Madagascar explorer Akora Resources has lifted the Southern Zone iron ore resource at Bekisopa by 34%, with direct ship ore now sitting at 5.54 million tonnes at a grade of 60.35%.
Of that, 4.4Mt is in indicated resources, with the remainder in the inferred category.
In addition, the company has defined a 34m tonne high-grade “green steel” resource grading at 45.3%, which can be lifted by Davis Tube Recovery technology to 68.7% iron concentrate.
This means that 1.7 tonnes of mined iron can produce 1 tonne of concentrate.
This 34Mt of fresh rock “green steel” resource is located directly beneath the direct ship ore resource.
Green steel potential
“Green steel” is a finished product that is produced by environmentally friendly and sustainable methods.
Akora is eyeing the green steel developments, which look to have a growing market supply gap more than doubling between 2030 and 2040 and open an opportunity for Akora to get into production in Madagascar.
Key markets will be the growing Indian iron ore and steel sector and the Middle East which is eyeing a growing need for DSO green pellets.
The company is now planning to conduct value-in-use testing to further evaluate the suitability of Bekisopa iron ore products for iron and steel making operations.
Lower processing costs
Managing director and chief executive officer Paul Bibby said the upgraded direct ship ore tonnes and grades was a result of the company’s infill drilling campaign.
“These 5.5 million tonnes will be the mined tonnes for a lower processing and operating cost start-up,” he added.
In June 2014 Akora acquired a 75% interest in Iron Ore Corporation which owned the Bekisopa project.
Historical exploration and evaluation at the Bekisopa iron project indicated the potential for near surface direct ship ore and it had a stated potential estimated at greater than 150Mt.
In 2020 the company moved to 100% ownership of the project
Long background of exploration
Bekisopa has seen considerable exploration over the years.
Between 1959 and 1962 the French geological agency, BRGM — long active in Francophone Africa — did 4,000m of trenching at Bekisopa, along with digging 564 pits and drilling 22 holes, the last of which intersected high-grade iron occurrences.
In the period 1976-1978, the United Nations Development Program did more drilling at the project.
Akora followed up this work in 2014 by collecting 118 rock chip samples, assays of which revealed an average 66.7% iron content and with low impurities; and 21 of those samples returned grades above 69%.
The other two projects are close to the east coast with one, Tratramarina located just 16km inland.
