CBMM, Echion open world’s largest niobium anode production plant in Brazil
Facility is apable of producing 2,000 tons per year of XNO, equivalent to 1 GWh of lithium-ion cells.
Orinoco Gold (ASX: OGX) announced that it has just started working with AngloGold Ashanti (JSE:ANG) (NYSE:AU) on establishing an in-country joint venture entity in Brazil, an undertaking that should be completed in the first quarter of 2019.
The announcement was made after both companies confirmed the original terms of an earn-in agreement they signed back in 2017.
The regional exploration joint venture would focus on Orinoco’s Faina Goldfields project, which encompasses the tenements surrounding the company’s Cascavel gold mine located in the central Brazilian state of Goiás.
The regional exploration joint venture would focus on Orinoco’s Faina Goldfields project
In a press release, Orinoco explained that under the terms of the JV agreement, AngloGold may earn up to a 70% interest in the JV tenements by spending $9.5 million in exploration over a three-year period with the right to withdraw at any time. To date, AngloGold has advanced approximately $2.13 million to reduce its earn-in requirements.
The Faina Goldfields Project comprises a number of early-stage and advanced exploration projects in the Faina Greenstone belt. According to the Perth-based company, the projects have the potential to rapidly develop as a series of priority targets will be defined by a technical committee led by AngloGold as soon as the JV is established.
In the media brief, Orinoco explained that the targets are Rio do Ouro, which has an existing JORC Mineral Resource Estimate of 223,111 tonnes at 6.9g/t for 49,628 ounces of contained gold; the Antena/Xupe target, where the miner drilled a keyhole of 21.7 metres at 4.49 g/t in March 2018 with 13 more holes demonstrating the potential for large scale gold mineralisation across the project; and the Tintiero Polymetallic Prospect, where high-grade silver, nickel, cobalt and copper target 2 km west of Cascavel with previously reported grades of up to 4,000 g/t Ag, 1.2% cobalt, 0.5% copper, and 0.3% nickel.
“Our immediate focus is on establishing the in-country exploration joint venture vehicle which will enable us to work closely with AngloGold to define our exploration work program for the next 12 months,” Orinoco’s Executive Director, Matthew O’Kane, said in the media statement.
