MZI Resources (ASX:MZI) has appointed its chief executive...

MZI Resources (ASX:MZI) has appointed its chief executive officer Trevor Matthews as its managing director with effect from Monday 15th December 2014.

His appointment follows the company's decision in November to proceed with its Keysbrook Mineral Sands Project in Western Australia.
   
First production could start in the December 2015 quarter.

Matthews joined the company is May 2012 and led the company through a series of milestones that culminated in the funding of the project and recent commencement of construction of the mine.

“This has not been an easy task during some of the most challenging conditions for resource companies both in terms of operating conditions and funding markets generally,” chairman Mal Randall said said.

“Trevor and the entire MZI Resources team have been focussed on achieving the company’s vision while maintaining a close engagement with the communities in which we operate.

“This has enabled MZI Resources to achieve a number of approvals, acquire land, put in place access agreements and develop commercial arrangements including product offtakes.”

Randall added that Trevor’s appointment would strengthen the board as the company moved into production in late 2015.

Keith Vuleta has stepped down as a director of the board though he will remain the company’s chief financial officer.

The company expects to make further changes to its board in 2015 with the aim of increasing the number of independent non-executive directors.


Keysbrook Mineral Sands Project

The Keysbrook Mineral Sands Project located 70 kilometres south of Perth will produce, on average, 96,000 tonnes per annum of mineral sands products comprising:

- 28,800 tpa (dry) of L70;
- 38,400 tpa (dry) of L88; and
- 29,000 tpa (dry) of zircon concentrate.

Heavy mineral concentrate will be trucked about 120 kilometres to Doral Mineral Sands’ mineral separation plant, which is just 10 kilometres from the Bunbury Port, for toll treatment.

Keysbrook has a high value JORC ore reserve of 26 million tonnes with in-situ THM of 670,000 tonnes grading 27.8% L70 (70% titanium dioxide), 46.6% L88 (88% titanium dioxide), 14.6% Zircon, and 11% other minerals.

The project hosts a high margin, long life reserve that will employ a very low CAPEX and draw upon a very well developed local infrastructure that is very conversant with processing mineral sands and use of simple and low risk processing technology. 

Ore mining rate is set at 4.5 million tonnes per year to an average depth of 2.2 metres and no strip ratio for very low cost open pit mining.

Annual EBITDA has a base case of $44 million per year that is derived from a low OPEX of $331 per product tonne. The project is funded with a development cost of $69.6 million and pre-operations cost of $6.2 million.

There is upside to the project with low impact exploration using auger methods extending Keysbrook mineralisation beyond the currently approved mining areas and Resource boundary.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.