Resource Development Company

Gold & Nickel

IGE Resources AB was a Scandinavian mineral resource development company with a significant mineral and diamond resource base. The company had four diamond projects in South Africa and Democratic Republic of Congo. IGE’s portfolio also included one of Northern Europe’s largest nickel deposits.

Gold

Special License 209 – Rongo / Atieli

IGE Kenya Ltd. is a fully owned subsidiary of IGE Resources AB. IGE Kenya Ltd. has a Joint venture together with Pinsapo SA.

The license comprises two areas, 20 km apart, totaling 91 km2, located in the Nyanzan greenstone belt terrains. The area corresponds to the Northern extension of the Tanzanian Lake Victoria Gold Fields, host to several major gold mines.

  • The Atieli area includes an old mine operated between 1960 and 1980. The geology is unusual since the gold mineralization is mainly hosted by altered arkosic sandstones. It consists of quartz veins, stockworks and silicified shear zones. 

 

 

  • The Rongo area covers a cluster of colonial mines (Sakwa, Wayland, Lloyd) built over a network of gold-bearing quartz veins hosted by metabasalts.   

 

–     Special License 209 – IGE Kenya Ltd entered into a Joint Venture agreement with Pinsapo Group SA to develop the license.

–     The final shareholder’s and joint venture agreement was signed on November 22nd 2011 and endorsed by the Commissioner of Mines and Geology on December 23rd 2011.

–     Under the agreement, which has an earn-in structure, Pinsapo Group will invest US$ 2 Million in exploration, will commission a feasibility study, and undertake the construction of a mine. This will be done without any cash contribution from IGE. IGE Kenya Ltd will remain with a 10% interest at commencement of production.

–     Field work started on the Atieli block of the License with an Ionic Leach soil sampling program aimed at precisely delineating drilling targets.

      

Nickel

Nickel Mountain Resources AB is a wholly owned subsidiary of IGE Resources AB. Nickel Mountain’s focus is the development of the 100% owned Rönnbäcken nickel sulphide deposit, located in Northern Sweden.

 

Nickel Mountain’s objective is to produce 26,000 tonnes per year of nickel from Rönnbäcken, for the international markets. Nickel Mountain’s long-term objective is to become a leading mid-tier nickel producer capitalising on opportunities both within the Nordic and other regions globally.

 

Since 2007, Nickel Mountain Resources has been working towards developing the Rönnbäcken Nickel Project (RNP). The RNP is situated in the Swedish Caledonian mountain range in northern Sweden, about 25 km to the south of the village of Tärnaby, Storuman Municipality in Västerbotten County.  The area is host to a number of Swedish mine operations.

 

The Rönnbäcken nickel property comprises several exploration licences and exploitation concessions, which are 100% owned by Nickel Mountain.  The Project comprises three low-grade, high-tonnage, nickel-sulphide deposits amenable to open pit mining: Vinberget, Rönnbäcksnäset and Sundsberget.  The shape and volume of the deposits make them suitable for high tonnage, low cost, open pit mining at a low strip ratio. Nickel Mountain Resource’s objective is to establish a mine and concentrator for producing a high grade nickel concentrate.

 

A preliminary economic assessment was completed in December 2011 on RNP by SRK Consulting (Sweden) AB which outlined the following:

 

  • Average annualized production of 26,000 tonnes of nickel and 730 tonnes of cobalt in concentrate based on an annual feed throughput of 30 million tonnes.
  • Potential to produce over 1 million tonnes per year of a 66%+ magnetite iron ore concentrate byproduct.
  • Life of Mine of 19 years with a potential for this to increase following the delineation of further resources by ongoing exploration.
  • Low stripping ratio of 0.72:1 (waste tonnes:ore tonnes).
  • High grade sulphide concentrate with a 28% nickel content. High concentrate grade has been demonstrated through our own lab and minipilot work with Outotec, as well as through full scale pilot work (4,000 tonnes) conducted by Boliden during the 1970s. Raglan was piloted at this same pilot plant.
  • Estimated start-up capital cost of US$1,260 million, including working capital. The investment would be taken as bank loan and from share issues.
  • Excellent infrastructure with close access to hydropower, power grid, roads, seaport and airport.

Low sulphide content and presence of buffering minerals reduce risks of environmental impact.

 

 

 

In January 2012, The Mineral Resource Estimate of RNP was upgraded to incorporate the down-dip extension drilling at the Rönnbäcknäset deposit. The entire Mineral Resource for the Project as a whole now includes a total of 668,3 Mt in the Measured and Indicated categories, whith an average total nickel content of 0.176% of which 0.099% is nickel in sulphide (Ni-AC): and Inferred Mineral Resources of 19.0 Mt with an average total nickel content of 0.172% of which 0.104 is nickel in sulphide (Ni-AC). For the Project as a whole, 97% of Mineral Resources now lie in the Measured and Indicated categories and contain 1,174,000 tonnes of total nickel, of which 657,000 tonnes of nickel is in sulphide (Ni-AC).

 

The previous granting of the Company’s exploitation concessions K nr. 1 and K nr. 2 for the Vinberget and Rönnbäcknäset deposits along with the recently granted exploitation concession K nr. 3 for the Sundsberget deposit, have all been appealed by the Vapsten Reindeer Husbandry to the Swedish Government. A final decision by the Swedish Government on these appeals is pending.