Name of the Project
Longonjo neodymium/praseodymium project.

Location
The project is located in Angola – 4 km from a modern rail line leading directly into the Atlantic Port of Lobito.

Project Owner/s
Pensana Metals holds an 84% interest in Longonjo through its 84% holding in Angola-registered company Ozango Minerais, which owns 100% of the prospecting licence.

The Angolan government holds a 10% interest and the company’s Angolan partners hold the remaining 6%.

Project Description
Longonjo has indicated and inferred mineral resources of 226-million tonnes grading 1.47% rare-earth oxides and 0.33% neodymium/praseodymium. A prefeasibility study (PFS) has indicated the viability of a long-life, low-cost openpit operation based on a weather-zone component of the Longonjo resource estimate.

The focus of the PFS is on the initial development of the highest-grade portion of the near-surface weathered-zone mineralisation, which is a subset of the total project mineral resource estimate.

The PFS envisages openpit mining and the two-phase development of a two-million tonne-a-year processing plant and associated infrastructure, producing on average 56 000 t/y of neodymium/praseodymium concentrate for export.

The openpit will be a free dig operation with a very low strip ratio. The processing plant will use flotation to produce a high-grade rare-earth concentrate. The project has a nine-year life-of-mine.

The investment has been designed to meet Equator Principles and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions under the Green House Gas Protocol. Access to low carbon power from the Luaca hydroelectric dam and local photovoltaic and storage facilities will allow for a very low carbon footprint; combined with closed circuit zero discharge for process water and tailings, with full end-of-life rehabilitation.

Potential Job Creation
The project will provide training for about 260 jobs at the mine.

Net Present Value/Internal Rate of Return
In the base case scenario the project has an internal rate of return of 101%, with a payback of 13 months.

Capital Expenditure
Initial capital costs are estimated at $130.6-million.

Planned Start/End Date
The project is expected to take 14 months to implement from construction to commissioning.

Latest Developments
Initial assay results have been received from the first 16 drill holes of a 7 000 m infill and extension reverse circulation drilling programme under way at Longonjo. This area lies entirely outside of the nine-year PFS openpit.

The results have identified further high-grade weathered mineralisation from surface over an area extending 250 m × 450 m to the west of the current pit design.

The drilling is in support of definitive feasibility studies in progress. The programme is expected to lead to an increase in the current mine life. An updated mineral resource estimate is expected in May 2020.

Meanwhile, four containers with 60 t of high‐grade weathered mineralisation,

mined from 23 locations across the initial mining area, and to be used in the pilot plant testwork programme arrived on‐schedule in Western Australia in January.

The shipment was despatched from Longonjo, Angola, in November

2019 using the Benguela Railway and the Port of Lobito.

The pilot plant testwork programme will produce about 2 t of

concentrate and other products for delivery to customers ahead of offtake

negotiations and will provide detailed parameters for the flotation circuit final

design ahead of the definitive feasibility study due in June this year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Wood Group (lead engineer, TSF, infra-structure, mining, process plant engineering, cost estimation, surface water management); SRK Consulting (mineral resource estimate and model); HCV Africa (environmental- and social-impact assessment and baseline studies); Grupo Simples (environmental and social assessment, stakeholder engagement – Angola); AVM Advogadas (Angola legal); DLA Piper (Australia legal); Vic McLaglen (legal consultant); Auralia Metallurgy (metallurgical testwork facility – flotation); Bureau Veritas Minerals (metallurgical testwork – comminution); ALS Mineralogy (mineralogy testwork);

Dr Wally Witt (geological consultant); ARQ Consulting (geotechnical studies); HCV Africa (hydrology, borefield testing and modelling); Conrad Partners (transport and rare earth concentrate market); and Nagrom Laboratories (sample assays).

On Budget and on Time?
Too early to state.

Contact Details for Project Information
Pensana Metals CEO Tim George, tel +61 8 9221 0090 or email contact@pensanametals.com.