Agbaja Plateau Iron Ore Project ready soon Francis Adinoyi Kadiri | Sep 18, 2012 | 0 comments
The drilling programme for exploration company, Energio’s Agbaja Plateau Iron-Ore Project in Nigeria should be completed in September, 2012, the organisation’s chairman, Tom Revy has said.
He said that following the drilling programme, major metallurgical and study work will be conducted to ensure an economic outcome for the project, and added that the drilling programme has 760 exploration holes, of which 550 have been drilled, equaling twenty thousand meters.
“Agbaja has the potential to be a world-class project with a conceptual target of one-billion to two-billion tons of iron-ore. The company is working towards defining a maiden Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant resource in the third quarter of 2012, with an initial conceptual target of 400-million tons to 500-million tons from an exploration footprint covering only 10% of the lease area,” Revy said.
While he disclosed that Energio has established good relationships with the local communities surrounding the project area, he added that local permit for the company’s exploration has been secured.
The chairman also disclose that more than 40 locals have been employed by Energio to work on the project as geologists and field hands, and in administrative roles within its local office, in Lokoja, directly adjacent to the Agbaja project area.
“The project has strong support from local leaders. The Nigerian government is helpful and encouraging, as it believes the project will aid the development of the country’s resources sector and, in turn, will be a major part of Nigeria’s industry diversification programme.”
Further, he says the government realises that the project will contribute to industry development, while also providing other social benefits, such as youth development and local employment.
The project was identified about six years ago as a potential large-scale iron-ore project by a small group of local investors, which also included one of the current directors of Energio. Between A$10-million and A$12-million has been spent on the project over the years.
Revy said that although no new technologies have been introduced to the project to date, the project may use novel processing techniques during metallurgical test work, but they will only be known in the first quarter of 2013.
Meanwhile, Energio has engaged consultants as part of an early-stage review of the project, which is about 40% complete.
The company is not pursuing other projects at present, as it believes the Agbaja project is a potential world-class development that will require Energio’s full focus
EIO Price at posting:
21.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
