The deposit has an overall strike length of approximately 105 km, trending in occurs a Northwest- Southeast direction, and an identified width of 5 km. It comprises of three main zones, South zone, Central zone and the North zone, with each zone being approximately 30 km long.

The Biyadh Sandstone (Lower Cretaceous) represents the oldest rock formation, outcropping south west of the bauxite outcrops. The unevenly eroded bauxite assemblage (Lower Clay Zone, Bauxite Zone, Upper Clay Zone) is overlain by the Wasia Formation (Upper Cretaceous) and Aruma Limestone on the north eastern limb of the deposit.

• Biyadh Sandstone (Bi).
The Biyadh Sandstone outcrops along the south western portion of the south zone area, striking NW-SE over a distance of approximately 3km to 11km North West of the village of Al Bi'ithah. The sandstone outcrops are frequently associated with rough, rocky desert, hammadah, chaotic heaps of flat, platy blocks, or steep, rocky hills. The exposed thickness of the Biyadh Sandstone is approximately 5m.

The Biyadh Formation comprises primarily fine- grained, well-bedded sandstone (15cm 20cm thick) with either a kaolinitic, hematitic or siliceous matrix.

• Lower Clay Zone (LCZ).
The lower clay is characterized by by the gradational reduction with the depth in the intensity of bauxitisation. It is essentially the transition zone between Bxz and the Parent rock Sequence. The upper part of the LCZ exhibits simila ........

As Az Zabirah bauxite deposit is almost flat dipping approximately 5° to the north ease, a conventional open cut strip mining is proposed utilizing O&K loading units and Caterpillar haulage and ancillary mining equipments.

The key mining activities include the following as proposed by GHD Pty Ltd (subcontractor with
the EPCM):

• Land clearing, topsoil removal and storage for later use.
• Dune sand removal. Dozed to form buttress support for blasting.
• Drilling of hard bands in the overburden (OVB), in the Iron Cap (ICP) and in the economic Bauxite horizon (BXZ).
• Geophysical logging of drill holes, to obtain better understanding of deposit.
• Blasting of hard bands in the overburden (OVB), in the Iron Cap (ICP) and in the economic Bauxite horizon (BXZ), using discrete deck charges in the different materials. Material will only be blasted where the increase in costs (drill and blast) would be offset by increase loading productivity, otherwise material will be free dug.
• Overburden stripping and formation of mining benches.
• Formation of initial external waste dumps, progressive in pit dumping of waste, filling mined out voids and dump rehabilitation in stages.
• Establishment of access ramps to various mine benches.
• Bauxite mining and transport to the Bauxite processing facility at the mine.
• Establishment of ROM Bauxite stockpiles for blending.
• Operational control of mining with regard to e ........

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