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22 SEG NEWSLETTER No 65 • APRIL 2006... from 21Exploration Reviews (Continued)EXPLORATION REVIEWSdriving routes around the site to a minimum.There are a number of challengesassociated with completing this fast-trackproject, one of which is the remote locationof the site. The dirt road to the site is85 km long and corrugated, there is nowater immediately available on site, andgetting water to site is an ongoing logisticalchallenge as some of the water has tobe trucked in from Swakopmund.NIGEROrezone Resources Inc. andGreencastle Resources have formed agold exploration joint venture. Underthe terms of the agreement Orezone canearn a 50% interest in Greencastle’sNamaga and Koyria properties in differentgreenstone belts. Orezone mustspend USS1 M on each property overthe next three years and can raise itsinterest to 75% in either property bycompleting a bankable feasibility studyon the property.NIGERIAAlthough Nigeria is not one of the topdestinations for mining investment inAfrica and mining contributes just 1% tothe country’s GDP, under the presentleadership of General Olusegun Obesanjo,the federal government has refocused itsattention on the mining sector under theproject entitled “Accelerated developmentof Nigeria’s solid mineral potential.”In spite of this, artisanal and smallscalemining continues to constitute over90% of the nation’s mining activities. Inearly 2005, the World Bank approvedUS$120 M for a project to integrate theartisanal sector into the formal economy.The World Bank report on Nigeriain 2005 reports the percentage of firmsreporting bribery has declined significantly.ignificant interest is thereforenow focussing on alluvial and eluvialgold in schist belts in northwest andsouthwest Nigeria, particularly in theAnka, Maru, Tsohon Birnin Gwari,Gurmana, and Bin Yauri areas. Coltanbearingpegmatites are widespread inthe Pan-African basement and cassiteritedeposits associated with the Jurassic ringcomplex granites has been worked sincethe 1920s.SIERRA LEONETitanium Group Resources Ltd, anAIM-listed company, has resumeddredging after an 11-year break. SierraLeone was once a major producer ofrutile, accounting for 75% of the country’sexports but the site was overrun byrebels in 1995. The company’s initialproduction plans are 100,000/yr ofrutile and 15,000 tpa of ilmenite. A seconddredge planned for commissioningin 2007 will double rutile output.Meanwhile, TRG has rehabilitated itsbauxite mining operations with productionplanned at 1.2 Mt/yr and with firstshipments about to made.SOUTH AFRICAAnooraq Resources, the Canadianbasedcompany, reports significant platinumgroup metal mineralization onthe farm Cyferkuil 1 JQ, one of threefarms on the eastern Bushveld underthe Thusong joint venture with AngloPlats. More than 700 m of drilling onfour vertical holes has been completed.In TH002, weathered Merensky reefwas intersected between 23.3–24.2 mwith upper and lower chromitite bandsat the contacts. The underlying UG2was intersected at 46.4–47.3 m depthdipping westward at 26°.Canadian-based Platinum GroupMetals Ltd. has announced increasedresources on its Western Bushveld jointventure. (37% PTM, 37% AngloPlatinum, 26% Africa Wide) Theupdated independent resource calculationshows an increase in indicatedplatinum, palladium, rhodium, andgold resources for the project of 96%from 1.31 to 2.57 Moz. In addition,inferred four-element resources havegrown by 32% from 3.91 to 5.14 Moz.About 40% of the prospective projectarea has now been classified as aresource by the drilling to date. Drillingis planned to continue as the prefeasibilityadvances.Recent drilling confirms increasedresources are accessible with lower capitalcost declines rather than the moreexpensive vertical shaft option that wasinvestigated in previous studies. Theprefeasibility study now underway isconcentrating on the decline option.With these results the project team continuesto target the prefeasibility studyfor summer 2006 and full feasibilitystudy by December 2006.First Uranium, a subsidiary ofSimmer and Jack Mines, has completeda SAMREC-compliant mineral resourceestimate for all surface tailings dams atSimmers Buffelsfontein as the firststeps in a feasibility study to determinethe viability of uranium extraction. Thedams are estimated to contain measuredand indicated resources of 43.6Mlb of U 3 O 8 grading at 0.15 lb/t and 2.8Moz of gold grading at 0.3 g/t.Harmony Gold Mining Companyhas announced that ih has acquired atotal of 44.99 million shares in westernareas on the Witwatersrand goldfield.Lonmin, the third largest producer ofplatinum, has increased output by 31.5%in the December quarter to 196,045 ozcompared to 149,066 oz for the sameperiod in 2004. Palladium output alsorose from 64,615 oz in the Decemberquarter 2004 to 68,452 oz in 2005 andrhodium production similarly increasedfrom 16,141 to 18,641 oz. They expectto produce 1 Moz of platinum in theyear ending September 2006.Sasol, the world’s biggest producer ofsynthetic fuel from coal, has invested 46million rand to form a joint coal-miningventure with Eyesizwe Coal. Sasol,which will own 65% of Igoda Coal, willprovide 46 million rand in equity, andEyesizwe, which will own the rest, willprovide 25 million rand. The companywill mine, market, and supply utilitycoal for the international export market.Igoda will produce a minimumexport production of 3.6 M tpa and willsupply about 4 M tpa of middlings coalto Sasol. Igoda Coal has coal reservesfor around 30 years.ZAMBIAThe substantial improvement in basemetal prices since the end of 2003 hasled to increased production followingprivatization of the larger copper-miningcompanies in 2000. In order toreduce dependency on copper, theChamber of Mines has proposed thatgovernment reduces withholding tax onmining operations conducted outsidethe country from 15% to 10%. Thiswould encourage mining operations inneighboring countries to process theiroutput in Zambia, which has some ofthe most efficient smelters and refineriesin the world. This, coupled with the centrallocation, makes it an attractivefocus for processing especially for neighboringcountries such as the Republic ofthe Congo, which have infrastructureconstraints.