Well, the temperature in BRMworld has become rather hot in the last 24 hours...
Much of the angst seems to relate to the issue of the detrital Iron Ore, and whether it's worth a hill of beans. BRM has made it clear for quite a few months that they consider their detrital IO to be important. I was expecting maybe 100Mt of the stuff (naively looking at cross sections) rather than the billion tonnes that came out yesterday.
So - on the one hand we have BRM and MD Wayne Richards saying that this detrital material is much more than a free dig. And then we have some posters saying that he's almost certainly wrong, and that beneficiated detrital IO is unlikely ever to see the light of day in a decade.
It would be interesting to get more facts and considered opinions in this area. To start with - I've copied some of the detrital processing info that Needle mentioned from BRM's December 11 press release below.
________________________ Ore characterisation testwork confirms high potential to upgrade detrital mineralisation within Marillana
Initial screening testwork confirms the potential to upgrade lower grade detrital mineralisation overlying the main Channel Iron Deposit (CID) mineralisation zone in the North-West Sector.
Average 21 – 25% increase in Fe grades and commensurate 25-40% reductions in Al2O3 achieved
The resulting product is of comparable Fe grade (~58% Fe) to the CID ore.
Initial screening testwork results have been received from the low-grade detrital mineralisation collected from the recent sonic core drilling programme at the North-West Sector. Seven composite samples, based on differing detrital component lithologies, were submitted for testwork.
The results demonstrate the potential to significantly upgrade the iron content of this material by using a relatively simple screening process, with average Fe upgrades of 20-25% achieved. An eighth test on low-grade, partly reworked CID mineralisation demonstrated the potential to upgrade this mineralisation as well – to a lesser, but still potentially significant, extent.
Average upgrade for pisolite detritals = 25% at 59% weight recovery. Average upgrade for mixed detritals = 21% at 46% weight recovery. Al2O3 grades were reduced by 25 – 40% for pisolite detritals and by 28 – 38% for mixed detritals. SiO2 grades were reduced by 55 – 70% for pisolite detritals and by 25 - 45% for mixed detritals. Pisolite mineralisation represents about 25 – 50% of the total detrital accumulation.
The upgrade was achieved by simple screening and retention of the +0.6mm fraction for the pisolite detritals and the +0.6mm/-10mm size fraction for the mixed detritals. Further testwork is currently being carried out to determine if better recoveries and upgrade factors can be achieved by refining the process.
The samples tested comprise lower grade detrital mineralisation which overlies the higher grade CID mineralisation that forms the basis of the recently announced Indicated Mineral Resource for the North-West Sector of 43.5Mt grading 57.6% Fe.
These results give the Company confidence that a marketable upgrade product can be produced from the blanket of detrital mineralisation overlying the CID mineralisation in the North-West Sector. Ore characterisation testwork on the North-West (CID) mineralisation, including thermal analysis and sinter tests are continuing. ___________________________
BRM Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
