Name and Location
Dubbo zirconia project (DZP), New South Wales, Australia.

Client
Australian Zircon Limited (AZL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Alkane Resources.

Project Description
The DZP has proved and probable reserves of 35.93-million tonnes, with a grading of 1.93 % zirconium oxide, 0.04% hafnium oxide, 0.46% niobium pentoxide, 0.03% tantalum pentoxide, 0.14% yttrium oxide and 0.74% rare-earth oxide.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) completed on the DZP has delivered a technically and financially robust project over an initial 20-year mine life.

The DFS envisages a one-million-tonne-a-year operation from an opencut mining operation, which will entail the drilling, blasting, loading and hauling and dumping of the ore on the run-of-mine (RoM) pad, situated about 3 km west of the deposit.

Owing to the size of the deposit, only 3.46-million tonnes of waste will be removed during the 20-year mine life.

The currently defined resource could support the operation for more than 70 years.

The ore will be processed through a proprietary process developed by AZL, based on the crushing and grinding of the RoM feed, followed by sulphuric acid roast, water leaching, solvent extraction recovery and chemical refining to produce high-purity zirconium products.

Value
The project will cost an estimated $996.4-million to implement.

Duration
Development of the project is expected to start at the beginning of 2014.

Latest Developments
Alkane Resources, through its subsidiary, AZL, has signed a joint venture (JV) framework agreement with Treibacher Industries to produce and market ferroniobium from the Dubbo zirconia project.

Under the JV agreement, the two companies will use Treibacher technology to process Dubbo niobium concentrate at a facility in Australia.

Treibacher will have the option to buy 50% of the new company within three years of commissioning of the plant and will have the exclusive rights to market the ferroniobium product.

The JV operation will produce more than 3 000 t of ferroniobium using all of the niobium concentrate produced from the one-million-tonne-a-year development of the Dubbo zirconium project.

The JV means that, once production starts in 2016, Alkane will be the only producer of niobium in Australia.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
None stated.

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
Alkane Resources, tel +61 8 9227 5677, fax +61 8 9227 8178 or email mail@alkane.com.au.
Westbrook Communications, on behalf of Alkane Resources, Ian Westbrook, tel +61 2 9231 0922.