Base Resources has provided its production guidance for the 2024 financial year for its Kwale Operations in Kenya

2023-07-10

Jul. 1, 2023 - African mineral sands producer, Base Resources Limited (ASX & AIM: BSE) (Base Resources or the Company) provides production guidance for the 2024 financial year (FY24) for its Kwale Operations in Kwale County, Kenya. 

The FY24 production guidance is set out in the table below, with the Company’s 2023 financial year (FY23) production guidance shown alongside for comparison purposes. The FY23 production guidance remains unchanged from that last reported. 

The FY24 guidance reflects the planned continuation of the concurrent mining of the South Dune and the P199 and P200 pits on the North Dune, which began in February 2023, until the South Dune is fully depleted. This is expected to occur in March 2024, at which point, the South Dune mining operation will transition to the Bumamani orebody, with mining at the North Dune continuing uninterrupted – refer to the map below for the location of mining operations during FY24.

The FY24 production guidance is lower than the FY23 guidance due to: 

• Lower heavy mineral grades – the remaining sections of the South Dune and the areas of the North Dune and Bumamani ore bodies proposed to be mined are estimated to have lower heavy mineral (HM) grades than the grades historically mined at Kwale Operations. 

• Lower tonnes mined – since commencement of mining at the North Dune in February 2023 and as disclosed in the March 2023 Quarterly Activities Report1 , mining rates have been lower than expected in the lower ore zones due to elevated oversize and slimes. While some improvements in mining rates have been achieved, mining rates are still anticipated to be lower than FY23. 

• Mining availability – a shutdown of half the mining operation is anticipated to occur in March 2024 for the relocation of the South Dune hydraulic mining units and slurry collection hopper to the Bumamani orebody. 

• New orebody – the normal uncertainties associated with mining a new orebody (Bumamani) have been factored into the FY24 guidance

The FY24 production guidance is based on the following assumptions: 

• Mining of 14.1Mt at an average HM grade of 2.23%. 

• Heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) produced by the wet concentrator plant of 311kt. 

• HMC fed into the mineral separation plant (MSP) of 297kt. 

• MSP product recoveries of 101% for rutile, 101.5% for ilmenite and 84.5% for zircon