Overview
The Dutwa Project is located in Northern Tanzania and was discovered by African Eagle in 2008. The Company is currently conducting a Bankable Feasibility Study which is expected to be published during the first quarter 2013.
Key Project Parameters
The Project represents a readily-accessible deposit. The Project is targeting open pit mining with minimal pre-stripping required, no significant blasting is expected to be necessary in order to mine the ore and a very low energy blasting is to be employed to mine the ore. This will keep mining costs minimised.
Nickel ores will be processed in a hydrometallurgical treatment plant with a nominal annual throughput of 3Mt to produce around 27,000tpa nickel in concentrate (i.e. an intermediate nickel product which requires refining) using atmospheric tank leaching. Life of mine is greater than 20 years.
The concentrate is expected to contain around 50% metal in the case of a mixed sulphide product (MSP) or 35% in the case of a mixed hydroxide product (MHP). A decision on which concentrate product will be produced will be made during the second quarter 2012, based on the combined result of marketing and technical evaluations.