Cape Alumina eyes DSO operation at Bauxite Hills

Bauxite developer Cape Alumina has reported a 19.85-million-tonne direct shipping ore (DSO) inferred resource at its Bauxite Hills project, in Queensland.

The inferred DSO resource was in addition to the previously announced beneficiated bauxite inferred resource of 15.1-million tonnes, and an in-situ resource of 22.1-million tonnes.

Cape Alumina said on Monday that an internal review of the Bauxite Hills operation had indicated that a DSO product could be produced and shipped at a low capital and operating costs, and had the potential to increase the economic viability of the project.

“The internal review has given management sufficient confidence to push ahead with the preliminary stages of environmental approvals and to complete additional technical studies to firm up the existence of an economically mineable DSO product, prior to committing to a feasibility study,” Cape Alumina said in a statement.

Cape Alumina’s interest shifted to its Bauxite Hills mine and port project at the end of last year, after the state government effectively canned the company’s Pisolite Hills project by announcing plans to declare the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve and the Wenlock river on Cape York peninsula the region’s first-ever strategic environmental area.

The company was subsequently the takeover target of ASX-listed MetroCoal, which gained a majority stake in the bauxite developer.