Chinese cast eye over Lindian bauxite assets
Major Chinese construction outfit, China Railway Seventh Group has completed a visit to Lindian Resources’ bauxite assets in Guinea, West Africa, as agreed under a memorandum of understanding struck earlier this year. China Railway Seventh Group is a key player in Lindian’s infrastructure grand plan and bid to bring its Guinean bauxite projects on stream in the near term.
Under the terms of their memorandum of understanding, Perth-based Lindian says the two companies will work together to evaluate potential infrastructure development solutions to help facilitate a low CAPEX, early bauxite production pathway for its smaller Woula project initially.
China Railway Seventh Group, or “CRSG” and Lindian will also weigh up infrastructure development options for Lindian’s larger, world-class Gaoual conglomerate and Lelouma projects as part of the infrastructure memorandum of understanding.
CRSG management and engineering representatives recently inspected Lindian’s trio of project sites and associated existing infrastructure. Following the field trip, Lindian says discussions between the two parties are continuing.
Zhengzhou-headquartered CRSG is a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned construction enterprise, China Railway Group Ltd, which is listed on the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges.
Lindian says the Chinese conglomerate has a proven track record in infrastructure project delivery in Africa.
The memorandum of understanding will also see the two parties look at forming either a joint venture or consortium that will first need to thrash out details such as infrastructure and project ownership and access and use of infrastructure in relation to the projects.
Other key pillars of the infrastructure talks include engineering, procurement and construction proposals in relation to Lindian’s projects and the appointment of financing and offtake partners.
Lindian says its short-term production scenario for Woula involves building a 10-kilometre haul road from the proposed mine to link with existing infrastructure and its medium-term production strategy remains construction of an approximately 100km haul road to connect its Gaoual high-grade conglomerate bauxite project to existing infrastructure.
Woula hosts an inferred resource of 19 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 41.7 per cent aluminium oxide.
Gaoual’s mineral resource estimate currently stands at an indicated 101.5 million tonnes of ore grading an average 49.8 per cent aluminium oxide that contains a higher-grade core of 83.8 million tonnes of ore going 51.2 per cent aluminium oxide.
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