Malawi NI 43-101 - December 2011 - Gold Canyon Resources Inc.

22Anglo American Corporation (1934, 1943), the British Aluminium Co. (1951-1958) and, onbehalf of the Malawi Government, Lonrho (1969-1973)..According to Chimwala (2009) in 2001 BHP Billiton considered developing theMulanje bauxite for their Mozal Smelter in Mozambique, and in 2005 South Africancompany Gondo Resources was granted an exclusive prospective licence over about 29 sqkm covering Mulanje bauxite. This licence expired in 2008, and although the companyrequested an extension until Sept 3 of 2010 to produce a feasibility study and anenvironmental impact assessment, this was rejected in January of 2010. There has beenconsiderable opposition to this project, especially because of the possible effects of duston the important tea-growing area near Mulanje, on water sources flowing from the MulanjeMassif, and on further loss of the Mulanje Cypress by surface stripping, mainly on theLichenya Plateau. .(b) Nature, extent and general results of previous exploration.No exploration is known to the author from the Chambe Basin prior to the analysesby Ishikawa and MINDECO described in Item 7b. These two reconnaissance samplingprograms consist of a small number (25 samples in total) of mainly roadside samples andanalyses indicate some samples contain easily-leachable REE.According to Garson and Walshaw (1969) there is negligible bauxite in the ChambeBasin, but as noted above significant bauxite resources have been found on other areas ofthe Mulanje Massif within EPL0325/11. A study of feasibility of development of the Mulanjebauxite on these other areas was made by Met-Chem (Anonymous (1994)) on behalf of theMineral Investment Development Corporation (MIDCOR), acting for the Government ofMalawi and funded by the African Development Bank. They recommended development ofbauxite (for aluminum) at a mining rate of 589,000 TpA, that an aerial tramway beconstructed to transport the bauxite to the plains below, and construction of a 200,000 TpAalumina plant. They also recommended that an aluminum smelter should not be built inMalawi, but instead that a commitment be sought from the aluminum smelter at RichardsBay in South Africa to purchase Mulanje alumina. They estimated capital costs at US$820M, which did not include a US$50 M investment in power, railways, and port facilities.