JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-quoted Bushveld Minerals on Thursday said it had started a prefeasibility study (PFS) for its vanadium project, in Limpopo.
The PFS was expected to be completed during the first half of 2015, with work on parts of the definitive feasibility study set to be undertaken while the PFS was under way.
Bushveld started a drilling programme to upgrade the main magnetite layer resource into the measured category and the conversion into a reserve as part of the PFS programme.
The study would also enable the collection of sufficient core for the detailed metallurgical testwork and the assessment of the extent of the AB Zone, with the calculation of a maiden mineral resource expected on this deposit following the drilling.
The drilling campaign comprised 68 boreholes and 3 700 m.
A mining work programme, social and labour plan and environmental- and social-impact assessment (ESIA) baseline studies were under way in preparation for a mining right application in the first quarter of 2015.
Bushveld appointed Hatch Goba to complete the metallurgy, processing and infrastructure sections of the PFS, while MSA Group was tasked with the resource evaluation, mining studies and mining right application.
Digby Wells would complete the environmental studies, including the ESIA, the environmental management plan and applications for air emissions, the integrated water-use and waste licences.