Ann: Good Metallurgical Results from Makuutu Eastern Zone, page-4

Thanks for the tag @Royal_Viking. I've responded back to you here to answer your question of:
"What did i think of today's announcement"

Without regurgitating the announcement the key takeaways is that the mineralisation across the eastern and central zone appeared to perform uniformly in response to simplistic processing methodology.

What does this mean? Essentially means that when drilling out the resource they won't just have the 273-500mT of stuff. They will have that amount of stuff which they can be confident is amenable to standard processing techniques.

See below for pay-ability and why both recovery and met testing is important as it materially impacts your saleable product. Recovery affects plant output/input. i.e. lower recovery less tonnes coming out the back Post #:44783725. Screenshot below was my working to get basket pricing.



Additionally, some commentary in this announcement firms up the direction of having modular units staggered across the tenement. i.e. even lower initial capex ramping up to production. I still presume the central zone (which had the most drilling by rwenzori, most current drilling, and now infill drill will still form the primary basis for the SS. However, there's the potential to perform some infill drilling at the eastern zone if the drill program starts producing some high grade zones. This opens up the potential to tangible include a few modular units as part of the study.  Touched on this briefly in Post #:45994356



For context the resource area in brown is 80mT. Once fully delineated expect this will yield 150-175mT.

Now consider the 3 zones in the eastern. I don't expect the minerilisation to be as wide spread or at the same grade this is as per my review of the rwenzori technical due diligence. My review can be found Post#:46116551, Post #:42815788

http://rwenzorimetals.com.dedi153.j...tent-Person-Technical-for-Makuutu-Project.pdf

But there is very economic materially substantial resources there IMV. One can review the current drill results along with the above paper and make their own assumptions. mine are discussed general here. Post #:41565490 As well as in this post here Post #:41901637. I used the drill result to compile a resource grade and tonnage and then extrapolated that to determine economics.  I landed pretty close bit can vary a bit depending on cut-off. Anyways my point is it's not hard to work out rough grade and tonnages.

Anyways
The 2 smaller section IMV will host around 20-40mT each @ 740ppm IMO
The largest section IMV will host around 150mT @620ppm (depending on cutoff)

It's worth noting that all the areas earmarked for drilling are essentially confirmation results (again review rwenzori report). It's highly likely that mineralisation exist within the corridor (outside current drill program).


Also worth noting that high grades at depth appear on the currently mineralised body. Showing easy upside on exploration in central zone (resource area below)


Now previous information in my calculations suggested that 80mT can support roughly 13Y minelife at 5000TPA give or take. Meaning roughly 150mT gets you up around the 25Y mine life which is what i compiled economics on. Post #:45994356

The met testing has proven feasibility of processing these outer mineraliation. drilling results will confirm to size is enough to support operations. You now have some tangible stuff to input into scoping study.

essentially run 2-3 equivalent size operations 5000tpa using a modular design.
It's my assumption that they will instead target 1000tpa give or take through each modular/satellite plant and place several of these across the central and eastern zones.

This decreases mining cost by limiting haulage.
Essentially mine, stage 1 process at satellite pit then transport to a finishing plant at the (central hub if you will). This was mentioned in the recent corp presentation but additional in previous announcements. You can see the reasons below as to why this is potentially a favourable outcome.
So for me the key message was the above is actually feasible as the ore behaves the same. The also will continue to improve recoveries and in a very short time have already matched commercial ionic clay recoveries at a decent scale.

What else is to like? SS on target, occuring simultaneously with results. Target Commercial production.



Other key takeaways from presentation.
-31% ownership moving to 51% by Q4
-78mT resource base on 903m of drilling moving towards 500mT with 3700m's of drilling to come.
-SPP completed with cash in bank around 4.3M aud. Extra cash coming with option's to be exercised.
-Significant profit margins available. Basket $34.5 USD with payable basket revenue expected $25USD.
-Tier 1 infrastructure. Highway, Rail 10-20km's away. Hydro-electric power (cheap as chips)
-Near surface mineralogy open of all sides of exploration. (Read Rwenzori due diligence they've already proven mineralisation in the extension areas.
-Simple metallurgy 75% recoveries expected to produce 90% concentrate carbonate.
-No leaching of Th or U (radioactive elements) environmental concerns minimal
-Scaleable project. Modular/Hub and Spoke. Pilot plant to full production.
-Low capex - low opex
-Only public listed ionic clay rare earth deposit.
-Only one of four known economic ionic clay deposit outside china
-CEO 100% focused and committed. Management all invested
-Full support of community and government to progress

News to come;

Scoping study deliver in Q4
• In-fill drilling to upgrade resource classification and provide sample for advanced metallurgical testing;
• Exploration drilling in new areas;
• Metallurgical process development test work to support preliminary engineering;
• Resource development and mining studies;
• Preliminary Environmental and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA);
• Preliminary mining, tailings and infrastructure assessments; Q3
• Product marketing and engagement with potential off-take partners.



Since i last posted all other company increased by 10-30% whilst IXR remains the same MC. Meaning the companies already value in single digits to their NPV are decreasing further, whilst IXR continue to improve economics. Opportunity for appreciation just getting better.

All IMO

SF2TH