Altech’s Meckering mining lease granted

Altech Chemicals Limited announced that its kaolin mining lease (ML) application M70/1334 at Meckering, Western Australia has been granted by the Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP). The ML is estimated to contain ~11 million tonnes of kaolin mineral resources, representing over 250 years of feedstock supply for the company’s proposed 4,000tpa high purity alumina (HPA) plant at Johor, Malaysia.

The grant of M70/1334 will allow the company to progress to the next stage of mine development, which is the submission of a mining proposal and a mine closure plan. At Meckering Altech is planning to mine approximately 120,000 tonnes of kaolin once every three years in a short two-month mining campaign. The resultant raw kaolin ore will be stockpiled, then containerised into standard shipping containers at the rate of around 40,000tpa (770t per week) and transported to Johor, Malaysia via the port of Fremantle, Western Australia for processing into HPA at the company’s proposed plant.

The grant of the ML also triggers an imminent cash injection of $1.75 million for the company, which will result upon settlement of the sale of its exploration licence E70/3923 to Dana Shipping and Trading S.A. (Dana). Settlement will take place within 5 business days of the company’s ML grant and is the final step in resolving the dispute with Dana (refer ASX Announcement dated 9 May 2016 for full details).

Altech managing director Mr Iggy Tan said, “The company is delighted with the grant of the Meckering mining lease. Altech can now progress to the next stage in preparation for mine development, the submission of what will be a relatively straightforward mining proposal and mine closure plan.

“Upon approval of these items, the site at Meckering will be ready for the development of the campaign mining and container loading operation to supply feedstock for Altech’s proposed Malaysian HPA plant. This marks another significant milestone in the advancement of the company’s HPA project,” Mr Tan concluded.