Melior Reports on Progress Toward Production at Its Goondicum Ilmenite Project
Melior Reports on Progress Toward Production at Its Goondicum Ilmenite
Project
TORONTO, May 29, 2018 -- Melior Resources Inc. (TSXV:MLR) (“Melior” or the “Company”) today provided details about
construction and development progress at its Goondicum Ilmenite Project.
Project Scope & Description
On 9 April 2018, Melior announced the commencement of work on the Goondicum restart project having procured US$12.25
million (C$15.7 million 1) of debt facilities. Work commenced shortly thereafter with the restart program anticipated to take a
total of six months to complete preproduction activities followed by commissioning and first production scheduled to begin in
November 2018. A total of C$9.8 million is budgeted to be spent on restart activities 2, including working capital, in the six
month preproduction period.
The primary capital activities in the preproduction period include:
1. Repairs and maintenance from previous operational period
2. Procuring critical spares
3. Improving aspects of the previous process flowsheet
4. Installation of additional processing circuits
5. Construction of additional tailings storage capacity
6. Offsite infrastructure construction
Progress as at May 25, 2018
Site activity has started to build momentum as supplies and equipment are ordered, admin and work procedures finalized, and
construction and key long term operational personnel are on-boarded.
The total project is budgeted to take 21,661 man-hours to complete. As of May 25, 2018, 609 man-hours had been worked on
the project completing 1,700 hours of budgeted work for a saving of 1,100 hours to date. The overall project is estimated to be
11% complete. No safety or environmental incidents have been recorded to date.
Mark McCauley, CEO of Melior said, “We are off to a great start completing the construction work at Goondicum and remain
on schedule and within budget. We anticipate that our target of commencing production in November will be realized. Ilmenite
prices continue to be robust and market feedback suggests on-going strength as we approach our start date.”
For the purposes of project planning and management, work has been divided into project specific areas on a functional basis.
Capital expenditure has been allocated to these areas as shown in Table 1 below. These figures include all labour, parts and
equipment directly required to complete the job. Each of these individual tasks are relatively straightforward as stand-alone
activities however, as a cumulative project, detailed planning and scheduling is required to ensure everything runs smoothly
and the project is delivered on time and on budget.
The critical path items in the construction period are the refurbishment and installation of the run-of-mine (ROM) feeder unit
which is being transported to the mine site from Western Australia and the installation of the attritioning circuit and the spiral
merge projects which are both reliant on the timely delivery of long-lead time items from third party vendors.
The construction work will be carried out using a combination of Goondicum’s own employees and contractors where
appropriate with the project overseen by Project Manager Alastair Bauer, Construction Manager Gerry Finch and CFO
Jonathan Mattiske.
Table 1: Project Budget Breakdown
Budgeted Preproduction Activity C$ '000 Impact on the Operation
Water pipeline lime treatment plant 243 Ensure longevity of project water pipeline
Run-of-Mine (ROM) feeder 1,096 Reduce opex and improve availability
Spiral merge project 606 Improve recoveries and availability
Screen oversize attritioning circuit 256 Improve recoveries
WHIMS water and feed reconfiguration 456 Improve recoveries and product quality
Ilmenite dephos circuit 766 Improve product quality
Drying circuit feed arrangement 288 Improve availability
Tailings dams 1,195 Operating requirement
Mining contractor mobilisation 73 Operating requirement
Light vehicles 194 Operating requirement
Identified site defects 496 Operating requirement
Critical spares 479 Operating requirement
Port storage 296 Operating requirement
Other capex items 827 Operating requirement
Contingency 388
Preproduction Capital Budget 7,660
Rehabilitation bond 583 Operating requirement
Working capital 1,527 General & administration
Total Goondicum Preproduction Budget 9,770
The next project update will be provided in late July.
About Melior
Melior is the owner and operator of the Goondicum mine, a past-producing ilmenite and apatite mine strategically located in
Queensland Australia. Further details on Melior and the Goondicum mine can be found at www.meliorresources.com and
regulatory filings are available on SEDAR.
Melior is incorporated under the provisions of the Business Corporations Act ( British Columbia ) and has a registered office in
Toronto, Ontario. Melior is classified as a Tier 1 Mining Issuer under the policies of the TSX-V.
Forward Looking Statements Disclaimer
Statements made in this news release may be forward-looking and therefore subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such
statements can typically be identified by terminology such as ‘‘may’’, ‘‘will’’, ‘‘could’’, ‘‘should’’, ‘‘expect’’, ‘‘plan’’, ‘‘anticipate’’,
‘‘believe’’, ‘‘intend’’, ‘‘possible’’, ‘‘continue’’, “objective” or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical
facts. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied in making forward-looking statements and actual results may differ
materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. Melior does not undertake to update any forward-looking
statements; such statements speak only as at the date made.
For further information please contact:
MELIOR RESOURCES INC.
Mark McCauley
Chief Executive Officer
+61 7 3233 6300
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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1 USD:CDN = 0.78, AUD:CDN = 1.03
2 Excludes Melior general and administration costs