PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Africa-focused Tremont Investments has increased its shareholding in the Panda Hill niobium project, in Tanzania, to 37.5%, project owner Cradle Resources said on Tuesday.
Tremont invested $5-million to acquire a further 12.5% stake in the project, bringing its investment in the Panda Hill project to date to $10-million.
Cradle said the investment had been made to de-risk the project through an infill and extensional drilling programme, extensive metallurgical work and a prefeasibility study (PFS).
Tremont was expected to complete a feasibility study by the fourth quarter of this year, after which a decision to mine would be made.
“Tremont’s further investment in Panda Hill follows a positive prefeasibility study and demonstrates its ongoing confidence in the project,” said Cradle MD Grant Davey.
The March PFS estimated that the Panda Hill project would require a capital investment of $158-million to support a 4 600 t/y ferroniobium project, with a mine life of some 30 years.
The feasibility study was considering the option of staging production in such a way that in the early years, a more capital efficient mining operation could be built that would target 5 000 t/y of ferroniobium. The plant would then be expanded in subsequent years to achieve an increased production profile to supply the growing ferroniobium market.
Tremont has the right to contribute a further $5-million investment into the project, to take its ultimate stake in the Panda Hill project to 50%.