Sydney, Dec 6, 2010 （ABN Newswire） - Australian Bauxite Limited （ASX:ABZ） has 32 bauxite tenements in eastern Australia covering more than 7,500 km2 and is near to completing first-pass exploratory drilling of all project areas during calendar year 2010 - 6 months ahead of schedule.
ABx has commenced commercial discussions with potential partners and/or offtake customers for a few of its 30 project areas including Taralga EL 7357 located near Goulburn, southern NSW. ABx is announcing the latest resources identified at Taralga from the follow-up drilling in October that assessed the general potential for easily mined bauxite zones of Direct Shipping Ore （"DSO"） grades. Taralga is located near a major railway line leading directly to Port Kembla export terminal.
A more extensive resource drilling program is to commence this month - weather permitting. A Review of Environmental Factors has been completed, thus clearing the way for a more extensive testing program.
NEW BAUXITE STYLE DISCOVERED
Taralga contains a quartz-bearing bauxite, much of which has not been sent for laboratory analysis because it was considered unlikely to be saleable bauxite. However, the results from this material received to date show that there are potentially large tonnages of this material at Taralga.
This quartz-rich, low reactive-silica bauxite has strong similarities with the world-famous bauxite deposits in the Darling Ranges south of Perth Western Australia which is the world's largest bauxite-alumina production province, producing the world's lowest-cost alumina because the aluminium ore mineral is exclusively gibbsite which can be processed at low temperatures and pressures.
RESOURCE ESTIMATE METHOD
Drilling on a random pattern governed by site availability was done predominantly in the northeastern parts of EL 7357 where bauxite plateaus were obvious and some in the southwestern parts of EL 7357 where unexpectedly thick, good quality bauxite has been recently discovered.
During August 2010, 98 holes were drilled totalling 710 metres and during September-October, a further 112 holes were drilled totalling 985 metres. Drill samples were collected at 1 metre intervals from the aircore drillholes and analysed at ALS Laboratories in Brisbane including trihydrate （THA） available alumina （Avl Al2O3） and reactive silica （SiO2 Rx） measurements. Leach conditions to measure available Avl Al2O3 and reactive SiO2 Rx were 1g leached in 10ml of 90gpl NaOH at 143 degrees C for 30 minutes
Estimation was done by a polygonal modelling using maximum extrapolations of 50 metres for Indicated Resources category and 100 metres for Inferred Resources. Bauxite density was conservatively assumed at 1.8 dry tonnes per cubic metre in-situ.
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