blending.
Studies of ore stability and fragmentation suggest that both the Roche Dure Formation (overburden) and most of the ore body in the open pit are relatively hard pegmatite and can be mined with the use of Ammonia Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) and emulsion for wet areas as explosives for blasting.
The Roche Dure Formation overburden is to be mined by drill and blast method using hydraulic excavators to load trucks. Any oversize material that may occur in the lithology will be broken by hydraulic rock breakers. Conventional 60 ton articulated mine haul trucks will be used to transport mined ore and waste rock to their respective destinations. Waste rock will be excavated and loaded into haul trucks (60 t capacity) that will transport the material from the open pit to a waste rock stockpile, located within the mining lease.
The waste rock stockpile is planned to reach 30 m high by the end of the Life of Mine (LOM). Overburden deposited on the dedicated stockpile will be spread and compacted by bulldozers and compaction rollers. The overburden stockpile reaches approximately 6 m in height. The overburden stockpile will be l ........
Source:
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Flow Sheet:
Summary:
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Projected Production:
| Commodity | Product | Units | Avg. Annual | LOM |
|
Tin
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| 3 | 63 |
|
Spodumene
|
Concentrate
|
kt
| ...... | ...... |
|
Lithium sulphate
|
Crystals
|
t
| ...... | ...... |
|
Tin
|
Metal in concentrate
|
t
| 828 | |
Operational Metrics:
| Metrics | |
|
Annual production capacity
| 45.7 kt of lithium sulphate crystals * |
|
Annual production capacity
| 20 kt of LCE * |
|
Annual processing capacity
| 4.5 Mt * |
|
Stripping / waste ratio
| 0.48 * |
|
Waste tonnes, LOM
| 44,221 kt * |
|
Ore tonnes mined, LOM
| 93,043 kt * |
|
Total tonnes mined, LOM
| 137,264 kt * |
* According to 2020 study.
Reserves at July 14, 2022:
Roche Dure Pegmatite Lithium Mineral Resource at a 0.5% Li2O cut-off grade.
The Ore Reserve estimate has been based on a cut-off of > US$0.00 block value comprising an economic block by block calculation.
| Category | Tonnage | Commodity | Grade | Contained Metal |
|
Proven
|
65 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.64 %
|
1.07 Mt
|
|
Proven
|
65 Mt
|
Tin
|
942 g/t
|
61.2 kt
|
|
Probable
|
66.6 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.61 %
|
1.07 Mt
|
|
Probable
|
66.6 Mt
|
Tin
|
1037 g/t
|
69.1 kt
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
131.7 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.63 %
|
2.14 Mt
|
|
Proven & Probable
|
131.7 Mt
|
Tin
|
990 g/t
|
130.3 kt
|
|
Measured
|
107 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.68 %
|
|
|
Measured
|
107 Mt
|
Tin
|
836 ppm
|
|
|
Indicated
|
162 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.63 %
|
|
|
Indicated
|
162 Mt
|
Tin
|
803 ppm
|
|
|
Inferred
|
131 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.66 %
|
|
|
Inferred
|
131 Mt
|
Tin
|
509 ppm
|
|
|
Total Resource
|
400 Mt
|
Li2O
|
1.65 %
|
|
|
Total Resource
|
400 Mt
|
Tin
|
715 ppm
|
|
Corporate Filings & Presentations:
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