South West New Georgia Bauxite Project
Location: South West New Georgia, Solomon Islands
Resource: Bauxite
Acquired: 2016
The South West New Georgia Prospecting Licence covers an area of 236 km and targets bauxitic clays on uplifted limestone reef (averaging more than 100 m above sea level), analogous in nature to the Nendo Project. Much of the tenure at SW New Georgia appears unexplored, representing a significant exploration opportunity. The area to be explored within the new Prospecting Licence is three times the area being targeted at the Nendo Project.
Prior exploration by Australian companies in the early 1970s identified extensive areas of bauxite mineralisation and postulated the potential for economic deposits at South West New Georgia Project.
This historical work targeted areas in the southern part of the Prospecting Licence, with the main area tested located north of the village of Ziata. This work included several hand-auger drilling and pit sampling programs. The primary drilling campaign focused on an area of approximately 3.5 km x 1 km and included 39 auger holes for 101 samples. This work identified substantial tonnages of material with grades between 40% and 45% total Al2O3 and 5% to 10% total SiO2.
During a recent Awareness Program, representatives substantiated the historical fieldwork by identifying the presence of extensive bauxite mineralisation in road cuttings and areas of ground disturbance, in addition to meeting with landowners engaged in the previous exploration.
Past exploration indicates that the tenor of the mineralisation at the South West New Georgia Project is in line with typical DSO bauxite deposits in the Asia-Pacific region and is comparable to that at the Nendo Bauxite Project.