Dual-listed mineral sands producer Base Resources has advised that its mining operations at the Kwale project, in Kenya, will cease in December 2024 as per the mine plan.
Although the company undertook an exhaustive exploration programme on two surrounding areas to the Kwale mine, being the Kwale North Dune and Kwale East prospects, both lack sufficient grade or scale to support the capital investment required to establish new mining operations.
Moreover, the company would have also have had to extend the Kwale tailings storage facility, which would have involved significant capital expenditure and increased operational costs.
Base also considered other factors in its evaluations, such as the softening product price outlook for mineral sands over the relevant period and the costs, timing and human impact related to more land acquisition and community resettlement.
MD Tim Carstens says the company has explored all avenues for further extending the life of the Kwale operations; however, despite these efforts and broad support from the community, Base has been unsuccessful in identifying additional mineral deposits worth extracting.
The company will now turn its focus to detailed closure planning and the transition to post-mining land use, while ensuring the safe extracting of the remaining ore reserves.
With the Kwale operations coming to an end, Base will now turn to the Toliara rare earth project’s development, in Kenya.