Project Overview

Kenmare's principal asset is the wholly owned Moma Titanium Minerals Mine, located on the coast of Mozambique. Moma is a new mine containing considerable reserves of the titanium minerals, ilmenite and rutile. The Moma mine also has large quantities of zircon, a high value co-product of titanium minerals mining. These minerals are mined using dredges and concentrated in a floating wet concentrator plant (WCP), which pumps the heavy mineral concentrate (HMC) produced to a minerals separation plant (MSP) where it is separated into final products for export.

The principal assets of the Moma Mine are as follows:

i) an artificial, freshwater mining pond which is approximately 800m long, 300m wide and up to 15m deep. Within this pond are two dredges which extract mineral-bearing sands from the pond mining face and pump them into the WCP for recovery of a HMC. This concentrate comprises a mixture of the valuable minerals ilmenite, rutile and zircon as well as some non-valuable silica and other heavy minerals. The concentrate, which represents approximately 5% by weight of the total sand mined, is subsequently pumped overland to the MSP that is located at the edge of the deposit where it is stockpiled prior to further processing. The sand tailings are deposited at the rear of the mining pond where they are spread out for future rehabilitation;

ii) the MSP is fed with HMC at an initial design rate of 120 tonnes per hour to produce a suite of ilmenite products, rutile and two zircon products. The MSP uses high-intensity magnets to separate the magnetic minerals (ilmenite) from the non-magnetics (rutile and zircon). This is followed by a wet gravity separation process to remove low-density trash minerals (silicates), after which electrostatic separators are used to remove conducting minerals (rutile) from non-conductors (zircon);

iii) a 50 tonne per hour ilmenite roaster and downstream magnetic separation plant to enhance the quality of the high TiO2 ilmenite product;

iv) a product storage warehouse which is capable of storing 145,000 tonnes of final products under secure, dry cover and includes facilities for reloading products onto a 2.4 km long overland conveyor;

v) a 400m long jetty which supports the product export conveyor and a walkway for personnel;

vi) the 4,000 tonne capacity product transshipment vessel, Bronagh J, which is a self-propelled, self discharging vessel capable of carrying mineral from the jetty to the transhipment point, where the customer’s vessel is loaded;

vii) other supporting infrastructure including 170 km long 110kV power line, 6 Mega Watts standby generation capacity, accommodation village, airstrip, water supply, sewage plants and roads.

It was agreed between Kenmare and the construction contractor, a Joint Venture between Multiplex and Bateman, that the Moma Mine would be taken over in sections. All sections, save for a product roaster which enhances the quality of one ilmenite product, were taken over in 2007. The roaster is due to be taken over mid-2008. First export of ilmenite took place in December 2007.

The total reserve-resource under licence to Kenmare is 181 million tonnes of ilmenite, with associated co-products: 12.6 million tonnes of zircon and 4.1 million tonnes of rutile. As the Nataka orebody remains open laterally & at depth, further increased tonnage is probable.

Project financing has been based on a 20 year mine plan with reserves of 16.4 million tonnes of ilmenite, 0.5 million tonnes rutile and 1.3 million tonnes zircon. It will have the capacity to produce 800,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 21,000 tonnes of rutile and 56,000 tonnes of zircon, which will account for approximately 8% of global titanium feedstock supply and just over 4% of global zircon supply.

Titanium dioxide pigment is used in paints, paper and plastic production. The primary applications for zircon are in the manufacture of opacifiers for ceramic tile production and for refractory products used in the steel and foundry industries. We have concluded marketing agreements covering more than 60% of the first five years revenues from the mine. All contracts are fixed volume, based on either fixed or market prices.

 

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