Feldspar Portsite Allocation
January 14 2009 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMGIP
RNS Number : 5759L
Gippsland Limited
14 January 2009
14 January 2009
Gippsland Limited ("Gippsland" or "the Company")
FELDSPAR PORTSITE ALLOCATION
Egyptian National Centre for Planning and Usage of State Land has permitted the
use of the Port Turumbi portsite for the Abu Dabbab project
On 20 November the Directors of Gippsland Limited [ASX, AIM: GIP, Deutsche
B�rse: GIX] announced that the Company's joint venture vehicle Tantalum Egypt
JSC had made application to acquire the Port Turumbi portsite for the export of
approximately 1.5 million tonnes per year of ceramic grade feldspar produced as
a by-product from the 44.5 million tonne Abu Dabbab tantalum-tin project. The
application was supported by the office of His Excellency Eng Samey Fahmy,
Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources.
The Directors announce today that the Egyptian National Centre for Planning and
Usage of State Land has approved the use of the Port Turumbi portsite for the
Abu Dabbab project.
The Egyptian National Centre for Planning and Usage of State Land, the principal
Egyptian Authority that answers directly to His Excellency Prime Minister Dr
Ahmed Nazif, has issued instructions for the land covered by the application to
be released to the Egyptian Mineral Resources Authority, which is part of the
Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. Following the transfer, it is
anticipated that the portsite will be allocated to Tantalum Egypt JSC. Terms of
the transfer are presently being negotiated however, the parties involved
recognise that the allocation will be based upon a long-term peppercorn lease
arrangement.
The 44.5 million tonne Abu Dabbab project is scheduled to produce in excess of
650,000 pounds of tantalum pentoxide per year over a projected mine life of 20
years. The project, which will also produce approximately 1,530 tonnes of LME
grade tin per year, is likely to become the world's largest supplier of tantalum
feedstock.
Gravity separation techniques will be employed to extract the tantalum and tin
from the Abu Dabbab mineralisation. Testwork commissioned by Gippsland in
Australia and Italy has demonstrated that the resulting waste (or tailings) can
be utilised to produce up to 1.5 million tonnes per year of premium grade
feldspar suitable for the manufacture of ceramic tiles and sanitary wear. The
production of feldspar will result in the Abu Dabbab project having a waste
stream consisting of only 20% of all ore mined.At full production, the net
revenue from feldspar is expected to exceed U$20 million dollars per year.
Gippsland Executive Chairman said today: "The support for the project being
provided by the highest levels of the Egyptian Government is most encouraging
and bodes well for the successful implementation of the Abu Dabbab project which
we are confident will become the prime focus of global tantalum production. We
are also pleased by the attention being paid to the project by the KfW
Bankengruppe, which is owned by the German Government and the
German Federal States. This is of particular relevance when one considers
that Egypt is a major recipient of German foreign aid.
Following the recently announced closure of Wodgina, which was the world's
largest tantalum mine, Abu Dabbab is set to fill the expected void in the supply
of this strategic metal. The project's resource base is unrivalled and capable
of supplying a major portion of the world's tantalum requirement for several
decades", said Mr Telford.
RJ (Jack) Telford
Executive Chairman
Gippsland Limited
www.gippslandltd.com
For further information, please contact:
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Jack Telford | Ed Portman |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Gippsland Limited | Investor Relations |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| T: +61 8 9340 6000 | M: +44 773 336 3501 |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| E: jtelford@gippslandltd.com | E: ed@conduitpr.com |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| | |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Oliver Stansfield | Daniel Fox-Davies |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Fox-Davies Capital Limited | Fox-Davies Capital Limited |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| T: +44 20 7936 5200 | T: +44 20 7936 5200 |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| E: oliver.stansfield@fdcap.com | E: daniel@fox-davies.com |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| | |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Nandita Sahgal | |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| Seymour Pierce Limited | |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| T: +44 20 7107 8000 | |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
| E: nanditasahgal@seymourpierce.com | |
+-----------------------------------------+----------------------------------------+
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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