London- and Frankfurt-listed Savannah Resources has lodged the last outstanding mining lease application for the Mutumba heavy mineral sands joint venture (JV) project with Rio Tinto, the company said on Friday, while also announcing its half-year results.
The application has been submitted by subsidiary Matilda Minerals to the Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy in Mozambique, marking the final mining lease application to be lodged that is covered by the consortium with Rio Tinto.
The Ministry has six months, from the date of submission, to respond to applications.
"The submission of the application is the last outstanding leasing matter for the consortium and we are delighted to have now completed the full round of applications,” commented Savannah CEO David Archer.
Wholly owned subsidiary Matilda is the official operator of Mutamba minerals sand JV with a 20% interest in a consortium with Rio Tinto. Savannah can increase its interest to 35% upon delivery of a prefeasibility study (PFS), which is currently under way, and to 51% upon delivery of a feasibility study.
The company reported that the scoping phase of the PFS for the Mutamba project was progressing and that it would be completed in the first quarter of next year.
“Given that the demand for global titanium feedstocks continues to grow, we believe we are extremely well placed to take full advantage of an expanding market," Archer said.
Meanwhile, Savannah posted a loss of £1.20-million in the six months ended June 30, which is consistent with its status as an exploration and development company. The loss is less than the previous year’s loss of £2.84-million, mainly owing to the non-cash costs relating to share options issued as long-term incentives the first half of 2017.
Net assets have increased to £15.68-million, owing to the increase in exploration activity during the period, predominantly with the lithium project in Portugal, which also saw the first of two milestones at the Mina do Barroso project being triggered and settled, with additions to non-current assets amounting to £3.61-million.
During the half-year under review, Savannah increased the mineral resource at the Mina do Barroso lithium project to over 20-million tonnes, underpinning the project as the largest of its kind in western Europe.
A positive scoping study determined that the project has a base case net present value, applying an 8% discount, of $356-milliion and an internal rate of return of 63%, generated from 175 000 t/y of 6% spodumene concentrate production over an 11-year mine life.
The feasibility study for the project would be completed in the second quarter of next year.