Information Memorandum and Geological Report on Manganese Block in Turkey

Geovale Services has presence in the all the critical sections of mining value chain to cater to the varied needs of mining fraternity. One of such needs is to help clients raise finance for extensive exploration and development of their mines with the help of well-investigated and internationally accepted bankable reports.

Geovale has recently delivered a project for preparing Information Memorandum (IM) and Geological Report (GR) on manganese block in Turkey for a client who is looking for funding for his project. The client has significant experience of managing infrastructure projects and also has diversified into mining in different parts of the world.

A team of expert geologists and mining engineers who have vast experience in manganese domain were engaged in this project. The valuation and market study were undertaken by our well experienced market analysts, financial analysts and data scientist.

The Project

The concession is located in Denizli District at southwest Turkey. It is contiguous to the east to Turkish parastatal (Public Sector Unit) of MCA’s Ulukent Manganese Concession which is Turkey’s largest manganese mine in their concession. Client has initiated a pilot manganese mining project in their concession, opened three benches along a strike length of 150 m and is currently producing about 300 tonnes of manganese every month. However, they want to expand the operation after establishing the resource potential with the help of external financing.

Geovale thoroughly examined the information provided in conjunction with the drilling and other public domain geological information from MCA’s concession to prognosticate the manganese resource, mineability and processability of the mineral in client’s concession. The Information Memorandum included the following aspects

Location & Access, Vegetation, Climate, Geomorphology and Agriculture;

• Geovale critically examined the studies conducted by the client, namely, Geological Mapping, Resistivity profiling, Exploration Drilling, report on Pilot Scale Quarrying to study the nature of ore occurrence and recoverability within their license area;
• For infrastructure assessment, we have explored the options of road, rails and ports for transporting the material mined to dispatch to the market. We have examined the existing condition, capacity, network, traffic and cost of transportation through various modes;
• A detailed market assessment was conducted to project the current and future demand-supply-pricing of manganese ore, cost curve and manganese trade balance of Turkey;
• Country study of Turkey was also done considering its socio-economic scenario, mining laws, ease of doing business, financial incentives to the mining sector, taxation, country risk etc.

Manganese Resource Estimation

Manganese resources have been estimated based on the available datasets with the client, supplemented with the field observation data provided by the client. Three outcropping zones have been identified to be manganese bearing during the geological mapping. An exploration target potential of 1.2 Mt of manganese resource at ~ 40% Mn is prognosticated. The prognosticated resource has an upside potential of 3 Mt. The laboratory report of samples shows an average MnO content of ~40%. However, the ROM and the recovered material are likely to show a lower chemical grade because of the various contaminations.

Processibiity & Mineability

Geovale also analysed the ore chemistry and processibiity on the basis of major petrographic types of the ore as well as its mineability. Considering the ore mineral composition, as described in the section above, Geovale feels that a crushing, screening and gravity processing circuit would also be able to provide the desired concentration of manganese, for eventual utilization in the ferromanganese industry.

Geovale feels that the manual concentration process can be appropriately substituted by a multi-stage mechanical crushing, sizing and gravity concentration process, after a pilot scale bulk sample processing test.  Study reports available in the public domain indicate that the Ulukent manganese ore can be suitably used in ferromanganese mills.

Financial Scoping Study

A financial scoping study was also conducted to project the financial viability of the project for the life of mine on the basis of hypothetical project plan. A detailed cost assessment was made considering the capital expenditure, development expenditure, regulatory expenses, mining costs, processing costs, transportation costs and ocean freights. Based upon the demand-supply forecast of manganese of relative grade, a price projection of manganese ore was also done.

With these inputs we run the Discounted Cash Flow model to calculate the project’s Net Present Value (NPV) and Internal Rate of Return (IRR). The result shows an encouraging profitability of the project. The cost model indicates that the return on capital for Ulukent manganese project could start from the very second year of operation.